Israel – Thousands of Israeli Arabs protested on Saturday against the outlawing of a popular Islamist group that Israel says has played a central role in stoking a wave of Palestinian street attacks.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Israel’s government banned the Islamic Movement’s northern branch on Nov 17, risking an angry backlash by its largely quiescent 20-percent Arab minority.
Police did not say how many people attended the protest held in the northern Arab town of Umm el-Fahem. A Reuters photographer said there were about 15,000 demonstrators in what was one of the largest Arab rallies in Israel in recent years.
The Islamic Movement’s northern branch does not, unlike its southern counterpart, recognize Israel’s legitimacy. It runs its own educational and religious services and has been at the forefront of protests against government policies toward Israeli Arabs and the Palestinians.
The group says its activities are lawful.
But Israel says the movement has encouraged Palestinian assaults on Israelis by falsely accusing the government of trying to erode Muslim control of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque complex, Islam’s third holiest site which is also sacred in Judaism.
Protesters marched through the town’s streets holding up Islamic Movement and Palestinian national flags and chanting: “With our spirit and blood we shall redeem you, al-Aqsa.”
Almost daily Palestinian stabbings, car rammings and shootings have killed 19 Israelis and one U.S. citizen since Oct. 1.
Israeli forces have killed 93 Palestinians, some of whom were carrying out assaults and others in clashes with police and troops. Many of those killed have been teenagers.
The Palestinian attacks have been triggered in part by what the Palestinians fear are Israel’s attempts to change a decades-old religious status quo at the al-Aqsa compound, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount.
Israel says it has no intention of changing arrangements at the complex, at which non-Muslim prayer is banned. However, an increase in visits by religious Jewish activists and far-right lawmakers have added to Palestinian suspicions.
Israeli Arabs are descendants of residents who stayed put during the 1948 war of Israel’s founding, in which hundreds of thousands of fellow Palestinians fled or were forced to leave their homes.
Though they have equal rights, Israeli Arabs often say they are treated as second-class citizens, citing inferior services and unfair allocations for education, health and housing. More than half live below the poverty line.
They don’t want to have a state called israel. They only wish to destroy their state,and replace it with palestine B.T.Y. which never existed. Where were all of these protestors when Jordan was in control of that place since 1948?Did they ever protest and agitate for a homeland? When turkey had control of the whole middle east, did they ever want an independent state?
Israel should not be tempted to alliviate restrictions it imposed to harness Arab propoganda, Given the passion, Palestinians have with murder and blood spilling,
Its about time that Israel had the guts to ban an Islamic group that has been inciting violence. The truth is, that Abbas is also guilty of incitement and if at all possible, Israel should have also indicted him. In addition, any local preachers who are inciting violence to Jews should be immediatly deported. Israel and its Arab population have lived together pretty much in harmony for decades because fundamentally they understand each other. incendiary Imams try to confuse the Arabs into hating Jews which is easy because they are using the vehicle of religion. Israel is finally waking up and siezing that vehicle from them. But this is only a start – and it needs to do much more.
tell your preacher to STOP INCITEMENT then you’ll be free t live
Protesting terrorism would give them real legitimacy.
all these protestors should be considered traitors to Israel, their properties seized and they should all be either dumped in the sea or shipped to Uganda!
If you don’t like Israel you can always leave!