Demonstrating their solidarity with the state of Israel, thousands of people congregated in Trafalgar Square yesterday to call for peace as fighting continues in Gaza.

Organisers estimated that 15,000 had come to protest under the banner 'Peace in Israel, Peace in Gaza’ and to hear speeches from the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sachs, the Israeli Ambassador and a number of British MPs. A counter-protest organised by the Islamist Human Rights Commission assembled on the western edge of the square in the shadow of the Canadian Embassy, and organisers said around 1,000 people had attended.

Both sides said the protest had been peaceful, though the Metropolitan Police made two arrests and pro-Israel supporters said one man had been pushed into an icy fountain after he tried to infiltrate and disrupt their demonstration. Jonathan West, 41, a solicitor from Ilford, Essex, said: “He tried to disrupt the Chief Rabbi’s speech. People pushed him into the fountain - he did go through the ice and he must be very cold. “ However, other witnesses said that the man jumped into the fountain.

Mr West said he had come to call for "peace and reconciliation".

“It was all about harmony, unlike the protests from the pro-Hamas supporters, which were full of hatred and anti-Semitism and death and destruction. I think it was important that a different voice was heard.”

Mr West, whose sister lives in Israel said: “Over the last six years Israel has taken a real hammering from Hamas rockets.”

Across to the west of the square behind barricades, protestors chanted: "Judaism yes, Zionism no, the state of Israel must go."

Raza Kazim, a spokesman for the Islamic Human Rights commission said: “The Zionists had come out to support the massacre that was going on in Gaza. We thought this was an inappropriate thing to do with the images and pictures that are coming out now. We are showing solidarity with the people of Palestine and showing that we haven’t forgotten them. “

He said among the protestors were orthodox Jews “standing shoulder to shoulder with Muslims".

Abraham Greenburg, 30, originally from Haifa but living in London for five years, burnt his passport as part of the protest. He said: “What the Zionists are doing is against God and against the Palestinian people. As an Israeli citizen I feel ashamed of what is happening.”

Rabbi Elhanan Beck, of Stamford Hill in North London, said: “Jews have lived in peace in many Muslim countries - the most dangerous place for Jewish people today is the state of Israel. We have come here today to protest against Israel and the Zionist people.”

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