Thousands of Israelis march for peace

TEL AVIV: Thousands of Israelis took the streets here calling for new peace talks with Palestinians amid an international effort to quell a month-long Israeli-Palestinian wave of violence.

The protesters marched from Rabin Square in central Tel Aviv, Israel’s trade capital, towards Hakirya compound where the ministry of defense is located on Saturday night, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Peace Now, a left-wing organization that organised the march, about 6,000 people attended the event.

The demonstrators chanted “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies” and “two states for two people, Israel and Palestine.”

“These difficult days, days of violence, fear, and pain, are only reinforcing our understanding that there will be no real security here until there’s peace through a negotiated solution,” the organizers said in a statement.

Peace Now chairman Yariv Oppenheimer blamed the government and ultra-nationalist leaders for the recent unrest. ARAB-ISRAELI PARAGLIDES TO SYRIA An Arab Israeli has crossed into Syria using a paraglider with the apparent goal of joining rebel fighters there, the Israeli army said on Sunday.

A military spokeswoman said the army was “examining the possibility he had entered Syria in order to join rebels.”

The army said the paraglider took off from the southern section of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, adjacent to southern Syria.