Nazareth: thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel protest Gaza seige

AFP, 5 January 2008

 

 

NAZARETH, Israel - Thousands of Arab Israelis marched through the streets of Nazareth on Saturday in protest against Israel’s sealing-off of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, according to an AFP photographer.

 

The crowds waved Palestinian flags, green banners and signs from the Arab Israeli Balad Party and two Islamist activist groups which organised the demonstration.
One sign read “The criminal blockade of Gaza has to be broken,” while another said “Silence over the blockade is a disgrace.”
Israel sealed off Gaza to all but vital humanitarian supplies since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in June 2007 after routing security forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in a week of bloody street battles.
The crowds also called for Palestinian unity, condemning the factional infighting that last year cleaved the territories into two political entities.
“Abbas and Haniya! Wahda Wataniya! (National Unity),” the crowds chanted, referring to Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, dismissed from his post as prime minister by Abbas after the Gaza takeover.
“Gaza, they will never destroy you; not with artillery and not with tanks,” the crowds shouted, referring to the near-daily Israeli military strikes aimed at militants launching missiles at Israeli towns near the Gaza border.
Arab Israelis, who make up close to 20 percent of the population of the Jewish state, hold Israeli citizenship but tend to sympathise with Palestinians in the occupied territoriesThousands protest Gaza seige in Nazarath
(AFP)

5 January 2008

 

NAZARETH, Israel - Thousands of Arab Israelis marched through the streets of Nazareth on Saturday in protest against Israel’s sealing-off of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, according to an AFP photographer.

 

The crowds waved Palestinian flags, green banners and signs from the Arab Israeli Balad Party and two Islamist activist groups which organised the demonstration.
One sign read “The criminal blockade of Gaza has to be broken,” while another said “Silence over the blockade is a disgrace.”
Israel sealed off Gaza to all but vital humanitarian supplies since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in June 2007 after routing security forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in a week of bloody street battles.
The crowds also called for Palestinian unity, condemning the factional infighting that last year cleaved the territories into two political entities.
“Abbas and Haniya! Wahda Wataniya! (National Unity),” the crowds chanted, referring to Hamas leader Ismail Haniya, dismissed from his post as prime minister by Abbas after the Gaza takeover.
“Gaza, they will never destroy you; not with artillery and not with tanks,” the crowds shouted, referring to the near-daily Israeli military strikes aimed at militants launching missiles at Israeli towns near the Gaza border.
Arab Israelis, who make up close to 20 percent of the population of the Jewish state, hold Israeli citizenship but tend to sympathise with Palestinians in the occupied territoriesV