Demonstrations for Israel and Palestine on eve of Yom Kippur

LOS ANGELES - Pro-Israeli demonstrators sang and waved the Israeli flag Sunday while Palestinian advocates marched with a mock coffin in Orange County to protest West Bank violence on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

About 75 people waved blue-and-white Israeli flags during a two-hour rally in the Westwood neighborhood around the University of California, Los Angeles.

''Israel is for peace. Israel is giving land back for peace and in return we're getting attacked,'' demonstrator Sigal Erez said.

At a cemetery in the Hollywood Hills where Jews made traditional visits to the graves of loved ones, Barry Bender said the issues are difficult to decide.

''The Israelis are right. The Palestinians are right. They don't realize the harm that they're doing to everybody,'' Bender said.

In Anaheim, dozens of protesters called attention to the latest violence between Israelis and Palestinians, which erupted more than a week ago along Israel's West Bank and Gaza Strip. Most of the 84 killed have been Palestinian.

Kamal Elsayed said there was no hope for peace.

''After what happened it's hard to imagine They murdered children,'' Elsayed said, amid signs that read ''Oppression Always Wrong,'' and a mock coffin.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, began at sundown Sunday. Jews traditionally mark the holiday with fasting and prayer. But Jewish community leaders took the opportunity to speak out about the violence in the Mideast.

''The Jewish community will stand with the state of Israel in this terrible hour of need, in which Israelis and Palestinians are needlessly being exposed to the threat of war because Israel took the gamble for peace,'' said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, dean at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.