Roughly 300 Palestinians and Israelis marched along a major West Bank highway Friday afternoon to demand an end to the occupation and to protest Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The monthly protest march is deliberately held on a road that both Palestinians and Israeli settlers use, with the intention of demonstrating a joint Palestinian-Israeli anti-occupation message in full view of settlers.
Photos by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org
The march set out from the “Tunnels Checkpoint,” the main checkpoint for settlers entering Jerusalem from the southern West Bank settlements of Gush Etzion.
Israeli soldiers and police accompanied the march the whole way.
A single right-wing Israeli counter-protester showed up but kept to the other side of the highway where he waved an oversized flag.
The march has been organized by a consortium of peace and anti-occupation organizations in recent months. On Friday the most prominent organization was Combatants for Peace. The main slogan was: “There is another way.”
The march ended at Husan Junction, a kilometer and a half south-west of the “Tunnels Checkpoint.” At the turnoff is a sign, common throughout the West Bank, warning Israelis not to enter Palestinian villages and cities.
