UMM EL-FAHM, Israel (AP) — Dozens of Jewish extremists carrying Israeli flags marched defiantly on Wednesday through Umm el-Fahm, an Israeli Arab town, chanting “death to terrorists” and touching off clashes between rock-hurling residents and police officers using tear gas.
Israeli Arabs, who represent a fifth of the country’s population, have grown jittery as nationalist elements in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition have questioned their loyalty to the state.
They are ethnically Palestinian, but enjoy equal rights under Israeli law, unlike Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Still, they often endure discrimination and are statistically poorer and less well educated than Israeli Jews. Tensions run deep.
The Jewish extremists converged on Umm el-Fahm, one of Israel’s largest Arab towns, because it is a stronghold of the country’s radical Islamic Movement. The mayor, Khaled Hamdan, criticized the police for protecting the protesters and their leader, calling them “a madman and a bunch of racists.”
He said of the march, “The purpose of this clearly is to provoke and to cause chaos.”
The scenes of Israeli Arabs, their faces masked by checkered head scarves, burning tires, hurling rocks at the riot police officers and scrambling to dodge tear gas and police fire, recalled violence between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The police said 10 people had been arrested, but reported no serious injuries. (the new york times)