Several thousand people, some waving Palestinian flags, others waving red Soviet flags, demonstrated at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening against Israel's plan to extend sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and parts of Judea and Samaria.
Other protesters carried placards with a photograph of Eyad al-Hallaq, the special needs man who was shot and killed last week by Border Policemen in Jerusalem.
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The Israel Police said in a statement following the demonstration that a handful of protesters remained at the scene and disrupted the public order and blocked traffic. At around 1 a.m. all roads were reopened. Five protesters who physically resisted being dispersed were arrested and taken in for questioning.
During the rally, demonstrators also kneeled in memory of George Floyd, the African-American man who was killed by police officers in Minneapolis.
Joint Arab List Chairman MK Ayman Odeh and said in a recorded speech that was shown at the anti-sovereignty rally: "We are at a crossroads. One path leads to a joint society with true democracy and civil and national equality for Arab citizens. It is a future where both peoples realize their right to self-determination – an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. The second path will lead us to hate, violence, annexation and apartheid. A country that will eternally live by the sword and devote itself to violent control of another people. In this reality, a child's future will be determined by his nationality, and all his life he will be a second-class citizen.
"Today this country is turning right and we have to turn left. Today it is turning toward dictatorship, and we need to turn toward democracy. When they turn toward annexation and perpetuating the occupation, we will fight for peace and democracy. They want to isolate us," he said.
Odeh continued, "Three things have brought about the end of occupations: rejection by the occupied people, resistance from within the occupying country, and international public opinion. We are in the second circle. Similar to Martin Luther King Jr. and the Americans who opposed the war in Vietnam, the French who opposed the occupation of Algiers, and the Four Mothers movement and Women and Black who fought the occupation of Lebanon, we are also continuing in their footsteps. And like them, we will also win."
Meretz Chairman Nitzan Horowitz also addressed the crowd, saying that "annexation is a war crime that will cost us in blood. [Benny] Gantz, [Gabi] Ashkenazi, [Amir] Peretz, [Avi] Nissenkorn – responsibility will fall on you. You don't have a mandate, literally and figuratively, you don't have the mandate to foist apartheid upon us."
Protest organizers, who united 33 organizations, argue that unilaterally imposing Israeli sovereignty will impair efforts to promote future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
Around half of Israelis support annexation, according to a recent opinion poll.
The organizers also screened a video address by US Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders.
"It has never been more important to stand up for justice, and to fight for the future we all deserve," Sanders said. "It's up to all of us to stand up to authoritarian leaders and to build a peaceful future for every Palestinian and every Israeli."
Sanders added that Israel's "illegal" sovereignty initiative must be stopped and called for end to the "occupation."
Cyber and National Digital Matters Minister Dudi Amsalem said on Twitter after the rally: "The only Zionist answer we have to people waving red flags and PLO flags in the center of Tel Aviv – applying Israeli sovereignty over swathes of the homeland!"
Rally organizers said in a statement: "Yes to peace and democracy, no to annexation and no to occupation. We are calling for a stop to the annexation that will further entrench the occupation and we are coming out to demonstrate for democracy and peace with a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
"We want a tomorrow clean from occupation and bloodshed, in which we can all live in real security. We will protest in Tel Aviv against annexation and for peace and hope, against racism and on behalf of the power of partnership. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and [US President Donald] Trump are reinforcing a violent reality of hatred and segregation, and now they want to divide and annex parts of the West Bank, uproot residents, and deny citizenship from Israel's Arab citizens from the Triangle region and Wadi Ara. If this happens – it will eliminate any hope for a solution. But we know there is another way, equal and just, of two states, for which we need to fight."
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Netanyahu has set July 1 as the date to begin advancing the plan to apply sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and parts of Judea and Samaria, hoping for a green light from Washington.
Palestinians have rejected the Trump administration's peace proposal and have voiced outrage against Israel's sovereignty bid.
Warning of possible violence and diplomatic repercussions, some European and Arab states, together with the United Nations, have urged Israel not to move ahead with the initiative.
