Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday against the government's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, less than a month away from a possibly crucial deadline on this hot file. Waving Palestinian and Israeli flags, protesters also held up signs against the occupation of the West Bank and the possible annexation of parts of the territory.
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The demonstration was organized by NGOs and political parties anchored on the left.
The new Israeli union government must present from July 1 its strategy to implement the plan of the American administration for the Middle East, which provides for the annexation by Israel of the Jordan Valley and the settlements in the West Bank busy. More than 450,000 Israelis live in settlements deemed illegal by international law in the West Bank, where 2.7 million Palestinians live.
"We have done enough harm to each other, between Palestinians and Jews," one of the demonstrators, Anat Schrieber, told AFP. "We are brothers, our place is here, one as the other, we can do much more together than separately."
Another protester called for "justice for the Palestinians and peace for the two peoples, Israelis and Palestinians." "In this state of apartheid, there can be no peace neither for us nor for them, and no justice either" , regretted this man who gave only his nickname, "Eden" . "I am afraid of this annexation plan ," he said. "I think it will lead to riots and even war."