Thousands of people took to the streets in Arab towns in northern Israel on Saturday to commemorate the deaths of Israeli Arabs killed by Israeli security forces in clashes last month, witnesses said.
Waving flags in the Palestinian colors and in mourning black, several thousand marched in Sakhnin, shouting slogans calling for the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital
Israeli police were out in force but did not intervene.
A similar rally was held in Kfar Kana north of Nazareth, the biggest Arab town in Israel where another protest march is due to be held later Saturday.
At least 12 Israeli Arabs have been killed during the past six weeks of violence that has mainly been centered in the Palestinian territories and in which more than 200 people have died, the majority of them Palestinians.
Israeli Arabs are Palestinians who live inside Israel's 1948 borders and have Israeli citizenship. They make up about 18 percent of the country's population -- SAKHNIN, Israel (AFP)
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