TEL AVIV—Hundreds of Arab and Jewish students took part at noon Wednesday in a rally commemorating Nakba Day that was held at the entrance to Tel Aviv University on the initiative of the student chapter of Hadash, the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality.
Contrary to what has happened in the past 11 years, the police first announced that they would not allow the commemoration to take place. The police eventually caved, however, at the last minute. A counter-protest was held in front of it by dozens of supporters of the fascist movement.
Under heavy police presence, the participants marked the day of the Nakba with banners and ceremonies. The demonstrators—among them were Communist Party of Israel General Secretary Adel Amer, Knesset Members Ofer Cassif and Aida Toma-Soliman, and Hadash Secretary Amjad Strike—waved signs with the slogans “Get out of Gaza and Rafah,” “There is no democracy with occupation,” “Ceasefire now,” and “Stop the genocide in Gaza.”
The students were also joined by lecturers who teach at the campus in Ramat Aviv. However, many were not allowed to join the rally because police sealed the campus gates.
At the end of the rally, which ended without any violence, MK Cassif said: “I participated in the event to mark the annual Nakba Day at Tel Aviv University, under the threats of the Messianic Right, the persecution of the regime and the shadow of the war on Gaza. We Jews and Arabs stood together, to end the bloodshed, to end the war and the cursed occupation, for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and for a common future based on true justice and peace.”
The Hadash student chapter had contacted the police last week and requested a permit to hold a peaceful demonstration outside the university gates, as they do every year. The police refused. After a petition was presented to the High Court, police relented and approved the request subject to restrictions, including a ban on flying the Palestinian flag.
Another Nakba Day ceremony of fighters for peace will be held Wednesday night. On Tuesday, thousands participated in the Nakba Return march “at a time when Israel is carrying out a second Nakba against our people with U.S. support.” The procession left in the afternoon from the eastern entrance of the city of Shafaram to the villages of Hosha and Al-Kasair, which were destroyed in 1948 and their inhabitants deported.
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