German lawmakers host 'Solidarity with Israel' rally
Kate Brady
May 21, 2021
Politicians reiterated the country's "special responsibility" at a Berlin demonstration, which aimed to show solidarity with Israel and reject antisemitism. For some onlookers, the government response was "one-sided."
Image: Kate Brady/DW
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Just hours before Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire on Thursday evening, around a thousand people filled the square — Platz des 18. März — behind Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. While some donned Israeli flags like capes, or attached tiny flags to FFP2 face masks, others carried placards with slogans like "Israel has the right to defend itself" and "Free Gaza from Hamas."
"Solidarity with Israel — against all antisemitism" was the official motto of the demonstration. Organized by a group of Jewish and non-Jewish societies and associations, several prominent politicians also gave speeches — all of them reiterating Germany's "special responsibility" to protect Israel due to Germany's history.
"Israel must defend itself" was just one of several slogan on display.Image: Kate Brady/DW
Germany's Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said ensuring the safety of the Jewish state was among Germany's national goals and ambitions.
"Nothing justifies the firing of thousands of rockets on the Israeli state by a terror organization whose stated goal is the killing of Jews and the annihilation of Israel," the Social Democrat politician went on to say.
Hamas' latest barage of rockets, which began 11 days ago, was in response to Israel's crackdown on Palestinian protests against the threat of forced evictions in East Jerusalem. Israel considers all of Jerusalem to be an official part of its territory, but the international community, including the EU and Germany, condemns Israeli settler expansion into the occupied Palestinian territories.
A history of the Middle East peace process
For over half a century, disputes between Israelis and Palestinians over land, refugees and holy sites remain unresolved. DW gives you a short history of when the conflict flared and when attempts were made to end it.
UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, passed on November 22, 1967, called for the exchange of land for peace. Since then, many of the attempts to establish peace in the region have referred to 242. The resolution was written in accordance with Chapter VI of the UN Charter, under which resolutions are recommendations, not orders.
Image: Getty Images/Keystone
Camp David Accords, 1978
A coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, fought Israel in the Yom Kippur or October War in October 1973. The conflict eventually led to the secret peace talks that yielded two agreements after 12 days. This picture from March 26, 1979, shows Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, his US counterpart Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin after signing the accords in Washington.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/B. Daugherty
The Madrid Conference, 1991
The US and the former Soviet Union came together to organize a conference in the Spanish capital. The discussions involved Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians — not from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) — who met with Israeli negotiators for the first time. While the conference achieved little, it did create the framework for later, more productive talks.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Hollander
Oslo I Accord, 1993
The negotiations in Norway between Israel and the PLO, the first direct meeting between the two parties, resulted in the Oslo I Accord. The agreement was signed in the US in September 1993. It demanded that Israeli troops withdraw from West Bank and Gaza Strip and a self-governing, interim Palestinian authority be set up for a five-year transitional period. A second accord was signed in 1995.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Sachs
Camp David Summit Meeting, 2000
US President Bill Clinton invited Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat to the retreat in July 2000 to discuss borders, security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem. Despite the negotiations being more detailed than ever before, no agreement was concluded. The failure to reach a consensus at Camp David was followed by renewed Palestinian uprising, the Second Intifada.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/R. Edmonds
The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002
The Camp David negotiations were followed first by meetings in Washington and then in Cairo and Taba, Egypt — all without results. Later the Arab League proposed the Arab Peace Initiative in Beirut in March 2002. The plan called on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders so that a Palestinian state could be set up in the West Bank and Gaza. In return, Arab countries would agree to recognize Israel.
Image: Getty Images/C. Kealy
The Roadmap, 2003
The US, EU, Russia and the UN worked together as the Middle East Quartet to develop a road map to peace. While Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas accepted the text, his Israeli counterpart Ariel Sharon had more reservations with the wording. The timetable called for a final agreement on a two-state solution to be reached in 2005. Unfortunately, it was never implemented.
Image: Getty Iamges/AFP/J. Aruri
Annapolis, 2007
In 2007, US President George W. Bush hosted a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to relaunch the peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took part in talks with officials from the Quartet and over a dozen Arab states. It was agreed that further negotiations would be held with the goal of reaching a peace deal by the end of 2008.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Thew
Washington, 2010
In 2010, US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to and implement a 10-month moratorium on settlements in disputed territories. Later, Netanyahu and Abbas agreed to relaunch direct negotiations to resolve all issues. Negotiations began in Washington in September 2010, but within weeks there was a deadlock.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Milner
Cycle of escalation and ceasefire continues
A new round of violence broke out in and around Gaza in late 2012. A ceasefire was reached between Israel and those in power in the Gaza Strip, which held until June 2014. The kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in June 2014 resulted in renewed violence and eventually led to the Israeli military operation Protective Edge. It ended with a ceasefire on August 26, 2014.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Paris summit, 2017
Envoys from over 70 countries gathered in Paris, France, to discuss the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Netanyahu slammed the discussions as "rigged" against his country. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives attended the summit. "A two-state solution is the only possible one," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at the opening of the event.
Image: Reuters/T. Samson
Deteriorating relations in 2017
Despite the year's optimistic opening, 2017 brought further stagnation in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. A deadly summer attack on Israeli police at the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Jews and Muslims, sparked deadly clashes. Then US President Donald Trump's plan to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem prompted Palestinian leader Abbas to say "the measures ... undermine all peace efforts."
Image: Reuters/A. Awad
Trump's peace plan backfires, 2020
US President Donald Trump presented a peace plan that freezes Israeli settlement construction but retains Israeli control over most of the illegal settlements it has already built. The plan would double Palestinian-controlled territory but asks Palestinians to cross a red line and accept the previously constructed West Bank settlements as Israeli territory. Palestinians reject the plan.
Image: Reuters/M. Salem
Conflict reignites in 2021
Plans to evict four families and give their homes in East Jerusalem to Jewish settlers led to escalating violence in May 2021. Hamas fired over 2,000 rockets at Israel, and Israeli military airstrikes razed buildings in the Gaza Strip. The international community, including Germany's Foreign Ministry, called for an end to the violence and both sides to return to the negotiating table.
"Anyone who burns Israeli flags in front of synagogues, throws stones, calls for rockets against Tel Aviv, isn't a so-called critic of Israel," senior Green Party politician Cem Özdemir told demonstrators, adding: "They're nothing more than a banal antisemite."
Some people, however, argue the space for legitimate criticism of the Israeli government's actions has become restricted due to the extreme actions of antisemites.
Pro-Israeli rally held in Berlin - DW's Simon Young reports
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Yusef, a young Berliner, was cycling by Brandenburg Gate when he stopped to see what the demo was about. The tassels of his red, black, green and white scarf stand out against the largely blue and white emblazoned crowd at the demo.
"I wear it in solidarity with Palestinians," he says. "It's sad to look up and see just the Israeli and German flag up there on the stage. I have the feeling that nobody cares about all of the children being killed on the other side. And it's difficult to voice legitimate criticism of the Israeli government."
Another young man who asks to remain anonymous, looks on alone. Sporting a white sweater with a triangular Palestine logo, he says he wanted to see for himself what politicians had to say.
This onlooker said the German government's response is "one-sided."Image: Kate Brady/DW
"I have family in Gaza," he says. "They're doing okay. But it's hard. Germany has this responsibility, but the government's response is woefully one-sided."
One member of the German-Israeli Society, Margreet Krikowski, however, said "now is not the time to be criticizing the politics of the Israeli government."
"Israel is trying to protect itself," she insisted.
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Margreet Krikowski, a member of the German-Israeli SocietyImage: Kate Brady/DW
Towards the end of the demonstration, a Palestinian man wearing a keffiyeh walks through the crowd. Demonstrators are distracted only momentarily, as he strolls by, his arms raised in the air, his fingers making V-shapes. No one interacts with him except for the police officers in high-visibility vests, who tail him from a distance.
Local Michael Kaiser is among the onlookers. He says he came to the demonstration to show "a different picture of Germany" in light of the recent antisemitic attacks. His hopes are set on dialogue for a peaceful solution.
"I'm just not sure what that solution is anymore," he says.
