 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Israel battles on 3 fronts as violent protests spiral
By Compiled from Times wires © St. Petersburg Times, published October 3, 2000 UMM AL-FAHEM, Israel -- Clashes between security forces and Israel's Arabs spread so widely Monday that both sides spoke fearfully of the violence spiraling into a communal war between the country's Jewish majority and the Arab minority. In addition to battling Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on the fifth day of violent protests, Israeli police were fighting stone-throwing protesters in their own back yard: in Israeli towns from the Negev Desert in the south to Nazareth in the north. Alarmed by the violence, the Clinton administration searched for ways to salvage the Middle East peace process. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was in Paris, summoned Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to meet her there on Wednesday. In a statement, Albright said her objective was to "find a way to end the violence, restore calm, and ensure that there is no repeat of such an escalation." But the toll of dead and wounded continued to climb. About 50 people have been killed so far. Demonstrations began after Ariel Sharon, leader of Israel's right-wing Likud Party, visited the holy site in Jerusalem's Old City last week that Muslims call the Haram as-Sharif and Jews call the Temple Mount. At least five Israeli Arabs were shot and killed Monday in clashes with border police, and two more died of wounds sustained in riots the day before. Eight Palestinians reportedly were killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hundreds of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs were wounded by Israeli troops firing live ammunition and rubber bullets, and Palestinians now put the number of wounded at more than 1,000. One Israeli Jewish civilian, a man who was heading into a West Bank town to get a tire repaired, and an army sergeant also were killed. The army said that soldiers escorting a civilian oil truck near the West Bank village of Beit Sahur were fired on and that Sgt. Max Hazan was killed. Four other soldiers were injured, and gunbattles continued in the area into the night. The violence in the territories angers Israelis, who blame Arafat. But eruptions in the West Bank and Gaza long ago became a familiar feature of military occupation. It is the rage playing out in the streets of Israeli Arab villages and the mass demonstrations airing on their nightly television news broadcasts that are shocking both Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs. Israeli Arabs, Palestinians who stayed when the Jewish state was declared in 1948 and their descendants, make up 20 percent of Israel's population. Although they do not serve in the army and suffer from various forms of discrimination, they are citizens with full rights to vote and hold political office. With 11 members in Israel's Parliament, they are expected to take their grievances to the political and legal arenas rather than the streets. In Umm al-Fahem, Arabs said their anger is deep and will not abate until the government makes changes in the way it treats both Palestinians in the territories and Israeli Arabs. Sharon's controversial visit and the heavy casualty toll among Palestinians in the resulting violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip triggered the violence inside Israel, Umm al-Fahem demonstrators said. But this outbreak, they insisted, is different from the intifada, or uprising, in the territories in the 1980s, when Palestinians were fighting Israeli occupation. That was political, several demonstrators said. This is personal. Many Arab Israelis say they are subjected to racism and discrimination by police, employers and ordinary Jewish Israelis. Unemployment is high and public spending in Arab areas is low. "In the short term, this co-existence between Arabs and Jews was very much damaged," said Hashem Mahameed, a member of the Israeli Parliament, or Knesset, from Umm al-Fahem. "It will be repaired only when we see a new policy by the government of Israel, only when the police treat us as citizens of the state." In other parts of the country, Arab Israelis stoned cars, blocked streets and fought with police. Even Arab citizens in mainstream Israeli towns such as Acre and Haifa took to the streets. "This is real war," said Nawf Masalha, another Arab member of Knesset. Throughout the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli tanks took up positions, armored personnel carriers rolled to the edge of Palestinian-ruled areas, and attack helicopters fired on hundreds of Palestinian civilian protesters and police. Israeli and Palestinian leaders continued to trade accusations about which side was responsible for the escalating conflict. "Stop shooting our soldiers, our old people, our youths, our women," Arafat said. "Get Israeli soldiers out of Palestinian cities and refugee camps." President Clinton said the riots could serve a useful purpose, although it is difficult to see that now. "They can't do anything on the peace process until people stop dying and the violence stops," Clinton said. "But when the smoke clears here, it might actually be a spur to both sides, as a sober reminder to what the alternative to peace could be. "I think it will be better tomorrow," he added. "I hope it will."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
