OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Several thousand Israelis and Palestinians gathered in East Jerusalem Friday for a protest march to support the Palestinian bid for United Nations recognition.

Marchers waved Palestinian flags and carried signs reading “everyone has the right to an independent state,” “marching to independence” and “only free people can negotiate for peace.”

The demonstrators marched from the Old City’s Jaffa Gate to the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, the site of weekly protests against efforts by Jewish settlers to move into largely Arab neighborhoods in the city.

Organizers put the numbers at 5,000, public radio said only 2,000 took part and police said there were not even 500.

The Palestinians plan to ask the U.N. General Assembly to recognize a Palestinian state when the world body gathers in September, a move opposed by Israel which says progress can only be made through negotiations.

“This march has been considered by many as carrying special significance, since it will serve as a litmus test for the extent of popular support among Israelis and Palestinians for the diplomatic efforts for a declaration of independence,” organizers said in a statement.

“We came here to say ‘listen, there is another possibility and another option beside another round of bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians,’” said Hillel Ben-Sasson, a spokesman for the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement. “Israelis and Palestinians come today here to march together and say ‘no more bloodshed.’”

Meanwhile, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. said Friday that a Palestinian attempt to gain U.N. recognition without a peace agreement with Israel means “next to nothing” even if it succeeds.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have largely been frozen since 2008, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has lost hope of reaching a deal with Israel’s current hard-line government.

Only the U.N. Security Council, where the U.S. has veto power, could grant full membership to an independent state of Palestine.

As a fallback, the Palestinians said they will seek recognition from the General Assembly as a non-member observer state, with the implied recognition of the pre-1967 borders of such a state.

John Bolton, who served as a U.N. envoy for the Bush administration, said Friday that the General Assembly is certain to support the Palestinian effort, but that such a step would be meaningless without approval in the Security Council, where it almost certainly faces a U.S. veto.

He urged Israel and the U.S. “not to take it [the Palestinian initiative] so seriously.” Bolton is in Israel with the Friends of Israel Initiative, a group founded last year by former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

“You don’t want to invest authority and legitimacy in something that doesn’t have authority and legitimacy,” Bolton said. The significance of the move, “as a practical matter, is next to nothing.”