The two sides of the Israel/Palestine divide.
On the one hand, a minority of Israelis and Arabs are profoundly disturbed with the country’s decline:
International Human Rights Day was marked in Israel for the first time on Friday when thousands of people participated in a human rights march that began in Rabin square in Tel Aviv and concluded with a rally in front of the Tel Aviv Museum.
The march featured human rights organizations, Arab rights’ advocates, gay and lesbian activists, migrant workers, environmentalists and feminists, united under the slogan “No Way.”
The event, which also featured performances by Israeli musicians including Hadag Nachash, Alma Zohar and others, was meant to protest the continuing erosion of democracy in Israel and the lack of equal rights for many of the country’s citizens.
While state-backed settlers run riot in the West Bank:
Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian West Bank have vandalised a mosque, torching its library and spraying hate messages in Hebrew on the building.
The attack blamed on hardline Jews on Friday may be linked to plans that seek to curb their illegal settlement activity on land taken from Palestinians.
Village councillors and Palestinian security officials blamed Israelis from a nearby settlement for the attack.
Clashes erupted as villagers hurled stones at Israeli troops sent to investigate the incident at the mosque in the northern West Bank’s Yasuf village. The security forces responded with teargas.
One of the Hebrew language slogans sprayed on a wall read: “Get ready to pay the price.” Another read: “We will burn you all.”