CPI Activists & Hadash MKs Protest vs. Occupation in Tel Aviv

Hundreds of Hadash and Communist Party of Israel (CPI) activists held a protest in central Tel Aviv on Friday, October 9, calling for Israel to renew peace talks with the Palestinian Authority and to put a end to the its occupation of the Palestinian territories. Among the demonstrators: members of Meretz, Gush Shalom, Ma’avak Sotzialisti, Women in Black and Breaking the Silence.  Demonstrators chanted slogans such as “The only answer to the Right: Israel and Palestine!” “Netanyahu, resign – peace is worth more!” and “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies!”

Hadash MKs marching in the rally in Tel-Aviv on Friday, October 9: Joint List chairman Aymen Odeh, Dov Khenin and Abdallah Abu Ma'aruf (Photo: Hadash Tel-Aviv)

Hadash MKs marching in the rally in Tel-Aviv on Friday, October 9: Joint List chairman Aymen Odeh, Dov Khenin and Abdallah Abu Ma’aruf (Photo: Hadash Tel-Aviv)

Several Hadash MKs attended the rally: Joint List chairman Aymen Odeh, Dov Khenin and Abdallah Abu Ma’aruf . “We came here to break the silence and proclaim a single policy in two languages, Hebrew and Arabic,” Odeh stated. “We say that Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies.” “We say ‘no’ to the Occupation, ‘yes’ to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, ‘yes’ to life together.”

“These are days filled with worry, fear and despair,” Khenin added. “During these times, it is vital that we hear another voice.”  “The continued occupation and settlement building continues to plunge us into an abyss which has led to an explosion,” he continued. “There is another way. We don’t have to deal with the reality of death, fear and hatred: we can free both our peoples from the occupation.”  According to MK Khenin: “We can achieve peace and justice for both peoples in this country, so there will be real hope for a life of security for the children of Afula and the children of Jenin.”

Today, Saturday, October 10, beginning at 15:00 in the city of Nazareth there will be held another massive demonstration promoted by Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel “against the Occupation and the Escalation of Violence.” The invitation to the protest reads as follows

“In between wars and military operations, the right-wing governments construct more and more settlements. Between one round of futile negotiations and the next, the government of Israel continuously creates facts on the ground, facts which prevent the achieving of peace and security and only lay the ground for the next war. Between one escalation and the next, the government repeatedly turns a blind eye to the violence of the nationalist settler gangs who rampage, burn and kill throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territories. And between one round of violence and the next, Netanyahu is convinced he has found the magic formula which will allow him to manage the conflict and to maintain the occupation forever.

“But reality is now exploding in our faces. Moment by moment, the occupation becomes ever more violent and dangerous. From day to day, the right-wing government stokes the flames of the conflict which endangers all who live here. And the price is being paid by all of us, on both sides.

“The right-wingers assert that the answer to the escalation and the wave of violence is more and more brute force: more killings, more arrests, more shooting at children and more construction of settlements. But the only way to end the cycle of death, violence and escalation is to reach a political settlement: ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state, coexisting side by side with Israel in its internationally recognized 1967 borders, and with its capital in East Jerusalem.”

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