Hundreds of people, led by Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Druze religious leaders, set out to Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday as part of an interfaith march for “human rights and peace.”

The march, organized by left-leaning religious organizations for the past four years, was meant to counter Thursday’s nationalist Flag March that runs through the Old City each Jerusalem Day.

It saw several hundred coexistence activists depart from the Jerusalem YMCA and proceed down King David Street toward Jaffa Gate. Many in the crowd held signs emblazoned with words such as “Justice,” “Peace,” and “Soul” in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

Nuns, an increasingly frequent target of nationalist attacks in Jerusalem, were also seen participating in the march.

Avi Dabush, one of the organizers of the event and a candidate in the Democrats party’s primaries, called the march an alternative to last week’s Jerusalem Day revelry, which saw groups of extremist Jewish youth harass and attack Palestinian residents of the Old City.

“Jerusalem Day should be a celebration of this city in all its richness and of everyone who calls it home, not a day of pushing others out,” he said.........

© The Times of Israel