ISRAEL: Israelis and Palestinians demonstrate simultaneously to mark 39 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Record ID: 398180

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israelis and Palestinians demonstrate simultaneously to mark 39 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
  • Date: 4th June 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) RAMI, A STUDENT LIVING IN TEL AVIV, SAYING: "Yes, we have a similar sister demonstration in Ramallah right now going on with thousands of people marching there with the same massage of peace that we can cooperate, we can work together, we can destroy the occupation together, destroy the racism and do something together."
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAB5ZRYNDYM4NGWGPXOODZHWX0L
  • Story Text: Scores of Palestinians and Israelis marched simultaneously on Saturday (June 3, 2006) in the West Bank and Israel to mark 39 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
    Protesters in the West Bank city of Ramallah and in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv began marching at the same time, protesting against Israel's occupation and its policy towards the Hamas government which took over the Palestinian Authority after winning January elections.
    In Ramallah, some 100 protesters marched around the city's main square, chanting and waving flags and signs calling for the end of the occupation.
    In the coastal city of Tel Aviv, some 200 demonstrators marched through the city's streets, chanting in Hebrew and Arabic.
    "We have a similar sister demonstration in Ramallah right now going on with thousands of people marching there with the same massage of peace that we can cooperate, we can work together, we can destroy the occupation together, destroy the racism and do something together," said Rami, a student, who took part in the march.
    Simultaneous demonstrators in Ramallah and Tel Aviv had took place in the past. Saturday's rally was organised as a joint project of the Palestinian Popular Party and Israel's Hadash party - both with social orientation.
    Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. Israel also captured the Gaza Strip, but withdrew its troops and some 8,000 Jewish settlers from it last year.
    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has proposed a unilateral plan to redraw Israel's settlement map in the occupied West Bank.
    Under Olmert's "realignment" plan for the West Bank, Israel would remove isolated Jewish settlements, bolster major enclaves and set frontiers if peacemaking remained frozen.
    Palestinians have condemned the blueprint as denying them the viable state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register