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Jewish-Arab clashes hit Israeli town
 Police clashed with Jewish protesters in Acre yesterday as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni travelled to the northern Israeli city to appeal for calm after two days of clashes between Arab and Jews.The danger you run when you rely on a policy of "all intifada all the time" is that the Hated Zionists™ have limits to their patience and are quite as capable as Arabs -- probably moreso -- in carrying out their own intifada. I'm not in favor of a base policy of mindless violence, which is why I spend lotsa time viewing the Paleostinians with contempt. On the other hand, I did a quick count many years ago to determine the number of cheeks I have available to turn. Most people have roughly the same number. Police fired a water cannon at the 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 took place just hours after Livni, who is trying to form a new government and replace outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, travelled to Acre, where she issued what she said was "a message of reconciliation and cooperation to calm tempers within the population." Police deployed an additional 500 officers to help the 200-strong local force after violence broke out on Wednesday night as Jews observed Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement. "We have also raised our level of alert throughout the country so that similar incidents do not occur again in Acre, or elsewhere," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. Israeli President Shimon Peres also appealed for calm. "Jews and Arabs must stop immediately this violence which will not benefit anyone," he said in a statement. "And hollering 'Death to the Great Beelzebub' just sounds dumb." Two protesters and a police officer have been lightly wounded. Twelve people -- Arabs and Jews -- have been arrested since the first clashes broke out, Rosenfeld said. About 100 cars and 40 stores were damaged by Arab demonstrators, he said. Rosenfeld said the initial unrest erupted when an Arab motorist drove into a neighbourhood where Arabs and Jews live, playing his car stereo loudly. A group of Jewish youths assaulted the driver, accusing him of deliberately making noise and disrupting the sanctity of Yom Kippur, when most Jews in Israel observe a religious ban on driving. "Rumours then spread out, namely from mosques, claiming that the motorist had been killed, prompting several hundred Arabs to take to the streets," Rosenfeld said. Clashes started again on Thursday, when rioters from both sides hurled rocks at each other and the police used tear gas to disperse them, media reported. Football matches planned for the weekend were cancelled as was an annual theatre festival that was to be held next week and which usually draws thousands of visitors to the Mediterranean coastal city, media reported. Posted by: Fred 2008-10-11 |
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