NAZARETH, Israel (AFP) — Thousands of Israeli Arabs demonstrated in the northern town of Nazareth on Saturday to protest against the crippling Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
The protesters carried pictures of children and sick people in Gaza and placards reading: "No to the hunger of the Palestinian people" and "(US President George W.) Bush and (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert are war criminals."
Men and women marched separately in the demonstration which was organised by the radical wing of the Islamic Movement whose leader Sheikh Raed Salah led the protesters.
The Islamic radicals do not recognise the Jewish state and field candidates only in municipal not parliamentary elections.
Israel has allowed food into the Gaza Strip on only three days since a flare-up of violence on the border on November 4 prompted it to tighten its blockade of the aid-dependent territory.
Across the border in Lebanon, dozens of Palestinian refugees took part in a sit-in condemning the Arab and international "silence" over the Israeli blockade in the most populous of the country's dozen refugee camps, Ain el-Helweh.
Women, children and activists from various Palestinian factions waved national flags and banners.
The sit-in ended with groups of gunmen burning Israeli and American flags as participants yelled out slogans praising the resolve of the people of Gaza.
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