Arab and Jewish activists protect central Israel home from war tensions

As night falls on Jaffa, a historically Palestinian district of Tel Aviv, a group of Arab and Jewish activists set out, posters and glue in hand, to spread messages of reconciliation.

"No to violence, no to racism," reads one banner pasted onto a wall in one of Jaffa's alleyways, aiming to quell tensions that have spiked since war broke out last month between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

"It seems quite trivial and basic, but these days... no one seems to want to hear those words," said Amir Badran, a lawyer.

Alongside a neighbourhood watch and other initiatives in the mixed Jewish-Arab area, such displays of joint activism put the group at risk of being "seen as traitors", Badran told AFP.

Jaffa, once a majority-Arab city, was merged with Tel Aviv shortly after Israel's establishment in 1948 following a war during which most of its Palestinian residents were forced out or fled -- some to Gaza.

According to municipality figures, Arab residents now make up 26 percent of Jaffa's population.

Badran this year became to first Arab to run for mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa in elections scheduled for late October but postponed due to the war.

Since Hamas militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, sparking deadly fighting that killed some 1,200 people in Israel and more than 11,000 in Gaza, according to official figures on both sides, life in Jaffa has ground to a halt.

Shops lining central Jaffa's streets, with their Ottoman-era stone buildings, have shuttered. The usually bustling bike lanes are largely deserted, as are the trendy cafes that give the gentrified neighbourhood its hipster credentials.

"Everyone is staying at home," said Badran.

"People are afraid, Jews and Arabs alike."

- Branded 'enemy' -

Jewish-Arab unrest during a past Gaza war in May 2021 is still fresh in the memory of Jaffa residents, when places of worship had been attacked and barricades erected on the streets.

When the current war erupted, activists teamed up to maintain peace on the streets and set up a hotline, planning to deploy during times of extreme tensions including Jewish Israeli right-wing rallies.

The Israeli government has announced plans to make it easier to carry weapons for self-defence, but many Arabs fear guns might be pointed at them in a climate of heightened suspicion.

Rights groups have also reported a surge in arrests often over social media posts interpreted by Israeli authorities as "incitement to terrorism".

"To write 'I feel bad for the children of Gaza' (online) has become dangerous", said comedian Ghassan Ashkar.

Ashkar, 49, who often performs at Jaffa's Arab-Jewish theatre, described "crazy complexity, incomprehensible to outsiders" of his identity in majority-Jewish Israel.

"On the one hand, tomorrow I'm going to the grave of my friend, the stage manager, a Jew killed at Nova," he said of the desert rave targeted by Hamas gunmen in a deadly raid on October 7.

"And on the other hand, I could get arrested at any moment because I'm an 'enemy' of this Israeli government."

-'Drop in ocean of hate'-

The activist group that took to Jaffa's streets on Thursday evening included some Jewish Israeli leftists.

They represent a tiny minority in their society backing calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry says most war deaths were civilians.

"I can no longer accept this argument that all Arabs are like Hamas," said 18-year-old Lior Fogel, who argued her community must see "that there are good people everywhere".

"The atmosphere is unbearable," she said, adding she was "disappointed by the international left which is right about Gaza but doesn't see the suffering of October 7" in Israel, where authorities say most deaths were civilians, too.

Fogel this week received her call to enlist in military service, which is compulsory for most Jewish Israelis, but said she was trying "by all possible means" to be granted exemption.

"We are a drop in an ocean of hate, but if this drop isn't there, who will say the things we want to say?" said the activist, posters with messages of peace rolled under her arm.