Israeli town hit by third day of Jewish-Arab clashes

ACRE, Israel (AFP) — Police clashed with Jewish protesters in Acre on Friday on the third day of violence between Arabs and Jews as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni travelled to the northern Israeli city to appeal for calm.

Police fired a water cannon at a crowd of about 200 people as some demonstrators hurled bottles and stones at security forces.

Chanting "death to Arabs," the protesters were headed from a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood to the house of an Arab when police intervened.

The incident occurred hours after Livni, who is trying to form a new government and replace outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, issued in Acre what she said was "a message of reconciliation and cooperation to calm tempers within the population."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jskMpTfj8L8W85d5e5x881j9Uulg

Israeli police remained on high alert Friday evening in the northern coastal city of Acre after a third day of clashes between Arab and Jewish residents.

Tensions between the two sides boiled over Wednesday night during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, when most of Israel shuts down to all vehicle traffic and even secular Jews avoid driving to keep from offending the more devout.

The clashes began when an Arab resident of the mixed city was accosted by Jewish youths after driving into a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. According to local media reports, neighborhood residents claim Tawfik Jamal provoked them by blaring his car stereo -- a charge Jamal denies.

"I knew it was Yom Kippur; we have been living amongst Jews for many years, so I thought I'd drive slowly without turning on the radio,” said Jamal, who added that he was coming to pick up his daughter from a friend's home.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/10/israel-a-barrel.html

A fourth straight day of rioting in Acre ended on Saturday with Jews torching an empty Arab house, three Jews lightly wounded by Arab stone-throwers, and three other Jews arrested for throwing stones at policemen and Arabs.

Since Wednesday, police have arrested some 30 rioters, both Jewish and Arab. Some of them were subsequently released because they are minors. Police have also used water cannons to disperse stone-throwing rioters in the city.

The day began without incident, and many Acre residents hoped that the violence was finally at an end. But a few hours after sundown, it erupted anew, with the city's eastern neighborhood once again the focal point. Hundreds of Jewish rioters clashed with policemen, and Jewish and Arab mobs threw stones at each other. This followed a series of violent incidents on Friday that included the torching of three other houses.

"Everyone thinks that only Jews are being hurt in the eastern neighborhood, and nobody's paying any attention to us," complained Subhi Murasi, owner of one of the torched houses. "All the money I invested in this house, and now everything has been destroyed."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1028249.html

Dear Friends ,

I decided to translate a letter that I sent to my friends in Israel at the end of Yom Kippur because I want you to know what really happened in Akko-Yom Kippur-2008. Unfortunately the media do not tell the whole truth and I think that it is important for you to know:

"I am writing to you this letter after returning from a shocking walk in the streets of Akko at the end of Yom Kippur or shell we call it "The crystal night" in Akko:

Dozens of Jewish cars are broken and glass is all over, all the Jewish stores in the main street of Akko are glass broken and things were stolen from the inside of them- not even one policeman is around!! A lot of young Arab children are calling towards me-" Itbach elyahud" which means kill the Jews. Not even one Arabic store is damaged and the glass is all over.

This is the result of a very organized active of the Islamic movement in Akko and this is how it began:

At Yom Kippur night, after Kol Nidrey, we always use to go out to the empty roads and meet with friends. The street near my home was very crowded and I can say that all the kids were outside, the elder people were outside and it seems like every other Yom Kippur.

Around 11 pm, we heard a lot of screaming and we saw a car driving very fast in between the people and one child from Tali's school got hurt. We were sure that
we have a terror act like in Jerusalem and as there was no policeman around we have to stop the driver. When the driver came to a parking lot he finally stopped and people tried to catch him but he ran upstairs to an Arabic family who leaved near by.

Suddenly came 8 Arabic policeman who tried to calm down the people but another Arabic car came in driving like a crazy and it was a miracle that no one got hurt.
Young Jewish kids who were very angry that the Arabs did not respect Yom Kippur and drove with their car to the Jewish neighborhood start throwing stones and did not behave very nice.- The policemen just stood there and did nothing!

Meanwhile the Imams of the mosques (who get salaries from the Israeli government to be the Arabs rabbis) activate there mosques speakers ,which were put there
on behalf of the Israeli government for prays, to call their people to come and hurt the Jews.

About 200 young Arabs who hid their faces, with axes and sticks in hands start gathering near the Jewish neighborhood. The Jewish people heard the Imams calling for Jihad for two hours, they saw the Arabs coming, they called the police .but as in the police station there were only Arabs policemen there was no respond!
Two hours and the police did nothing- can you explain a thing like that?

My friend who leaves near the Arabs gathering place, saw how they destroyed her two cars and then the came to her house shouting: kill the Jews, kill the Jews.

She begged for the police to come but- no respond! The Arab policemen who were in charge at that night did not respond. She called other police stations in the near by city but- no respond! Not even one policeman wanted to take responsibility to the situation because they know that at the end , if you do something against the Israeli Arabs you will be guilty.

My friend was in life danger and at last she entered with all her family to her home shelter and closed the door, praying that they will not be killed.
Around 1AM those Arabs started the Pogrom- they did not miss one Jewish car and destroyed all of them- the Arab policemen were behind them in the car doing nothing!
Around 4 AM they left our neighborhood.

All of this happens in Israel today , not in the Independence war!

My mother who grew up in Haifa told me similar stories form her experience in Haifa at the 40th and it seems that nothing has changed- The Arabs continue their cruel behavior which does not seems as believing in coexistence!(by the way, they also destroyed the mechanism of my coexistence clock too)

We are in war in Akko and this is an example of what we can expect to be in all Israel.

Can you believe that the Islamic movement had the guts to arrange such an activity in our Yom Kippur?

My great grandfather was the Gabai of the Jewish Synagogue in Nirenberg and he was hurt in the crystal night- I can not believe that I went through a similar experience today in Israel. Israel was established to be a safe place for the Jews- Is it still a safe place for us? We want a democratic country; do the Arabs understand what Democracy is?

And now some facts: We have a wonderful mayor (Shimon Lankry) who developed Akko in an amazing way and in the coming election he was supposed to win and get most of the Arabs votes. The Islamic movement was in trouble and in order to change the situation they decided to use the weapon of hate!

I think that sheikhh Zakur, the leader of the local Islamic movement , who is a member of the Israeli Knesset should be in jail!

I think that we should find the leaders of those who activate the Pogrom and put them in jail ! I think that it is time for all the Jews to be together and understand that we only have each other. The Islamic power is against us in Israel and around the world"

Efrat

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE49A21420081011?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

<snip>

Many shops and restaurants in the old town, a popular tourist destination which was once the Crusader capital of the Holy Land, remained closed Saturday, Rosenfeld said.

Trouble started in Acre after dark Wednesday at the start of the Yom Kippur, the holiest day for Jews, when an Arab drove into a Jewish district, disturbing the start of 24 hours during which many Jews fast and abstain from driving.

As word spread from mosque loudspeakers of Jewish youths stoning the car, Arab crowds responded angrily, causing widespread damage to cars and shops in a main city street.

<snip>

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017509512&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

<snip>

Police said they were checking Taufik's depiction of a policeman fleeing the car as a group of rock throwers approached. A police spokesman said there was no question that Taufik's drive into the city was a provocation.

"This was a deliberate act," Galilee Police spokesman Ch.-Supt Eran Shaked said.

On Friday, one resident of east Acre told the Post he saw Jamal Taufik's son driving the car. "They were screeching their car here, and they were blasting music," one man said. "The car almost ran over a little girl."

Another resident said Taufik had been sent by Acre's Islamist residents to provoke a reaction. "They sent him here. This was all planned. Then the muezzin rallied the masses on the mosque loudspeakers, and sent them here with axes," he said.

<snip>

I notice the claims become more extreme with each "true" account you post, reminds me of something closer to home, smells of a similar scent too.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the media the next week. If you'll notice in those news articles, they do verify that email eyewitness account from Akko. And if you've kept up with the talkback on these newspaper articles, many Israelis are saying the same things, including MK Eldad and others.

seems the most likely to me,

but I am sure you prefer the "Arabs with axes" scenario or the "Krystal Nacht" so colorful and evocative

As for axes and Krystalnacht:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017509804&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Responding to false rumors that the driver had been badly wounded, around 500 Arabs - some armed with axes according to eyewitnesses - then marched into the eastern neighborhoods, chanting "Death to the Jews" as the mob smashed hundreds of cars and stores.

Devil is in the details.

Read the whole article. Note how police describe it as an intentional provocation. Pretty sad vigilantiism though. Hope the worst is over.

F., an Arab resident of the largely-Jewish Kibbutz Galuyot Street, fled his house with his wife and children; now he fears the house will be torched. Salim Najami, a city councilor, denounced all extremists, Jewish and Arab alike. Daoud Halila, director of an Arab non-profit organization, accused the police of "pampering the Jews." Long-time communist Salim Atrash blamed the disengagement from Gaza, saying an extremist yeshiva that opened in the city following the pullout has been fanning the flames.

Atrash pulled out a copy of a notice that has been circulating on the Internet: "We will no longer buy anything from Arabs, we will not honor any of their holidays or any place of theirs. Arabs of Acre, go find your place in the villages." The notice was signed with an epigram: "A Jew is the son of a king, an Arab is the son of a dog."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1028078.html

why would Arabs start a riot in an Israeli city?

I assume the answer you're looking for is that Arabs have very good reason to start a riot, yes? And of course Jews don't have any reason. And even if Jews had reason (whether right or wrong), they'd be more wrong than Arabs to riot because we (being racists) expect more of Jews than Arabs (who cannot be expected to act responsibly)?

This is similar to your reasoning as to why Arab violence in the territories are up. In that case it was maybe more Jewish settlements, and thus more (justifiable? ) Arab violence. Cause, and justifiable effect.

long term.

There seems to be violence and lawlessness on both sides, but the police do seem to think that Jewish citizens were the main instigators on this occasion.

www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3607905,00.html

Livni has called for an end to the violence, and instructed citizens *not* to act as vigilantes and take matters into their own hands.

www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3607367,00.html

I'm interested in reading that account by the police. A large Jewish crowd (not Haredi, not settlers) in the streets late at night walking back from services on Yom Kippur - many of whom claim the driver was targetting people (one kid being hurt)....and it's the Jews who instigated - on Yom Kippur? The driver was found to be intoxicated, busloads of arabs coming in with axes after being called on loudspeakers, media not reporting all the Jews' damaged vehicles and shops......okay, we'll see in the next few days how this plays out.

As for vigilantes, of course Livni is right and civilians should not take matters into their own hands. Recall, however, that with the last 2 terror attacks by front loading Caterpillars, Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, it was citizens who stopped each attack. The police were either ineffective or not on the scene - leading many to believe they have no choice but to take matters into their own hands before things get worse.

Taufik Jamal, whose drive through Jewish neighborhood sparked Yom Kippur riots, arrested for reckless endangerment

Ahiya Raved Published: 10.13.08, 20:12 / Israel News

Police arrested Monday a man they hold responsible for sparking the Akko riots over Yom Kippur. The Akko Magistrate's Court has remanded him for five days.

During the five days since the outbreak of the riots between Jews and Arabs in Akko, police received witness testimony from residents of the east Akko neighborhood who stated that driver Taufik Jamal was driving at an unreasonably fast pace and almost hit several Jewish pedestrians on their way back from synagogue.

<snip>

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3608568,00.html

but that is a far cry from the accusations made in the earlier email, which sound dubious to me. While I have no proof of this, I'd like to point out that many haredi will throw stones at cars that drive by, at any speed, on a holy day such as Yom Kippur... it is entirely possible that he sped up to avoid aggressive acts such as these. They are far from uncommon as I'm sure you're aware.

From what I've heard, it seems that this guy accidentally attracted the ire of some Jews who overreacted to the situation, prompting it to then spin out of control with Arab and then Jewish reprisals. There's no real reason to think that this whole thing was pre-meditated by the Israeli-Arabs. There were plenty of other things written in that email that strike me as absurd anyway, such as: "Not even one policeman wanted to take responsibility to the situation because they know that at the end , if you do something against the Israeli Arabs you will be guilty."

I mean, come ON! Does anyone really believe this? I'm sorry, but that's just ridiculous.

-----

edit: Just fyi, from your link. The Haaretz daily meanwhile said several ambulances were pelted with stones to protest their operating on a holiday.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jskMpTfj8L8W85d5e5x881j9Uulg

I've been spending most of my online time on another forum in the depths of cyberspace that has a reputation system, and when I read this post of yrs I was looking for the button so I could hit you with some green for a post that contains both common-sense and logic, something that's in short supply in some of the posts I've read this evening. And that email that was posted, well I share yr healthy skepticism about it and I noticed there was an undercurrent of bigotry against Arabs and Muslims running through it.

I read an excellent article about this:

'The local police chief described the incident as a "deliberate provocation" by the driver, while saying precious little about the decision by his assailants to resort to hurling rocks and bottles to express their displeasure. But in that case, why don't the police end the nationwide tradition of bike-riding on Yom Kippur, if such acts are deemed to be a provocation to those adhering to religious law? The answer's pretty clear, and gives the lie to any claim that Israel is any more tolerant than its peers in the Arab world.

There is much to be said for respecting others' religions and customs, but at the same time "your freedom ends where my nose begins" cannot – and must not – be allowed to extend to a national scale. When that happens, and when the state apparatus fails to condemn such behaviour, then the game is well and truly up. And all the screams of "pogrom" in the world won't cover up who the true Cossacks are in such a case.'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/10/israelandthepalestinians-judaism

That link you posted that mentioned ambulances were pelted with stones raises one question about religious extremists of any religion. Are these guys really as flat out dense as they come across as? In this case, do these folk think that if people get sick on a religious holiday, then tough shit, no ambulance for them? Probably much like US anti-abortionists attitudes that abortion should be banned, there's a little disclaimer that goes *unless it's one of my family and then it's okay for them to have an ambulance on a religious holiday or have an abortion.*

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Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

It's the non-religious youth who regard it as a huge joke. (Very funny. Not.) You will rarely find that the religious or haredim stone ambulances or any other emergency vehicles on Yom Kippur.

"These people" as you so elegantly put it are not at all so "flat-out dense" as to think they can stone ambulances. Please educate yourself a bit more before you post such nasty slurs.

You can see for yourself here for example.

Shakti referred to Haredi, not me. You clearly have a problem with anyone criticising religous folk who resort to violence against other people all in the name of some fictitious deity as you see criticism as posting nasty slurs. Clearly there are religious whackjobs who are so flat-out dense that they think it's their god-given right to throw stones at ambulances. Also, yr trying to quote me as calling them 'these people', which I didn't. I think fucking morons is a much more apt term for those twits....

btw, as you seem to be implying that Ha'aretz and the elderly man in the article Shakti posted a link to are liars, I'll just remind you that this is a left-wing forum and JPost editorials just don't cut the mustard compared to much better media like Ha'aretz....

It seems to me (although I have no proof either) that this guy deliberately provoked a reaction as the police reported - loud music, halting/screeching and swerving a little, Jews react - Arabs react back - riots. It seems quite possible that the reckless driving - even if the driver had no intention of hitting anyone as he easily could have with crowds in the street - appeared to be another roadrage terror attack (which it wasn't) and thus the terrible reaction.

What's scary is the "organized" Arab reaction to the bogus charge of a lynching - on loudspeakers - with buses filled with axe wielders. Talk about a powder keg. The damage incurred (cars, shops, homes - glass everywhere) shows either how ill-equipped Israel police are to react to such a situation, or their total failure to even get involved until it was all over.

There's no way that for several hours, such a thing happens in the USA or Britain. People make 911 calls to the police, police and SWAT cars come to break it up. And if the police fail to show up until it's over, or worse, watch it all while it happens, all hell breaks loose and heads roll. Early retirement for police commissioner, law authorities, etc.

The driver was not at fault in this situation. At all.

Israeli law professors say charge of 'offense to religion' insufficient to indict Taufik Jamal, whose actions are thought to have sparked Akko riots on Yom Kippur

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3609423,00.html

<snip>

"The primary consideration that led police to arrest Arab driver Taufik Jamal from Akko was an offense to religion. But Israeli jurists have questioned the validity of an indictment based on such a consideration.

Jamal's drive through a Jewish Akko neighborhood on Yom Kippur sparked violent, interethnic riots in the northern city.

"Such an indictment has no place in the modern age," Professor Emeritus Aharon Enker told Ynet. Enker, an expert in criminal law at Bar-Ilan University, believes that "this is a psychological move undertaken to calm the waters…. This is a rare transgression."

According to Enker, "The accused's liberties are being harmed and, as such, he should only be brought to trial in extreme cases based on such an indictment. This is why many indictments are not delivered."

One extreme case that Enker produced as an example was the 1997 case of Tatiana Suskin, who was indicted, convicted and sent to prison for drawing and distributing a drawing of Muhammad in the image of a pig. She was sentenced for two years, with an additional two-year probation, for citations including an offense to religion and racism.

"Everyone can understand that the case of the Akko driver is not similar to the case of the pig drawings," said Enker. "In this case of the drawings, the act was a lot more direct and the act in and of itself demonstrated defiance and intent. It is difficult to make a clear case for defiance in this case."

"A man drove down a street in a city with a mixed religious population. He was in a public location in a city that contains Jews, Christians and Muslims," Enker explained.

"The implications of indicting him for this act suggest that anyone who drives through a religious neighborhood on Shabbat is offending religion. Does this mean that all Jews must not drive?" he queried.

"It's possible that police (arrested the driver) in order to calm the waters. In any case, I am willing to be that this won't go to trial. How will they get out of the predicament? People will call down, both sides will apologize and the indictment will not be handed down," he said."

Israeli Arab groups on Thursday branded last week's violent clashes in Acre as an attempt to expel the northern city's Arab residents.

Acre-based Israeli Arab community groups will announce this claim on Thursday at a press conference in conjunction with Arab families that have been forced out of their houses in the city's eastern neighborhood in the wake of the clashes.

The groups claim that the riots that have swept across the mixed city since last week's Yom Kippur were in fact a premeditated attempt at ethnic cleansing.
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The groups have also decided to revive the annual Acre Theater Festival that was scheduled to take place this week but was called off in light of the events. They will host two plays on Thursday evening, one of which will feature the renowned Israeli Arab actor Mohammed Bakri.

Meanwhile, the Kibbutz movement and Hashomer Hatzair, the socialist youth movement, erected a "peace sukkah" in the old city of Acre. Other Voice movement invited Jewish and Arab teens to visit the sukkah and creatively express their hope for a better future.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1029216.html

Police arrest six young men suspected of hurling Molotov cocktails at two houses in Tel Aviv's southern Hatikva neighborhood

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3610997,00.html

<snip>

"Six young Israeli men aged 17 to 22 were arrested early Monday on suspicion of hurling Molotov cocktails at two houses belonging to Arab residents in Tel Aviv's HaTikva neighborhood. All the detainees are residents of the southern neighborhood.

The city's Magistrates' Court remanded the arrest of three, identified by police as Ben Ezra, 22, Aviran Arava, 20, and Yoni Avraham, 19. The court is scheduled to rule on the matter of a fourth youth later on Monday. The arrest of the remaining two was remanded by a juvenile court.

Police officials asserted that had the six not been arrested, they would have continued with their attempts to assault Arabs living in the area.

Last Wednesday, police received two calls on Molotov cocktails hurled on Arab homes in Tel Aviv's Nathan and Simcha streets. One of the houses sustained light damage.

On the other street, the assailants attempted to damage an Arab person's apartment, but hit the flat below it where a Jewish family lives. The house was completely burnt.

Due to the incident's proximity to the Akko riots which were ignited on Yom Kippur, police estimated that the act was nationalistically motivated. They arrived at homes of five of the neighborhood's residents who are not known to be criminals and arrested them. The five will be brought before a judge later in the day."

From Communist Party of Israel
www.maki.org.il / interelations@maki.org.il

On the situation in the city of Acre

By Hisham Nafa'

Many people have expressed surprise at the recent violence in Acre. Particularly amusing was the mantra that rolled off the tongues of government officials, their eyes wide open: "How could such a thing happen in a city of coexistence?"

There are two possible explanations for the bizarre logic behind this sentence: stupidity, or a cynicism that insults the public's intelligence. It is of course difficult to attribute stupidity to the seasoned public servants with wit enough to climb to positions of power, close to the goodies. They also know how to numb the minds of the sheep while arousing their base instincts. Since the fear instinct in these parts is overly combustible, its manifestations appear immediately: arrogance and hatred toward all Arabs. And when all of these combine to form a near-chemical compound, it will be difficult to put out the fires they ignite simply by spraying them with slogans.

In Acre, as in the rest of the "Greater Land of Israel", there is no coexistence. In Acre, there is pain and bitterness, built up over decades. It began not on Yom Kippur of this year, but rather since the ships filled with refugees left the city's shores; since the residents were placed in the handcuffs of military rule; since tens of thousands of their countrymen became victims of a violent, colonialist occupation; since a conscious, intentional policy of national suppression and racial hostility was instituted against them; and since they, living in their homes facing the city's beaches and on their land, began to be described as a demographic threat.

There are more details to this ugly picture: Acre has poor Jewish neighborhoods, where the ruling establishment sees to it that the building rage of the inhabitants is not turned against it. It is not a conspiracy in the classic sense, the kind found in fiction, but rather the product of all of the governmental interests. Because a thinking public is a public that is dangerous to its rulers. So where does this rage get channeled? To the usual suspect, the Arabs. Here is where racism takes on a very popular expression. The Jewish victims of the regime become a weapon against the ultimate victims of the same regime. There you have it: an explosive vicious circle.

For years, Acre's local government officials have been babbling, in the spirit of the times, about the need to "Judaize" the city. Groups of settlers and of young religious people, who have undergone right-wing nationalization, were brought to the city. And Acre's Arabs ask themselves what this "Judaization" means, if not their actual and symbolic removal; have we been disinherited once again?

In recent years, religious tendencies have grown among significant "non-white" segments of Israeli society. It turns out that the "opiate of the masses" effect has not skipped over the People of Israel. And in a state where hostility regarding matters of identity has spread to every part - social rifts, in sociological lingo - even Yom Kippur has become an opportunity to exercise hatred, in utter contradiction to its religious meaning. Instead of requests for divine forgiveness, there is an increase in violent rituals against anything that moves. Maybe some people need a Yom Kippur II, to ask forgiveness for their actions during Yom Kippur I.

http://www.maki.org.il/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=79&Itemid=106