Up a narrow, stone stairwell in this ancient port city, a group of self-confessed radicals plot an evening of interfaith rebellion.
In a sea of hardening views and violent rhetoric after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, this small but growing band have formed an unofficial civil guard, an attempt to prevent the type of urban unrest that has accompanied previous rounds of conflict between Israel and militants in Gaza.
Their mostly leftist movement is a fringe one, a relative speck of cooperation in a land where ethnic and territorial strife is once again reaching a crescendo.
But on a recent humid night, their task was mixing: Israeli Arabs and Jews — and wallpaper paste.
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“We are trying to send a message — not just to the local community but to the whole world — that there are people who want to come together and reject the violence that we are seeing,” said Amir Badran, who is Arab, a local councilman with the “We Are the City” party, and one of the group’s leaders. “I lie awake at night worried that a ground offensive could spark more unrest in the streets here as we have seen before.”
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