Cities across israel have been consumed by violent altercations after weeks of protests by Arab Israelis over Jerusalem authorities' move to restrict access to a key Muslim holy site. The situation was exacerbated further by back-and-forth rocket and missile strikes by militants in Gaza and Israeli warplanes that have left over 150 people dead.
Israeli Jews and Arabs staged joint rallies across multiple cities in israel on Friday demanding an end to the recent spate of inter-ethnic violence between their communities.
One of the rallies, dubbed ‘Jews and Arabs – Refusing to Be Enemies', took place in a square in Eilat, southern Israel, with protesters carrying signs reading “Stop,” “We are Hope” and “Love Thy Neighbour as Thyself.”
Another event took place in Jaffa outside Tel Aviv, with dozens of people, mostly women, gathering near the town's clock tower with anti-war signs and chanting “No More War” in English, Hebrew and Arabic.
More protests took place elsewhere, including the Hefer Valley in central Israel, where demonstrators blocked off traffic.
Friday's protests followed a spate of joint Jewish-Arab demonstrations across nearly three dozen locations on Thursday, with hospital workers and schoolteachers staging coordinated rallies in several cities, and local peace activists also staging protests at major traffic junctions in the central and northern Israel.
The peace…
