Besieged on all sides, Israeli Arabs preach message of coexistence
At a hotel perched on a hillside above Nazareth, fresh Israeli evacuees from northern kibbutzim near the Lebanese border sit for breakfast at tables next to Arab families.
On a breezy balcony overlooking the predominantly Christian-Arab town in the Galilee region, they laugh and chatter as their children play together in an adjacent courtyard.
“This is the way things should be. We are proof that coexistence is not only a possible future, but the only possible future,” says Ghassan, a server. “But we can’t make our voice heard.”
Variously describing themselves as Israeli Arabs or Palestinians – they are citizens of Israel with a Palestinian identity – they are suffering a twin tragedy from the escalating Israel-Hamas war, grieving friends and relatives killed by Hamas in Israel and by Israeli missile strikes in Gaza.
Pinned in by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia
