Jews and Arabs Get Stoned Together on Yom Kippur

by Charles Lenchner

Published October 10, 2008 @ 11:20AM PST

Jews and Arabs got stoned together in one of Israel's 'mixed' cities. Acre is one of only a few: Jaffa, Haifa, Ramle and Lod are some of the others. These places are often pointed to as symbols of coexistence, which is true in that no one has thus far succeeded in driving out the opposing ethnicity.... yet.

ACRE, Israel (AFP) — Police clashed with Jewish protesters in Acre on Friday as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni travelled to the northern Israeli city to appeal for calm after two days of clashes between Arab and Jews.

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." Link to AFP story.

It all began in the late hours of Wednesday night when an Arab drove to a mixed neighborhood to get his daughter from friends. Jews in the hood surrounded them, demolished the car, and even forced the first police unit on the scene to withdraw. And then things got worse - much worse.

For reasonable up to the minute look to Haaretz.

Arabs and Jews hurled rocks at each other at the Acre train station and police used water hoses and tear gas to disperse them. In the Old City, Arabs threw stones and burned tires. Two people were reported injured, one by a police horse and the other by a stone to the head.

(Yes, rioting continues today, Friday.)

Behind the scenes. I've spent plenty of time in Acre (Akko). As in all mixed cities, there is a blend of competing cultural elements. Because of the proximity to Jews, the Arabs' Hebrew is better and there is more access to mainstream Israeli society (= Jewish Israeli society.) But at the same time, expectations are higher - Akko's Arabs don't compare thier status with Arab villages in the Galilee, but with Jewish neighborhoods next door.

Akko is a relatively poor town which has seen high unemployment with young people (Jews) leaving for other parts of the country. Arab residents fill the void by moving into apartments in previously Jewish neighborhoods. This creates more points of friction, and feeds the myth that Arab Israelis are engaged in some kind of nefarious plot to take over the city.

Rioting between Jews and Arabs is not unknown. It usually takes the form of a kind of lynch mob against Arabs following a terrorist attack nearby. The new factor is the Israeli Arab sector's increasing sense of strength; in many ways, they have a stronger voice which they aren't afraid to use. On an interpersonal level, I'd compare it to southern whites in the 60s having to deal with 'uppity negroes' for the first time. Don't those Arabs know it's a 'Jewish State'? Meanwhile, the Arab youth are going "racist Jew says what, motherfucker? Don't you know what time it is?"

In conclusion, here'a a nice little YouTube video from our favorite Palestinian Israeli hip-hoppers, DAM. They grew up in a mixed city, and the angry hip-hop sung in a mix of Hebrew, Arabic and English really represents. Image in your head while watching: listening to Public Enemy after watching Do the Right Thing.