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Meanwhile in Tel Aviv, 'pink bunny ears and bow ties'

8 June 2018 17:19 BST

Tel Aviv's Gay Pride Parade has attracted more than 250,000 people (MEE)

More than 250,000 people are reported to be attending Friday's Gay Pride Parade and beach party in Tel Aviv, just 70 kilometres north of Gaza.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper said that "ripped men in white underwear, pink bunny ears and black bow ties" were "gyrating through the streets" of the city, which neighbours the historic Palestinian port of Jaffa from where many refugees fled in 1948 to Gaza, where they and their families have remained trapped ever since.

Limor, a young Israeli participant in the parade, told MEE: "Today is a day of connection, I feel a connection with everybody, I feel free, without obstacles or borders."

Asked whether they saw a difference between the rights they were fighting for in Tel Aviv, and the rights of Palestinians in Gaza she said: "In Israel and Gaza, people suffer and this is because of a problem in leadership. We are all human beings, and we don’t suffer less than the people in Gaza... The people in Gaza misuse the resources we send them."

Another participant, Michal, told MEE: "What is happening in Gaza is a human accident, without any connection to what is happening here. I regret it and it hurts me, but I'm just not going to play it as if it's a problem. I do not see a connection between the joy of sexual identity and what is happening in Gaza. There is no need to force a connection, but the struggle is about freedom and I wish that the struggle in Gaza was about love and union."

Critics accuse Israel of promoting the event as part of a "pinkwashing" campaign to promote a liberal image of the country and conceal human rights abuses suffered by Palestinians.

Israeli gay rights activists also pointed out on Friday that same-sex marriage is still banned in the country, and that bills to improve LGBTQ rights had repeatedly stalled in the Knesset.

The +972 website reported that hundreds of LGBTQ activists blocked the route of the parade for a while to protest against the Israeli government's "cynical exploitation of the LGBTQ struggle".

A flyer that the activists tried to distribute to participants in the parade said: "We don’t want to bring down the mood, we swear. We are queers who want to celebrate our amazing identities and struggle for our rights together. But not at the expense of the rights of others.

"The Israel government is exploiting us to appear liberal and progressive, while violating the rights of Palestinians on a regular basis — this is called pinkwashing."