Israel Proposes 'Quiet for Quiet' on Gaza Border, Hamas Urges 'Blood for Blood'
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – The uneasy calm that prevailed near Israel's border with Gaza Thursday night and Friday lasted only about 12 hours. After that, Palestinian protesters by the thousands resumed mass riots, and Israel responded with force. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said three Palestinians were killed in the clashes.
During the brief halt in the fighting, Israel said it would return "quiet for quiet," but Palestinians launched more incendiary kites and balloons Friday, including a giant 13-foot kite that came to rest on power lines in Kibbutz Sufa. The Israeli Electric corporation was able to extract the kite before a fire broke out. Another incendiary device started a fire Saturday in the Nir Am nature reserve, according to The Times of Israel.
UN officials visited Gaza on Saturday as part on an ongoing attempt to broker a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas. But Hamas officials have already announced that they plan widespread demonstrations for Friday, August 17.
Israel National News reports a group called the Supreme Organization of the March of Return and Breaking the Siege is urging mass protests at the Gaza border and around the world to commemorate an attempted burning of the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in August 1969.
According to another INN report, Ahmed Bahar, the deputy chairman of the Palestinian Authority and a Hamas member has said the resistance will remain in force and will be based on bloodshed in response to bloodshed.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square Saturday to protest against Israel's Nation-State Law, passed last month by the Knesset. The law specifies that Israel is a Jewish state.
Many in the protest crowd waved Palestinian flags, despite a plea from organizers not to do so. The Jerusalem Post reports members of the far left Arab Balad faction in the Knesset were filmed chanting, "With spirit and blood we will liberate Palestine."
Following the demonstration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted, "There is no greater testament to the necessity of this law {than the waving of Palestinian flags}. We will continue to wave the Israeli flag and sing Hatikva {the Israeli national anthem} with great pride."
