Israeli police struggle to quell Jew and Arab clashes in wake of Yom Kippur riots
Pastor Dale Morgan
Israeli police struggle to quell Jew and Arab clashes in wake of Yom
Kippur riots*
Israeli forces are struggling to quell a third round of clashes between
Jews and Arabs in the northern city of Acre, first ignited after an
Israeli Arab man drove into a Jewish neighbourhood on Yom Kippur on
Wednesday.
By Carolynne Wheeler in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 7:58PM BST 10 Oct 2008
No one has been killed or seriously injured but riot squads have used
water cannon and tear gas to break up the violence, the worst in this
mixed, northern coastal town in years. About 100 cars and 40 shops have
been heavily damaged in the fighting, with at least three people injured
and more than a dozen arrests.
About 700 police have been brought into Acre to maintain calm while
police in other parts of the country are also out in force, for fear
clashes will spread ahead of the Jewish Sabbath.
"We are planning ahead for the scenario of, God forbid, violence
spreading to other places. I call on leaders, both in the Jewish
community and Arab community, to act sensibly," the Israeli interior
minister, Avi Dichter, said.
The Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, who is expected to succeed
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert after winning the ruling Kadima party primary
last month, also visited Acre and called for calm.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the most solemn day of the Jewish
calendar, when the observant spend 25 hours in prayer and fasting.
According to Jewish law it is forbidden to work, to wear leather, to
wash or engage in sexual relations on this day.
With as many as 70 per cent of Jewish Israelis observing Yom Kippur the
country comes to a standstill, with radio and television broadcasts
halted and all businesses closed. Major roads are also barricaded to
prevent driving, sending thousands of people into the street to stroll
or bicycle.
Even emergency vehicles may be subject to stoning for transporting sick
patients to hospital.
The day has long been a source of friction between Jewish and
Arab-Israelis, and Arab parliamentarians had earlier pressed for police
protection against stoning of Arab drivers on the holiday.
Arab-Israelis number about 20 per cent of the country's population
overall but make up nearly one-third of Acre's population; though they
enjoy full rights as citizens, human-rights groups say they frequently
suffer discrimination in the Jewish state.
The Arab driver, Tawfik Jamal, told Israel's Channel 2 news that he had
simply driven with his son and a friend from the predominantly Arab Old
City to a Jewish neighbourhood to pick up his daughter from her fiancé's
home on Wednesday night, a few hours after the fall of Yom Kippur, when
he was attacked.
But police said loud music from the car may have provoked the attack
from a group of Jewish youths, who threw rock and bottles at the car. Mr
Jamal and his family escaped and were treated at a local hospital for
cuts and bruises.
In the meantime, however, rumours spread that the Arab driver had been
killed, prompting a larger clash involving hundreds of people. The
violence resumed again Thursday night despite a heavy police presence,
with rival chants of "Death to the Jews" and "Death to the Arabs."
Though police roadblocks and use of tear gas eventually separated the
two groups, protesters continued burning tires and throwing stones in
the Old City.
With tensions still running high, the Israel Football Association has
cancelled weekend matches in the city and an annual theatre festival
scheduled next week has also been postponed.