Tel Aviv rally calls for end to occupation

TEL AVIV, Israel, June 6 (UPI) -- Hundreds of people rallied Saturday in Tel Aviv to call for an end to Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

Many of the protesters were affiliated with left-wing political parties, Ynetnews reported. They held a demonstration in Rabin Square, named after Yitzhak Rabin, the assassinated prime minister who signed the Oslo Accords.

As they marched to the square, protesters chanted "42 years of occupation" and "End the occupation -- start living."

Nitzan Horovitz, a member of the Knesset, or parliament, urged his country to stand with U.S. President Barack Obama.

"Obama is drawing a clear line between supporters of peace and democracy and those who oppose peace," he said. "Israel must be in the first camp, beside the (United States), and the path there is clear: The end of settlement and the adoption of the two-state solution."

Dov Khenin, also a member of the Knesset, said the occupation could destroy Israeli society, with "occupation norms" leading to an end to political freedom.