Palestinians across the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem staged a general strike on Monday in support of the Israeli-Arab sector's protest over Israel's controversial nation-state law.
Enacted in July, Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People declares that only Jews have the right of self-determination in Israel and downgrades Arabic from its status as an official state language.
While Israel insists the law is symbolic, it has infuriated the Arab sector, with Arab lawmakers claiming the legislation is racist and marginalizes the country's Arab minority, which amounts to about 20% of the population.
The streets of Ramallah and other West Bank cities were largely empty on Monday as schools, universities, government offices and private businesses were closed. Public transportation halted as well.
For the Palestinians, the strike is a rare foray into domestic Israeli politics.
"It is the minimum we can do for our people against the racist nation-state law," said Abu Jabir al-Iraqi, a resident of the Israeli Arab town Taybeh.
Some Palestinians, however, questioned whether the strike was effective.
"I don't know if the strike we are holding in the West Bank is affecting the Jews or not, or whether it is merely shutting down all the services for nothing," said Diaa Rayan, 34, as he drove his car through the Palestinian city of Ramallah.
"This strike will make no change," said Ismail al-Saidi, a butcher from Gaza. "To make a change we need weapons to fight the enemy."
In his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said condemnations of the law were "outlandish attacks."
"When Israel is called racist for making Hebrew its official language and the Star of David its national flag, when Israel is labeled an apartheid state for declaring itself the nation-state of the Jewish people, this is downright preposterous," he said.
