Standing Together is an organizing body for Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel. They say the struggle is for a society in which all Arabs and Jews enjoy security, freedom from violence, and, most of all, equality. Rula Daood and Alon-Lee Green join theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay, who asks, can there be equality for Palestinians within a Jewish state?

Paul Jay

Hi, I'm Paul Jay. Welcome to theAnalysis.news. Please don't forget the donate button and subscribe button and such. And thank you to everyone who has already donated and we'll be back in a few seconds with two organizers inside Israel fighting for what they say is peace and equality.

The recent Israeli attacks on Gaza and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem has raised even higher the Israeli chauvinist and militarist sentiment inside the country. One poll found that seventy three percent of Israelis wanted the attacks on Gaza to continue. A new government has been formed, but it appears as right wing as the now ousted Netanyahu. It's even more difficult to organize inside Israel for peace and equality between Israelis and Palestinians. Standing Together has been a leading voice and an organizing body for Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel. They say that they will continue their work because "We are not willing to return to normal." They say that the struggle is for a society in which all Arabs and Jews enjoy security, freedom from violence, safety in homes and on streets and in the cities, and, most of all, equality.

Now joining us to discuss the current situation in Israel are two leaders of Standing Together. Rula Daood is the co-national director of Standing Together, the joint Arab Jewish Progressive Grassroots Movement. Rula is a speech pathologist in her training and former profession. She started her activism in her current city of Lod, from where she's coming to us today, around issues of women's rights and gun violence and promoting partnerships in mixed cities. Rula worked as a community organizer at Standing Together for two years where she produced numerous events and organized protests with hundreds of activists before being appointed co-national director.

Alon-Lee Green is the founding national director of Standing Together. As a teenager, Alon-Lee was active in organizing Israel's first trade union of waiters in a chain of coffee shops. As leader of the union, he led a six week strike, was fired by management, and then returned to his job by a court order. He eventually won the strike and signed the first ever collective agreement in Israel's restaurant industry. He went on to found Israel's first National Waiters Union and has appeared numerous times in the media speaking about young workers rights. In the summer of 2011, he played a prominent role in Israel's social protest movement and convened some of its largest rallies. Thank you both for joining me.

Rula Daood

Thank you.

Alon-Lee Green

Thank you, Paul.

Paul Jay

So, Rula, start with a little bit more about your own background and how you got involved in Standing Together.

Rula Daood

Actually, I'm originally from up north. I'm from a village called Kufr Yaseef, and, as a Palestinian citizen of Israel, we basically grew up being nonpolitical. I was from the generation who was born to parents who actually lived through the martial law that was inside of Israel. And you grew up in an environment where it's hard for your parents to accept that you want to be political, that you want to have political issues to fight for, because they come from a place where they were very oppressed.