Jerusalem demonstration calls for ‘end to occupation’

Hundreds of people demonstrated in Jerusalem Saturday evening to mark 50 years of Israeli control of the West Bank.

The protest was organized by the Jewish-Arab group “Standing Together,” which was previously involved in a February demonstration in Tel Aviv against government policies towards Israel’s Arab community.

On its Facebook page, the group said the demonstration was meant to mark the 50th anniversary of Israel’s capture of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War and to call for “peace and an end to the occupation.

“Masses of protesters from across Israel are marching against the occupation and are demanding peace. We don’t need to wait for the next war or a new Intifada — every day is a good day to end the occupation,” the group said.

Speakers at the event included the head of the left-wing Meretz party Zehava Galon, along with a number of other MKs from Meretz and the Joint (Arab) List, according to the Haaretz daily.

Other noted speakers were the leaders of a number of left-wing NGOs, including the heads of the settlement watchdog Peace Now and Breaking the Silence, which collects reports — usually anonymously — about alleged abuses by IDF soldiers in the West Bank.

AFP said the organizers estimated some 2,000 people marched to near the Old City’s Jaffa Gate to a platform bearing both Israeli and Palestinian flags for the protest.

Earlier Saturday, a Palestinian teenager stabbed two young men and a police officer in the Old City, before being shot and killed by security forces.

Itamar Avneri, one of the organizers of the protest, told Haaretz in response to the attack that “just today we received a painful reminder of the price of the occupation.”

“We wish to send [our] best wishes for a speedy recovery to the wounded and we hope that we will not see more incidents such as this and no more fear in the streets of the city. It is time to put an end to this,” he added.