In the Arab-Israeli city of Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv in Israel, more than 1500 Arab-Israelis and Jewish Israeli activists gathered on Friday in the city center to protest the threatened expulsion of 300 Arab-Israeli families (Palestinians with Israeli citizenship) from their homes in one of the Arab neighborhoods in the old city of Jaffa, in addition to the confiscation of half of an Arab graveyard known as Tasu cemetery. The rally began in the Arab neighborhood of the al Ajami, which is one of the only Arab neighborhoods left in the city (most Arab neighborhoods were ethnically cleansed when Israel was created in 1948). Al Ajami is one of the most impoverished neighborhoods of greater Tel-Aviv and Jaffa districts, but at the same time the land is highly valued.
During this peaceful rally, many of the top Palestinian Arab leaders living inside Israel delivered speeches — including Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic movement inside Israel, Jamal Zahalqa, a member of the Israeli Knesset, and Mohammad Barakeh, also a member of the Israeli Knesset.
In addition, a group of Jewish Israelis of Arab origin also participated in this protest, including Robin Abigal, one of the leaders of an Israeli group that was known in the seventies for demanding the rights of Arab Jews, and their right to retain ownership of their property in Arab states, which they left to move to Israel when Israel was created.
