Israeli peace activists show solidarity with Palestinians in Hebron city

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) - Hundreds of Israeli and foreign left-wing activists arrived in the Hebron city, in the southern West Bank, on Friday, in solidarity with its Palestinian residents.

The Israeli left-wing Breaking the Silence organization tweeted that “following recent violence against Palestinians and anti-occupation activists in Hebron, today we're back - 100s of us, on a special tour in partnership with 30+ anti-occupation organizations - to see the occupation and show solidarity with those who were attacked.”

The activists visited “Kiryat Arba, a settlement just outside Hebron” and “a park named after Meir Kahana, an outspoken Jewish supremacist whose party was outlawed and whose movement is classified as a terror group,” according to the organization.

“His follower Itamar BenGvir is soon to become a senior minister,” it added.

The organization explained that the park is “also home to the grave of Baruch Goldstein, an American-Israeli terrorist and follower of Kahana, who murdered 29 Muslim worshippers as they prayed in the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994.”

As the activists arrived in downtown Hebron, the Israeli army had issued a "closed military zone" order on the area.

“It appears there are some people here who'd prefer that the reality of the segregated city of Hebron is kept hidden,” the activists said.

The city of Hebron is considered one of the most tense Palestinian cities in the West Bank, due to the presence of Israeli settlers inside the city.

* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report