Police arrested a 49-year-old man from Shfaram for waving a Palestinian flag during a Jewish-Arab protest in Haifa on Thursday.
The protest set out on Thursday afternoon, initiated by “Partnership for Peace” and dozens of other organizations and parties, marking 59 years since the Six Day War and what organizers call “six decades of occupation and ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people,” while calling “for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.” Protesters arrived in the city on dozens of buses organized in advance.
The organizers said the annual protest is “a cry and a clear statement against the occupation and its crimes, especially over the past year. The occupation must be uprooted together with all its cruel crimes, mass killing, uprooting and expulsion, torture and false arrests, crimes that the Netanyahu Ben-Gvir government has brought to unprecedented dimensions.”
According to them, “the criminal war led by the Netanyahu government in recent years on all fronts is a continuation of the colonialist mentality of occupation and settlement, a mentality that controls this government as it did its predecessors.”
The protest, which began at Paris Square in Haifa’s lower city, ended with a rally featuring short political speeches at the municipal square at the Allenby/Persians junction. Speakers included Yousef Jabareen, head of the Hadash list for the Knesset; Jamal Zahalka, chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel; Fadwa Khader, a political leader from east Jerusalem; Eina Gertsman, a draft refuser; and journalist Israel Frey.
Among the protesters were also former Knesset deputy speaker Mohammad Barakeh, who recently ended his term as chairman of the Follow-Up Committee, and Reem Hazan, chairwoman of the Hadash party in Haifa.
Hadash chairman attacks Netanyahu's government
Jabareen sharply attacked the government, saying, “The plan of decisive victory and transfer has become the official work plan of the Netanyahu-Smotrich-Ben-Gvir government.” He further added that “these plans, Smotrich’s plan, the plan of decisive victory and transfer, have gone from a drawer plan of delusional messianics to the official work plan of the Netanyahu-Smotrich-Ben-Gvir government.”
According to him, 59 years of occupation have been years of “military control over the Palestinian people,” land theft, settlement expansion, and settler violence. He argued that the occupation is no longer a temporary situation but a deliberate policy of the Israeli government over the years.
Jabareen also attacked the government’s conduct in the war in Gaza and its policy in the West Bank. “In the far-right government, Netanyahu’s Kahanist government, Smotrich speaks openly about annexation, expulsion, transfer, and settlements throughout all areas of the West Bank, in Gaza, and also in Lebanon,” he said.
He claimed that the alternative to the current policy is “ending the occupation, dismantling the settlements, and establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel.” He called for the establishment of “a real democratic camp of Jews and Arabs,” and added that in the next elections Hadash, together with Arab society and “Jewish democratic forces,” would work to “send Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, and Smotrich home.”
“There are two choices,” he concluded, “either occupation and apartheid, or a just peace and democracy. Yes to two states, yes to peace, yes to democracy.”
Counterprotesters stand against Israel-Arab protest
A handful of counterprotesters were also present at the site, carrying an Israeli flag dozens of meters long.
“A protest like this does not do us any good,” Haifa city council member Tatiana John from the “Connected to Haifa Beitenu” faction told Walla, having arrived together with her fellow city council faction member, Artyom Kharchenko. “I do not want to see PLO flags in the State of Israel. We came to say that Haifa is in Israel. We brought our famous 20-meter-long flag, and of course, I would have liked to see more people with Zionist values, regardless of which party or religion they are from, coming and joining us in a blue and white protest like this.”
“People are demonstrating here in favor of Israel’s enemies, and I do not understand it,” said Haifa resident Victoria Iashvili, who immigrated from Georgia and was among the protesters who sought to support council member John. “Across the way, there are city council members from the municipality protesting here, and they care more about our enemies than about Haifa residents. How is this possible, especially after what happened on October 7!”
“I agree with our city council members Tatiana John and Artyom Kharchenko,” said Haifa distinguished citizen, attorney Vladimir Petrov, 77, who immigrated to Israel from Siberia. “The Palestinians are people too, but I am completely Israeli, and our country needs to be strong, even if that means Israel will be above the Palestinians.”