Arab-Israeli Town Erupts After Hardliners March (VIDEO)

Riots erupted between border police and Israeli-Arab residents Tuesday in the northern Israeli town of Umm el-Fahm following a demonstration by Jewish hardliners, Al Jazeera English reports. Police are reported to have used tear gas to quell rioters throwing rocks. From Al Jazeera:

The protest in Umm el-Fahm, one of Israel's largest Arab towns, erupted on Tuesday after Jewish hardliners tried to march through the town.

Mickey Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said police swung into action after protesters hurled stones at security men.

...

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Umm el-Fahm, said a group of about 100 Israeli right-wingers wanted to march in the town, home to about 15,000 Palestinians.

He said the group's march followed a supreme court decision that allowed them to "excerise their sovereignty over the city".

According to Haaretz, the strife began when Umm el-Fahm's Arab residents gathered to protest the right-wing march; however Israeli police declared this gathering illegal following outbursts:

The clash erupted after police arrested three Israeli Arabs who had scuffled with officers. The detainees had gathered for a counter-demonstration held by Umm al-Fahm residents.

Police declared the rally to be illegal and ordered the Israeli Arab protestors, some of whom were waving Palestinian flags, to leave.

After the counter-demonstration, Ghilon told Israel Radio: "We arrived in order to restrain. I feel okay, but there were a number of applications of gas that were perhaps unnecessary, on the roads as well as in the clash."

Reports on the number of people injured in the conflict range from 15 to 28, and according to Jerusalem Post, 12 were arrested.

[WATCH:]

Comments

[proudandtrue]

09:23 PM on 03/24/2009

and Israeli muscle and military might is largely brought to you by US taxpayer dollars. Cut off US aid ($ and military might) and Israel will very quickly settle their differences with the Palestinians.

[EminemsRevenge]

11:07 PM on 03/24/2009

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Israeli-Army-T-Shirts-Mock-Killing-Palestinian-Women-And-Children-During-Gaza-Offensive/Article/200903315245946?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15245946_Israeli_Army_T-Shirts_Mock_Killing_Palestinian_Women_And_Children_During_Gaza_Offensive

Those "differences" date back thousands of years...back to the daze BEFORE 'Palestine' became a Roman colony!

[AdamX]

11:32 PM on 03/24/2009

http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ClipMediaID=60227&ak=null

[YankeeCanuck]

08:27 PM on 03/24/2009

It is not enough that Palestinians are getting forced out of Israel,crammed into bantustans in the West Bank and incarcerated in Gaza and bombed-- now they have to sit silently while extreme zionists march through their town.
In afrikaans, it's called apartheid. But even South Africans say what is happening in Israel and its occupied territories is worse than what they endured.
Many Israelis in Israel and around the world are becoming more aware. So are others. Soon it will be hard to call every criticism of the state of Israel antisemitism.
Many Americans and Israelis understand that to love a country does not preclude dissent with its administration.

[Hazbara]

07:13 PM on 03/24/2009

These arabs have the highest standard of living in the arab world and have more freedom than all their arab brothers in any other country.

The syrians and Jordanians, their brothers, know how to deal with them.
They killed 20.000 in hama, and 10, 000 in Amman.
But thats besides the point , isn't it ?.

[RIXX]

04:54 PM on 03/24/2009

Israeli Arab sounds like an oxymoron.

[YR]

06:20 PM on 03/24/2009

Official Jewish Israeli position is to refer to these people who are treated as second class citizens as Arab and not Palestinian, lest they think they have solidarity with people who fled into the occupied territories with Israel's creation and the war that followed.

[fbr79]

08:16 AM on 03/25/2009

They are 20% of the Israeli citizens, is African-American or Hispanic-American also a hard concept for you to grasp?

[Justtellthetruth]

02:09 PM on 03/24/2009

The KKK is allowed to march in towns here in the US as well. This is simply like the KKK marching in Harlem, demanding that black Americans submit themselves to the KKKs vision on loyalty to America.

The message of these settlement supporters is that Arab Israelis ( who are already subject to different rights than Jewish Israeli citizens) must be loyal to a "Jewish State", in the way that THEY envision it, much the same way that the KKK might suggest that black Americans (and Jewish Americans for that matter) must submit themselves to an America that is primarily run by and for white Aryans.

I defy anyone to show me how that analogy is flawed in any way.

[SuperSam]

02:23 PM on 03/24/2009

Great post, these settlers need to remember it is their state that immigrated, not the other way around. These Umm Al-Fahm residents have been around for a very long time, calls to revoke their citizenship and loyality tests are absurd and insulting to a people who have been through so much.

[almazza98]

04:47 PM on 03/24/2009

THAT IS SPOT ON!!!!!

[SuperSam]

02:07 PM on 03/24/2009

Israelis shooting at "Arabs", they don't even wanna label them as "Israeli Arabs" so it makes people assume, Israel is after some more Arabs and not its own citizens.

[vinny]

04:01 PM on 03/24/2009

yep... a racist society at its core...

[Islandtime]

01:44 PM on 03/24/2009

I'm surprised by this behavior-- normally so peaceful.

[SuperSam]

02:10 PM on 03/24/2009

Not really, check out the Acre Riots last fall.

[phute]

01:23 PM on 03/24/2009

Settlers - occupiers - immigrants given rights over people of Middle Eastern origin.
Their only talent being a propensity to cause trouble - at someone else's expense of course.

[TimDanMick]

12:41 PM on 03/24/2009

There is an interesting parallel with the Orange Order marches in Northern Ireland which were (are) triumphalist statements from the majority to the minority, the majority intent being to humiliate and taunt the minority into violence which can then be put down by the majority run police force.

[DavieB36]

01:10 PM on 03/24/2009

This was a tiny faction of extremeists exercising their right to protest not a government sponsored event. the arabs living in that town had every right to protest however in israel if you allow these things to take a natural course there may be larger national security issues that are impacted. Neither group should have been allowed to gather as it posed a risk to public safety there is the fault here and it is no larger than that.

[Prattvictory2]

01:51 PM on 03/24/2009

I tiny faction of extremists with the help of the court and 1,500 armed government escorts.

Without the escorts these brave Israelis would have had to be content watching the IDF attack Gaza on television.

[msfsi]

02:16 PM on 03/24/2009

What were these "tiny faction of extremists" protesting against?

[skialethia]

11:52 AM on 03/24/2009

Expect more of this to happen. With the radical wing coming to power; and this "holy" war attitude where they think they are the masters of the Arabs (Palestinians), and as the Arabs grow demographically the Israelis will exert their will over them more and more. Everyone predicted this; and we are witnessing the evolution of what is an Apartheid State.

I lay the blame squarely on the shoulders of the U.S., who have coddled and financially supported this regime and enabled crimes by arming the oppressor to the gills and voting down every U.N. Resolution meant to enforce legal agreements.

[Taxi]

11:20 AM on 03/24/2009

What to expect if KKK marched through Watts in Los Angeles?

[Nicolaus]

11:06 AM on 03/24/2009

Good thing they forgot their live ammunition before they bravely fought the 'terrorists.'
Sooooo: right wing extremists try to raid the town, and when the citizens try to stop them... it is an ilegal demonstration. Comes just 24 hours after the UN Human Rights Commission confirms criminal violations in the recent escapade in the South.

[zaz33]

10:59 AM on 03/24/2009

As stated -

"He said the group's march followed a supreme court decision that allowed them to ""excerise their sovereignty over their city""

I don't believe the supreme court said anything like that but it's consistent with the settler's beliefs.

This "greater Israel" belief is also consistent with most previous governments, and the current government. (my opinion)

This "greater Israel" belief is also shared by the majority of Israeli Jews.(64% of Israel Jews are opposed to the Saudi initiative.)

This march is reminiscent of Northern Ireland.
George Mitchell has his work cut out for him.

[PlayTOE]

10:51 AM on 03/24/2009

So now it is OK for Jews to march and parade, but not for Arabs to do a similar protest?

Double standard and repressive regime.

[almazza98]

12:09 AM on 03/25/2009

YES, NOTE that the Supreme Court said that ANY JEW not ANY CITIZEN could march... DEMOCRACY MY ARSE.

[WoodyTanaka]

10:33 AM on 03/24/2009

It's not enough for these hardliner pigs that the government oppresses these people by treating them like second class citizens and commits war crimes and crimes against humanity against their families in Gaza and the West Bank. They have to further oppress and insult them with this garbage. Disgusting.

[DavieB36]

01:06 PM on 03/24/2009

Oppressive...these arabs are living in a free society under the protection of Israel if they dont like it they can leave...you know what is oppressive...having to go grocery shopping and knowing there is a good chance the bus will blow up...going to the mall and knowing that that could blow up....not being able to let your kids play outside because there may be rockets falling in your yard only to have one fall through the roof of their bedroom. you dont know the first thing about what your talking about...The Arabs living in Gaza beg for war it is the only means by which they can achieve their aim...no jews in Israel....Israel asks for peace and it is given war...and you know what they say about war...all is fair...

[mivogo]

01:44 PM on 03/24/2009

Not to mention getting gang-raped, then being whipped for the "offense."
Wonder if they'll mention that recent event in Saudi Arabia at the upcoming UN "Human Rights" (LOL) meeting.

[longtimegone]

03:21 PM on 03/24/2009

It must be galling to Israel's apologists that Americans cannot viscerally relate to their plight. In your mind, you captured and appropriated the land fair and square, yet you still have to live with daily fear [leave aside the ratio of real to imagined, for now]. We're not so different really. The white man captured and appropriated, through negotiated treaties, often preceded by massacres, an entire continent. The rhetoric over Americas's "Indian problem" in the newspapers of the latter half of the 19thC was similar to today's, the mindset of the settlers was similar to what you have stated. There was a stampeding of public opinion, broken only by occasional bouts of conscience in the Eastern cities in response to reports of massacres of women and children. Really, the difference is just an accident of time and space. Then, the natives could be killed when no one was looking; now the whole world is watching 24-7. Then, there was space to stash the remnant populations on useless land; the Israeli's don't have that kind of real estate at their disposal. Americans, thus, do not live in fear of Apaches with rockets. But we will never be at peace, and in that we are similar, too.