Some 3,000 people gather in the Shlomo Group Arena for a joint Israeli-Palestinian memorial service for Yom Hazikaron.
Noticeably missing are the hundreds of Palestinians who were supposed to attend and take part in the ceremony. In a last minute decision, the Defense Ministry’s Coordinator of the Government’s Activities in the Territories refused to grant the West Bank residents the permits required to enter Israel, according to the organizers, Combatants for Peace.
3,000 Israelis attend a joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day ceremony at the Shlomo Group Arena in Tel Aviv after the Palestinian participants were banned by Israeli authorities on April 30, 2017. (Judah Ari Gross/Times of Israel)
The decision not to grant the permits was made in light of a stabbing attack by a Palestinian teenager earlier this month in Tel Aviv, who entered Israel as part of a peace tour on the same type of day pass Combatants for Peace was trying to get.
It’s the first time in the event’s 12 years that Palestinians will not take part.
Not surprisingly, the Israeli-Palestinian memorial service has its detractors. Dozens of right-wing activists are protesting outside the arena, calling those entering “traitors” and “collaborators.”
At least one protester was detained by police.
— Judah Ari Gross
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