2,000 pro-peace demonstrators answered a call by a new Israeli peace group and gathered in the center of Jerusalem on Saturday evening, October 17, under the banner “Jews and Arabs Refuse to Be Enemies.” There were activists present from left-wing political parties such as Hadash, the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), and Meretz who held banners calling for an end to racism.

2,000 pro-peace demonstrators answered a call by a new Israeli new peace group and gathered on Saturday evening in the center of Jerusalem under the banner “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies.” (Photo: Hadash Jerusalem)

The demonstrators called for an end to the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, the root cause of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian violence that reignited earlier this month. Many held signs saying “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies” and chanted peace slogans that rhyme in Hebrew, such as “Money for the neighborhoods / Not for the settlements.”

Among those attending the rally were Knesset members and representatives from Jerusalem’s Max Rayne Hand in Hand Hebrew-Arabic bilingual school. One of the rally organizers, Alon-Lee Green, a member of the CPI Central Committee, said the timing of the demonstration during the current period of “despair and fear” sends “a message of hope and of another way.” He called for an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord and an end to the occupation.

Another member of the CPI Central Committee, Noa Levy, 30, a human rights lawyer and union organizer, came from Jaffa to attend the event. “We are calling for an end to the occupation and to racism and to remind our fellow Israelis that there is an alternative situation,” Levy said. “We can live in peace and understanding.”

“Occupation and colonialism has ended all around the world. Israel is the only place where occupation is still going on,” she added. “We want to live in this place, we are patriots and we want to live in it peacefully together.” Levy said that the curfew imposed on Palestinian East Jerusalem had limited the number of Palestinian attendees.

Saturday’s demonstration is part of a new campaign called “Standing Together” organized and run by a broad array of left-leaning political parties, among them Hadash and CPI, civil society groups and peace activists to promote Israeli-Palestinian coexistence. Organizers decry Israel’s right-wing government policies they say are escalating violence while failing to address its underlying causes. They are planning similar gatherings in Haifa, Tel Aviv and other cities in the coming weeks. Joint List Knesset member Dov Khenin (Hadash) welcomed the joint Jewish-Arab protest: “It is only together that we can stop the murky wave that is threatening to drown us all. It is only together that we can break the bloody cycle of occupation and hate and advance a peace of independence and justice for both peoples.”