Left rallies in Tel Aviv against ‘apartheid,’ ‘transfer’ plan

FEBRUARY 1, 2020 22:52

Left-wing politicians rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday night against the “Deal of the Century” which they said was a plan for ‘transfer’ and ‘apartheid.

“This isn’t a peace plan, it’s not even a plan,” said MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz). It’s a recipe for annexation, transfer, violence and apartheid, Zandberg told the activists who attended the rally.

True peace can only be achieved between the Israeli and Palestinian leadership and not between two leaders, one who is facing impeachment and the other who is facing criminal charges, Zandberg said.

The event organized by Peace Now included a a march and a rally. The Israeli left opposes US President Donald Trump’s peace plan in part because it calls for redrawing the map of sovereign Israel in such a way that the Arab-Israeli communities in the Triangle area would be excluded from the state of Israel and included in a Palestinian state.

They are also against the plan because it allows for unilateral annexation and puts forward what they believe a non-viable vision of a Palestinian state.

MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Joint List) recalled watching the unveiling of the plan at the White House, an event that included Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“When I saw Trump and Netanyahu present their plan in a room filled with the rich, filled with men, filled with settlers and almost no women and no Palestinians, a deep worry rose in my heart. I was concerned about the realization of their brutal plan,” Touma-Sliman said.

“But when I see all of us here, I believe that together we can stop this plan. They have money, they have power, they have armies and all the instruments of control. But justice is on our side,” Touma-Sliman said.

“We have hope for a better future,” she added.

On Friday Great Britain, one of the 15 UNSC members, spoke out against any Israeli attempts to unilaterally annex portions of the West Bank.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “Any such unilateral moves would be damaging to renewed efforts to re-start peace negotiations, and contrary to international law. Any changes to the status quo cannot be taken forward without an agreement negotiated by the parties themselves.”