"Peace Yes! Occupation No!" chanted from thousands of throats in Ibn Gvirol Street - the Tel-Aviv protest march to mark the 40th anniversary of the occupation, Saturday June 9.

"Back to the 1967 Borders!", "Enough of the Occupation, Yes to Israeli-Palestinian Peace!", "Peace Negotiations Will Prevent War!" said the slogans that were carried at the head of each bloc of protesters.

The demonstrators assembled in Rabin Square and marched through the streets of Tel-Aviv to Museum Square, where they listened to speeches by former Knesset Member Naomi Hazan, the chairman of the Coordination Committee of the Arab Citizens, Shawki Hatib, the Palestinian co-founder of Combatants for Peace Bassam Armin and Nurit Peled-Elchanan, Laureate of the Saharov Human Rights and Freedom of Thought Prize of the European Parliament, the two latter sharing the pain of having lost a child to the occupation.

This was the first time that all peace movements demonstrated together. Activists of Gush Shalom were marching alongside activists of Peace Now, activists of Machsom Watch and the Women's Coalition for Peace with Fighters for Peace and dozens of other peace groups. The red flags of Hadash flew next to the white flags of Gush Shalom and the national flags carried by Peace Now and Meretz. The long procession was divided into blocs, with each bloc headed by a car broadcasting the slogans.

Among others (rhyming in Hebrew): "The Occupation is 40 Jears Old / Get Out of the Territories!", "No Fence and No Wall / Has Ever Prevented War!", "The Occupation Corrupts / End it Now!", "The Occupation is a Disaster / Peace is the Solution!", "The Occupation is a Crime / of the Evil Government!", "Sderot and Gaza, Don't Despair / We shall end the Occupation!", "Both in Gaza and Sderot / Children want to Live!"

The protest songs of Rona Kenan and the rapper Sameh Zakout from Ramle aroused strong emotions at the rally.

This evening was the culmination of 6 days of protest.

Click here and read the full report by Adam Keller, who as representative of Gush Shalom was involved in the preparations.

Click here to view video from the march

Text in full of the keynote speech by Nurit Peled