"Why am I protesting for Palestine?" The protester raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment: "What we have to ask ourselves is why there aren't more of us doing it. For anyone on the left, for any humanist, it's an obvious cause. And not just at the moment." René, 65, is a young retiree. Every Saturday since the beginning of October, he has taken to the Paris streets. Whether it's raining or windy, whether the demonstration is authorized or not, he's been there. Like most of the other protesters, he preferred not to give his surname, "so as not to get into trouble in [his] neighborhood. People are so tense that it's difficult to have a discussion on the subject."

René has already visited the Palestinian territories several times on solidarity missions with various organizations, including the France Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS), notably during the olive harvest, which is often disrupted by West Bank settlers. This form of activist tourism that has developed since the second Intifada in 2000.

The AFPS, which is the most longstanding association on the Palestinian question in France, relies on a solid but aging network of just over 4,000 activists, who form the core of current rallies against Israel's war in Gaza. The typical AFPS activist is a man or woman over 60 with no family, religious or community ties to the Arab-Muslim world. Many are civil servants, teachers or union activists. In a nutshell, it looks like the traditional left.

For the first time since October 7, all of the left-wing parties were out on Saturday, November 18, despite a relatively low turnout – around 40,000 people in Paris on the first three Saturdays of November. Leaders from the Greens, Communists, Socialists, and the radicals from La France Insoumise were all present at Saturday's march. The dramatic conditions for civilians in the Gaza Strip temporarily quashed the discord between them after October 7 over whether to classify Hamas as a "terrorist" or "resistance" movement.

Broadly speaking, there are two audiences for pro-Palestine protests: Those who come out of conviction and those who come out of identification. The former come from a background of activism – be it political activism, trade unionism or as part of an association – including the young people. The latter audience, who are more mobilized in times of crisis, are there out of a sense of cultural, linguistic or religious affinity. They are less ideologically structured, but have been acculturated to the Palestinian question from their young age. For those who are immigrants or descendants of North African immigrants, Palestinians are not distant strangers, but cousins whose fate is sometimes seen as a tragic reflection of their own situation, no matter their age or social status.

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