I'm proud to be one of the thousands of Israelis and Palestinians who joined the demonstration on Saturday night in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The crowd, mobilized by a broad range of groups (including the Israeli Peace Now movement), is united in our opposition to settler groups who are evicting Palestinian families and moving into their homes there.
The demonstration was a powerful show of force by the Israeli peace camp. Indeed, the headline on the front page of today's Ma'ariv, which conservatively estimates the crowd at 3,000, reads: "There is a Left in Jerusalem."
Israeli and Palestinian flags waived in the evening breeze, as former Knesset Member Mossi Raz reminded us that this was the largest, shared Israeli-Palestinian demonstration in a decade.
Peace Now activists handed out flyers detailing the dangers inherent in a Jerusalem polarized by radical settler activity. The flyers included a letter from Nasser Rawi, a patriarch of one of the Palestinian families that had been evicted from their homes this summer. In the letter, addressed to his fellow Jerusalemites, Rawi declares:
"I have always believed in peace and that Jerusalem can be a shared capital for both peoples... Despite the suffering that my family is enduring, I will not give up on the opportunity to live in peace beside you in two capitals side-by-side. Sadly, in recent years, the Jerusalem Municipality has allowed extreme right-wing groups to incite tensions, to create conflict, and to turn the solution into an impossibility. Despite the effort at coexistence, right-wing forces in the city threaten to bring about another Intifada. I remain hopeful that we can put an end to the radicalization."
Rawi is right. The tension in East Jerusalem is palpable. And it could spiral out of control. As the demonstration was wrapping up, right wing activists threw stones at us. They also broke the mirrors of cars parked in the neighborhood.
But Saturday night's demonstration also proved that Israelis and Palestinians can stand up - together - against this violence and for a better future. I will forever remember the simple chant that the crowd shouted over-and-over again:
"Arabs and Jews refuse to be enemies."
It is a sentiment that we can all support.
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I see from the article I read that Israeli flags were banned, the only flags I saw were red anarchist/Communist flags and Palestinian flags. Do the organizers think they are going to recruit supporters from the mainline Jewish Israeli population with radical anti-Israel and anti-Zionist symbols.
Also there is an inherent split within the activists who are organizing the event. Some, like one prominent Leftist blogger, wants Jews thrown out of Sheikh Jarrah, because he lives in what was an Arab home in west Jerusalem in 1948 and he is hoping that the Arabs will let him keep his "stolen" (as the Arabs see it) Arab property. Others want to see a Palestinian "right of return". There are simply too many contradictions with the ranks of the protest activists and the self-imposed radicalization of the movement's message and symbols will mean that this protest movement will end up going no where. Do they really think the Jews will leave the homes because of their protests?
Mr. B-D,
A demonstration of that size with both Israelis and Palestinians is very significant. Israeli flags were not banned -- there was a comment about them from one of the speakers that was unauthorized by the organizers. Messages might vary among individuals/groups, yet the main point was communicated that Israeli allowance and assistance of settlers evicting Arabs in East Jerusalem is a provocation that has no future but violence.
I believe any common ground or coming together could be a beginning at least of something good.
Still outraged by settlers displacing Palestinians in Silwan, as I witnessed some years ago on a smaller scale.
Yes, but WEREN'T they stolen? Wouldn't ANYONE remember if their home was 'taken' or 'stolen'?
Encouraging news. Standing for peace takes courage in a region accustomed to hostility. I hope for a just peace, ensuring the security and recognizing the dignity of both Jews and Arabs. Jews are an inherent part of the cultural fabric of the Middle East and have been a vital part of Islamic culture and thought for millenia. I believe peace will inevitably lead to the integration of Israel into the Middle Eastern community, which will spark a cultural and political rennaisance in the region.