The mayor of Nazareth Illit is hoping to avoid a major confrontation between thousands of pro- and anti-war demonstrators on Saturday.
Mayor Shimon Gafaso called on Public Security Minister Avi Dichter Thursday to block a rally scheduled for Saturday by the pro-communist Hadash party.
Gafaso, mayor of a city of more than 43,000 souls, said he has received "dozens of phone calls" from angry residents demanding that he cancel the rally, which is being held to protest the "massacre in Gaza."
Hadash organizers say they expect thousands of demonstrators to fill the convention hall in the predominantly Jewish city, where they will demand an "end to the [IDF] assault and the lifting of the blockade on Gaza."
The Yisrael Beiteinu party has planned a counter-demonstration, said Gafaso. "I know activists… are planning to hold a demonstration opposite the Hadash rally and in all of the city's intersections," he said, a fact confirmed by the head of the local chapter of Yisrael Beiteinu, Alex Gadalkin.
"Do they not have enough convention halls in Nazareth? Why should they hold that rally here, and at such a sensitive time?" he pointed out, accusing Hadash of creating a provocation with the timing and placement of the rally.
Hadash officials denied the charge, and said it chose to hold the rally in Nazareth Illit because it had a large convention hall.
"We will not tolerate a rally against the IDF and Israel," said Gadalkin.
Police officials are making preparations to secure the city against riots, and said "we will allow any legitimate, legal protest."
Nazareth Illit, or Upper Nazareth, was created as the “Jewish half” of Nazareth, but Arab families have been moving into it in recent years.
Hadash is composed of a Marxist-Leninist stream and other radical left-wing streams, but does not openly call for a communist system in its platform.