We call them “Israeli Arabs,” but they define themselves as “Palestinian Israelis”: Ibrahim Abu Ahmad and Shahd Bishara were finally able to demonstrate on Friday against the war in Gaza, in the small Arab town of Shefa Amr, in the north of the country. Israel. Demonstrations have been allowed in the region, home to much of Israel’s Arab minority (21% of the population), for the first time since the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel in a matter of weeks. ).
However, on Friday there were few demonstrators, a maximum of 150 people. A small procession, also made up of Jews from the peace movements, marched under the slogan “Only peace will bring security,” sending extremists from both camps back to back.
“This peace march was organized by the Standing Together movement and the Women Making Peace movement to demand a ceasefire agreement and the return of those abducted,” a video posted by Standing Together said.
They sang “Peace, freedom, social justice” and “Liberty, freedom for Palestine” as they walked down the main street of the hill town in the Galilee. Opened by a police car, the parade passed through the Christian cemetery, greeted by the smiles of visibly surprised residents. Last week there were several hundred of them in Majd al-Krum, at the initiative of an Arab organization that called for “Stop the war!” » According to an AFP videographer.
“Solidarity with the people of Gaza”, not forgetting the hostages
On the other hand, in November, demonstrators had to abandon a march in one of these cities due to the lack of police consent, confirmed by the courts. On TikTok, the police chief warned in a post subtitled in Arabic: “If you want to identify with Gaza, I will put you on a bus” to that destination.
“Today in Shefa Amr/Shfaram we demand a ceasefire agreement and an agreement on hostages – the only way to save innocent lives in Gaza and return the hostages alive,”
On Friday from Shefa Amr, 160 km from the area besieged by Israel in response to the October 7 attack, Shahd Bishara was able to express his “solidarity with the people of Gaza.” “Our common humanity cannot come to terms with the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and the massacres in the Gaza Strip. And of course, let’s not forget about the hostages still being held captive in the Gaza Strip,” the 30-year-old doctor pleaded.
“Since October 7, the Palestinian society in Israel has been very, very oppressed by the authorities, we cannot express our solidarity with the people of Gaza, with the Palestinian people of Gaza. And recently, we have made a lot of efforts to obtain police permission to organize such protests,” Shahd Bishara emphasized.
“The future of the two nations worries us”
“We understand the pain of our people, the Palestinians, and the pain of our Israeli friends, and the future of both peoples concerns us,” Hiam Tannous read in a message in Hebrew. Here “we remember what happened on October 7th. And we also say that this has affected our community,” said Ibrahim Abu Ahmad, 31, a “politics and peace” activist.
He calls himself a “Palestinian Israeli” and rejects the expression “Israeli Arab” used in Israel: “It denies so many elements of what we are. The problem is that the term Palestinian is presented (in Israel) as a political demand rather than a popular demand. But we are this people. »
In his opinion, “we must completely stop this conflict.” And “we are the solution to the conflict!” The only ones who live in both realities, who speak both languages! “,” he said, calling for self-determination and a change of government on both sides, and then on the Israeli side, to create a true Judeo-Arab party with common goals. Until now, “we have not been allowed to express our solidarity,” says Shahd Bishara.
“Systemic discrimination” begins to decrease
The NGO Mossawa (Equality in Arabic) has documented an increase in “systemic discrimination” against Arab citizens of Israel since the war: arrests following the publication of verses from the Koran or messages of solidarity on social networks, attacks at universities, discrimination at work, demonstrations banned in Palestinian Arab populated areas.
In recent weeks, “there have been fewer cases,” partly because the association has taken legal action over many of them, its director Jaafar Farah, who has ensured that police no longer investigate freedom of expression violations without judicial oversight, explains to AFP.
Of the 350 arrests, 140 are still under investigation, he said. In the beginning, the NGO recorded about twenty arrests daily, whereas now there are several arrests per week. Today, “Arabs and Jews were together in an Arab city, this is a very strong statement,” emphasizes Mr. Abu Ahmad.
Source: Le Parisien
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
