Adam Horowitz writes:
A protest against the war in Gaza
that was planned in Tel Aviv was being prevented by Israeli police not
because they were afraid of violence, but because they were afraid that
protesters would raise the Palestinian flag. Wow. This is shades of the pre-Oslo days when it was illegal under Israeli occupation law to raise the flag in the occupied territories.
More from the Alternative Information Center on recent protests in Jaffa:
More than
ten public figures from Jaffa,
both men and women, were taken on Tuesday for interrogation by the Israeli
police and General Security Services (GSS). The interrogators were told they
are suspected of inciting terrorism and throwing stones, one day after a legal
demonstration that was held in Jaffa
and ended peacefully. The national leadership of the Hadash political party and
the Abna' al-Balad association were also interrogated. Arab journalists who
covered the various demonstrations were detained. A 65-year-old woman from Jaffa wearing an Islamic
head-covering was attacked by fellow passengers on a bus and the driver forced
her off the bus. Legal, non-violent demonstrations in which Arab citizens
participated were met with inexplicable police violence and mob attacks. The
police, who are supposed to protect the civil rights of the war protesters to
demonstrate, join the angry mob, attack and detain Arab protesters participating
in joint Palestinian-Israeli demonstrations. Such is an atmosphere of
intolerable terror…If
Palestinian citizens of Israel
have no right to protest the slaughter of their people, then what is the
meaning of the fake Israeli citizenship in the 'Jewish and democratic' state?
What message is this sending?
The protests in Tel Aviv are going forward. The email below is from the organization Reut Sadaka, a joint Palestinian-Jewish youth organization in Jaffa.
Subject: In the Jewish democratic state
Hello everyone,
Notice: although the police tried to stop us from protesting on Saturday- asking us to sign a paper saying that there would be no Palestinian flags in our demo – the High Court has ruled the police's demand as non-democratic and has given us permission to protest tomorrow.
