Celebrations commence throughout country for Jewish holiday.
By REUTERSIsraelis celebrate Purim
Celebrations for the Jewish holiday of Purim got underway on Thursday with carnival-like parades in Israel and the West Bank, celebrated under heightened security.In the Jewish settlement located inside the divided West Bank city of Hebron, settlers in colorful costumes cheered and danced through the streets, guarded by Israeli security forces.Israeli politician, Baruch Marzel, participated in the festival by dancing in the streets with other Jews."When Jews are happy and united, we could take over all of our enemy. And our enemy will stop being happy because we are uniting to fight the enemy with no stopping," Marzel said.A participant in the festival, Beli, said that Purim is not a holiday for Jews only but for all the people around the world."A happy Purim to all the countries, all the nations, all the Arab nations, all the Christian nations, all the nations from India and China and everywhere. Because Purim will bless everybody that will be like one," he said.In the Tel Aviv suburb city of Holon, several hundred spectators in colorful costumes watched the annual parade, featuring cartoon and animal floats.Israeli policemen cordoned off the street parade packed with adults and children in colorful costumes who came to watch the biggest Purim parade in Israel."So every year, in Purim there is here a celebration, the festival named 'Ad Lo Yada', It's the largest in here in Israel. So, a lot of schools, school students came here and make their show during (through) all the streets," a man at the parade said.Purim is a celebration of the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia.