Hundreds of Israeli protesters against recent violence in the West Bank and its Israeli occupation scuffled with police as they tried to block traffic during their demonstration.
38-year-old Uri Weltmann from 'Standing Together', the group that organised the protest, said: "All over Israel, here in Tel Aviv and elsewhere, we are protesting against the horrific pogrom committed by the extremist settlers in the West Bank yesterday. They came because they have the support of the government. They have the support of high-ranking Kahanist ministers serving in the government and they are deepening the occupation, deepening the bloodshed and bringing this country into a spiral of violence and escalation. We came to raise our voice in protest, Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel, to say: End the occupation and advance towards Israeli-Palestinian peace."
Earlier on Monday, suspected Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli motorist in the occupied West Bank after Jewish settlers rampaged through a Palestinian village in a surge of violence that defied u.s. efforts to prod the sides toward security cooperation.
Israel reinforced its West Bank garrisons after two brothers from the Jewish settlement were shot dead on Sunday, triggering the rampage by settlers in which a Palestinian was killed, scores were hurt and dozens of cars and homes were torched.
37-year-old Rula Daood, national co-director of 'Standing Together, said: "So we are here tonight to demonstrate after the settlers in Hawara attacked and burnt the village and the people who live in Hawara, the Palestinian people. And we are here to demonstrate to stop the occupation, for this government to bring out all the settlements, all the settlers who are inside the Palestinian territories and to demand peace for everybody and end of the occupation."
With the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover festival weeks away, foreign mediators have sought to tamp down tensions that surged after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu regained power at the head of a hard-right coalition.
Over 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in 2023.
