Thousands of pro-Israel supporters have gathered in London's Trafalgar Square to call for an end to the violence in the Middle East.
Organisers said they wanted people in Gaza and Israel to live in peace, but argued that Palestinians must accept some responsibility for the conflict.
Demonstrators told the BBC they felt the rocket hits and losses Israel had suffered had been downplayed.
Chief Rabbi Dr Sir Jonathan Sacks said he wanted Hamas to "say yes to peace".
About 850 Gazans and 13 Israelis have reportedly died in 16 days of fighting.
They said the number of Israeli deaths should not be considered disproportionate to the number of Palestinian deaths, because Israelis were lucky and escaped their houses before they were hit by Palestinian rockets.
The BBC's Raffi Berg, who was at the rally, said there was a festival atmosphere as people cheered and applauded a succession of speakers who called for peace for Israel and the Palestinians.
However, an address by Rabbi Sacks was briefly interrupted when a protester, yelling through a loud-hailer, jumped into a fountain and scuffled with security officials in the icy water before being dragged out.
Police said they estimated 4,000 people are at the event in central London. Organisers say 15,000 people have turned up.
It was the first major rally organised by the Jewish community in the UK over Israel's offensive against Palestinian militants in Gaza.
It comes after prominent British Jews wrote an open letter calling on Israel to halt operations in Gaza.
 |  We look upon the increasing loss of life on both sides of the Gaza conflict with horror  Letter by prominent British Jews |
Rabbi Sacks told the crowd: "All it took to avoid this suffering was for Hamas to stop firing rockets on Israeli citizens.
"Let a voice go out today from here in Trafalgar Square, and other gatherings being held, that we want peace."
"We say to those who criticise Israel: You want Palestinian children to grow up with hope, so do we.
"You want Palestinians to be able to live with dignity, so do we."
He said the day would come when Israelis and Palestinians would live together in peace.
"It could be hundred years away, or it could be today, it is up to Hamas and the people that give them arms, for the sake of Israeli children and the Palestinian children, we say, let it be today."
'Human shields'
Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, addressed the crowd saying: "We are here because we believe in peace, because we believe in life, and because we want peace in life.
"The events of the past two weeks have not been a war on the people of Gaza but war on the people using them as human shields."
A small group of pro-Palestinian protesters - estimated by police to number between 80 and 100 - were being kept separate from the main body of the rally by mounted police.
Another pro-Israel peace rally is also being held in Manchester.
Meanwhile the letter, published in the Observer, warns the military action, far from improving security, will strengthen extremism and destabilise the region.
Prominent rabbis, academics and political figures supported the open letter.
 Some pro-Palestinian protesters attended the mainly peaceful rally |
They write: "We look upon the increasing loss of life on both sides of the Gaza conflict with horror.
"We have no doubt that rocket attacks into southern Israel, by Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups, are war crimes against Israel.
"No sovereign state should, or would, tolerate continued attacks and the deliberate targeting of civilians.
"Israel had a right to respond however, we believe that now only negotiations can secure long-term security for Israel and the region."
Confrontations
On Saturday thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through London to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The protest started peacefully but there were confrontations as police tried to move demonstrators away from the gates of the Israeli embassy.
Protests also took place in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Belfast, Newcastle and Southampton.
from:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7822656.stm
I was a little skeptical about this story at first, but in the end I appreciate the sentiment of the protesters. We should certainly not forget Hamas' role in all of this, and yes, Palestinians should accept some responsibility. So kudos to the group at least for its overall spirit and intent. That said, I do disagree with a couple of things.
The idea that Palestinian causalities should not be considered disproportionate because Israelis were lucky and escaped to bomb shelters really irks me. I have heard this argument from colleagues who took the "Birthright" trip to Israel. It seems like a common argument Israelis like to make. And there is some intuitive truth to it. I mean, if Hamas could they would kill many more Israelis, and it is only the combination of their poor weapons technology and the organization and capacity of the Israel government (in terms of bomb shelters and warning systems) that keep casualties low. Still, the argument is a bit spurious and misleading. Israel knows that Palestinians don't have access to bomb shelters. And the government of Gaza can hardly be expected to provide them when it can't even get basic medical supplies, food, or water to its people. The casualties are disproportionate because Israel is a much stronger nations with much greater firepower. And while they are typically not targeting civilians specifically the way Hamas does, their actions would be the legal equivalent to depraved indifference in most cases.
The second thing is that average Palestinians deserve any blame. Hamas militants and activists deserve blame, sure. But ordinary Palestinians? Not anymore than average Israelis deserve blame for the actions of their government, and maybe less so. Israel is a developed democracy, and if its people support the actions of hard line politicians by voting them into office it confers a degree of responsibility on the citizens. This argument was used against Palestinians by both the US and Israel when they voted Hamas into office. The argument was basically that by supporting Hamas Palestinians supported radicalism and should pay a price. And the US and Israel took measures to undermine the elected government, including a series of sanctions that led up to a nearly complete embargo of the Strip. But that was two years ago and Hamas has since lost much of its popular support. Recent public opinions polls show Hamas with declining popular support and it would have been unlikely to win any national election in the months before the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
So which group holds more sway over its government and thus their actions? Arguable neither in a lot of ways. It kind of depends on your belief in the ability of citizens in a democracy to influence policy. But if we have to compare, the nature of the systems suggests that Palestinians have much less sway over their leaders than do Israelis. So again, if blame should be conferred on the populations (and I am not saying it should), it would seem that Israelis should bear the brunt of it. Israelis can pressure their government to make concessions or to continue to bomb civilian areas. Palestinians can protest Hamas, and they sometimes do, but Hamas is more likely to quash dissent and excute "collaborators" than listen to protest. So, what say do average Gazans actually have? Israel wants the people to resist Hamas, but I don't see how they can.
As a side note, I came across this article from the BBC from earlier this week. It discusses the issue of who is a civilian in Gaza what constitutes a violation of international law and the Geneva Convention (to which Israel is not a signatory but oddly the PLO executive committee is. Hamas, of course, is not.).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7811386.stm
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