Amid ongoing violence, Israeli Jews, Arabs hold coexistence rallies
Several groups of Jewish and Arab mayors and municipal leaders have met and appealed for calm, while coexistence groups have called for a halt to inter-communal violence.
By JEREMY SHARONUpdated: MAY 13, 2021 22:33Jewish and Arab Israelis are seen holding a pro-coexistence rally in Tel Aviv, on May 13, 2021.(photo credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)
Several events and initiatives are being staged around the country involving Arab and Jewish citizens in an effort to restore belief in the possibility of coexistence and tolerance among Israel’s different ethnic communities.Several groups of Jewish and Arab mayors and municipal leaders have met and appealed for calm, while coexistence groups have called for a halt to inter-communal violence.On Wednesday night, another group of Arab and Jewish municipal leaders from the Jezreel Valley, Shfaram, Ramat Yishai, Beit Zarzir, Bir al-Mahsour, Yafia and other locations met to express solidarity and protest the recent violence between Jews and Arabs.“We have joined hands out of an understanding that only through true partnership can we create a different reality here,” they said.“Hatred is a sword that will turn on us. We will eradicate it and we will not let an extremist and violent minority drag all of us into a situation that none of us want.”And on Thursday, another group of municipal leaders from a group of Jewish and Arab towns gathered to call for calm, including the Mayor of Rosh Ayin, Shalom Ben Moshe, Chairman of Oranit Municipal Council, Nir Bartal, Mayor of Kafr Qassem, Adel Badir, Chairman of the Jaljulyia Municipal Council, Darwish Raabi, and head of the Kafr Bara Municipal Council, Mohammed Asi, Ynet reported.The group called on citizens to refrain from violence and any form of incitement.“The residents of this region have enjoyed years of neighborly relations, cooperation and partnership,” the leaders stated.“This is the present and this is our future. We call to preserve these relations with all vigilance.”And on Thursday evening, the Standing Together coexistence group organized demonstrations entitled “Stopping this Together,” to protest inter-communal violence and the conflict with Gaza, at more than 25 locations around the country, including Jerusalem, Lod, Haifa and Beersheba.The organization said that thousands of citizens, Jews and Arabs, turned out in the early hours of the evening across the country to express solidarity and a mutual desire for “security, freedom and peace.”“We have all been outraged by the terrible scenes, we have all been outraged by the lynchings, by the fatal shooting in Lod, the attacks in the streets, and the arson,” the organization said.“Instead of letting the government drag us down to violence, we demand personal security for everyone, instead of escalation and inferno, we demand calm and a ceasefire.”
