Wave of nationwide social protests hits Israel (Gelombang protes sosial di seluruh negara mencecah Israel)

REVIEW 2012: Thousands of Israelis demonstrating in the centre of the southern Israeli city of Beersheva on August 13, 2011, to protest against rising housing prices and social inequalities in the Jewish state (Beribu-ribu rakyat Israel demonstrating di pusat bandar selatan Israel Beersheva pada 13 Ogos, 2011, untuk membantah kenaikan harga rumah dan ketidaksamaan sosial di negeri Yahudi)

Berpuluh-puluh ribu orang telah berkumpul di seluruh Israel untuk protes aman untuk sebuah "negara kebajikan" pada malam Sabtu. Pihak penganjur memilih 18 bandar-bandar kecil, menetapkan Tel Aviv meluangkan masa ini, "biarkan suara-suara yang lain bercakap." Anggaran Polis bahawa antara 50,000 dan 70,000 orang membanjiri ke jalan-jalan di bandar-bandar Israel pada hari Sabtu, melaungkan "kami menuntut keadilan sosial. "demonstrasi di seluruh negara, yang bermula pada masa 10:00 tempatan (1900GMT), digerakkan orang-orang dari utara bandar Nahariya di sempadan Lubnan ke pelabuhan selatan Eilat.

Buat kali pertama, terdapat bantahan di beberapa bandar Arab, laporan Associated Press. Pihak penganjur memutuskan untuk mengekalkan bantahan hujung minggu ini dari kedua-dua utama kawasan metropolitan Tel Aviv dan Baitulmaqdis untuk membuktikan kepada kerajaan bahawa tuntutan mereka berurusan dengan isu-isu sosial yang memberi kesan kepada seluruh negara. Bandar utara Haifa mendakwa demonstrasi terbesar dengan lebih daripada 20,000 orang. Tetapi Beersheba, di mana pula keluar terbesar telah dijangka boleh berbangga tidak lebih daripada 5,000 orang, walaupun pemimpin protes tidak mengira rendah pemogokan sebagai seorang yang gagal.

"Keluar mengundi adalah lebih kurang apa yang kita terfikir. Walaupun terdapat hanya 5 orang di sini, kami telah gembira. Titik adalah bahawa terdapat terlalu banyak tumpuan pergerakan di Tel Aviv dan Baitulmaqdis, dan banyak masalah yang dihadapi oleh negara ini bukan sahaja di kota-kota, tetapi seluruh Israel, jadi kami membuat keputusan bahawa kita akan menutup mulut kita (di Tel Aviv) dan biarkan suara-suara yang lain bercakap, "kata Roee Neumann, jurucakap pergerakan protes khemah-bandar, seperti yang dipetik oleh Jerusalem Post.

Penunjuk perasaan di Beersheba membawa sepanduk "selatan marah" dan "ke arah negara kebajikan - sekarang." Demonstrasi itu telah diiringi oleh persembahan muzik. "Keadilan sosial" pergerakan di Israel bermula pada pertengahan bulan Julai dengan sebuah bandar khemah di Tel-Aviv, di mana orang mengadu tentang semua perumahan kos terlalu tinggi. Selepas 4 hujung minggu berturut-turut bantahan, kemarahan orang ramai telah diperluaskan kepada isu-isu ekonomi yang lain, termasuk kos makanan, petrol dan pendidikan.

Hujung minggu sebelumnya Israel melihat bantahan terbesar yang pernah dalam sejarah apabila lebih 300,000 orang hadir untuk menuntut pembaharuan segera, dengan Tel Aviv mengumpul demonstrasi kuat 250,000. Perdana Menteri Benjamin Netanyahu terpaksa memanggil jawatankuasa untuk menangani tuntutan penunjuk perasaan. Walau bagaimanapun, setakat ini cadangan yang dibuat oleh kerajaan tidak mendapat kelulusan penunjuk perasaan'. Terdapat panggilan untuk perarakan yang berjuta-juta orang di 50 bandar di seluruh Israel pada 3 September.

Wave of nationwide social protests hits Israel

Tens of thousands people have gathered across Israel for fresh protests for a “welfare state” on Saturday night. The organizers picked 18 smaller cities, setting Tel Aviv aside this time, “to let the rest of the voices speak.” Police estimate that between 50,000 and 70,000 people flooded onto the streets of Israeli cities and towns on Saturday, chanting “we demand social justice.” The nationwide demonstration, which started at 10pm local time (1900GMT), mobilized people from the northern city of Nahariya on the Lebanese border to the southern port of Eilat.

For the first time, there were protests in a number of Arab towns, reports the Associated Press. The organizers decided to keep this weekend’s protests away from the two main metropolitan areas of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to prove to the government that their demands deal with social issues that affect the whole of the country.  The northern city of Haifa claimed the largest demonstration with more than 20,000 people. But Beersheba, where the largest turn-out had been expected, could boast no more than 5,000 people, though protest leaders did not count the low turn-out as a failure.

“The turnout is more or less what we figured. Even if there were only five people here, we would have been pleased. The point was that there was too much of a concentration of the movement in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and many of the problems facing the country are not only in those cities, but all over Israel, so we decided that we would shut our mouths [in Tel Aviv] and let the rest of the voices speak,” said Roee Neumann, the spokesman for the tent-city protest movement, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post.

Protesters in Beersheba were carrying banners “the south is angry” and “towards a welfare state - now.” The demonstration was accompanied by a musical performance. The “social justice” movement in Israel started in mid-July with a tent-city in Tel-Aviv, where people complained about the all too high housing costs. After four consecutive weekends of protests, the public’s rage has extended to other economic issues, including the cost of food, petrol and education.

The previous weekend Israel saw the largest ever protest in its history when more than 300,000 people turned out to demand urgent reforms, with Tel Aviv gathering a 250,000 strong demonstration. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to call a committee to address the protesters’ demands. However, so far the proposals made by the government have not gained demonstrators’ approval. There are calls for a million-person march in 50 cities across Israel on September 3.