A mass rally will be held tomorrow, on Saturday, August 16, 2014, at 8.00 pm, at Rabin Square, in Tel Aviv, under the slogans “Change direction – move towards peace! No to the way of wars! We must have a political solution!” According to organizers: “The next round of fighting can be prevented. No to the way of wars – we must have a political solution! On Saturday, Israel’s Peace Camp will rally at Rabin Square. After an agonizing month of war and death, in the face of mounting waves of incitement and hatred which increasingly tear up the Israeli society, we stand up to demonstrate for peace and for democracy.” Well-know author David Grossman, MK Zehava Galon (Meretz) and MK Mohammad Barakeh (Hadash) have announced they will be participating in the demonstration.
“Change direction – move towards peace! No to the way of wars!”
“The next round of fighting can be prevented. It is far from inevitable that we continue the descent into an abyss of ever more cruel wars, of extreme hatred and the destruction of our neighbors and of ourselves. There is another way: an immediate dialogue with the Palestinians – for a fair peace and for the reconstruction and opening of Gaza; a determined joint stand of Jews and Arabs against racism; a struggle for a future of Life. Only a political solution of two states, Israel and Palestine side by side, will ensure independence, justice, security and hope for all who live in this land. On Saturday night we will stand together – Jews and Arabs, residents of the South and of the whole country. Together we will call for an end to the cycle of bloodshed. The next war can and must be prevented, Israeli society should be healed,” said organizers.
Organizations sponsoring this rally include: Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality – Communist Party of Israel), Meretz, Peace Now, Combatants for Peace, Gush Shalom, Peace NGOs Forum, Young Labor in Tel Aviv and many others.
Last Saturday night, police prohibits the holding of the anti-war rally scheduled to take place at Rabin Square, allegedly because of rocket fire from Gaza. There are good reasons to suspect the police’s true motives of, but lawyers have advised that the Supreme Court may reject a petition filed on the issue. Accordingly organizers felt compelled, under protest, to decide on postponement of the rally. Ignoring police orders to call off the large-scale protest due to the continuing rocket fire in the south, hundreds of left-wing activists gathered in Rabin Square demanding an end to Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Roughly 800 peace and Left activists flooded Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square in defiance of the ban. Protesters chanted slogans such as “Funds to welfare not to war,” “Build more classrooms not more bombs” and “In Gaza and Sderot children want to live.”
The left-wing demonstration, which was expected to draw at least 15,000 people to Rabin Square, was organized by a number of political movements and parties, including Hadash, Meretz, Peace Now, Combatants for Peace and the Palestinian Israeli Bereaved Families for Peace.
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