Israel Update for October 2008

Violent clashes erupted between Arab and Jewish residents of the northern Israeli town of Acre (also known as Acco) after an Arab man provocatively drove his car through a Jewish neighborhood at high speed during the onset of the annual Yom Kippur holy day, when most Jewish vehicles around the country remain off the roads. Dozens of angry Jews chased the middle aged man, named Jamal Taufik, as he sped through the Acre streets toward his nearby home. Officials said he barely escaped alive, aided by local Israeli police. Although there is no formal law against driving through Jewish neighborhoods on Judaism's most sacred day of the year, Israel's million plus Arab citizens realize it is considered insulting, if not inflammatory, to do so.

Hundreds of masked Arab youths quickly took to the streets after it was falsely reported over local mosque loudspeakers that the speeding driver had been apprehended and killed by a Jewish mob. Five days of intense rioting followed as Arabs burned dozens of Jewish cars and vandalized storefronts in the ancient coastal city, which served as the main port during the European Crusades. Dozens of young Israeli Jews responded by torching two Arab homes and other targets. Israeli police struggled to contain the unsettling Acre violence, and to prevent it from spreading all across the Galilee region, as occurred in the wake of the outbreak of the Palestinian Al Aksa attrition war in September 2000.

The crisis was later defused when Taufik appeared before a Knesset committee to apologize for his action. Stating that he is an observant Muslim, and therefore was not drunk at the time of the incident as reported in several Israeli newspapers, Taufik added that "All I wanted to do was to get home before the holiday. I have made a mistake, and want to ask for forgiveness." Israeli officials accepted his apology and urged that calm be restored to the mixed Arab-Jewish town, located due north of the large Israeli city of Haifa. Officials had feared an eruption of country-wide violence if rioting had spread to the nearby port city.

Hamas Attack In Jerusalem

After several months of relative calm, a fresh Palestinian terror attack was launched inside of Israel on October 23. This came just days after several attempts were made to smuggle explosives into Israeli checkpoints north of Jerusalem. An elderly Jerusalem resident-86 year old Avraham Ozeri-was stabbed to death minutes after a 20 year old knife-wielding Palestinian terrorist from a village south of Bethlehem was stopped for questioning by Jerusalem policemen. A 30 year old officer was also stabbed and seriously injured during the incident, which occurred in the south Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.

The knifings took place after two local policemen asked the assailant for his identity card-a routine procedure to determine if he was legally inside Jerusalem's municipal boundaries. Officials say hundreds of Palestinians without valid work permits enter the Gilo neighborhood illegally each month, scaling a security barrier that was constructed several years ago along the border with PA-controlled territory in nearby Bethlehem.

A Jerusalem police statement said the young assailant, Muhammad Al Baden, was shot and disarmed soon after the stabbings took place. The quick action came when two nearby armed Israeli civilians ran after the Palestinian assailant, shooting and wounding him before pinning him to the ground until additional security personnel arrived at the residential scene. Israeli army soldiers later entered Al Baden's village of Tekoa to interrogate some of his relatives and friends. Several were taken in for additional questioning.

The Muslim fundamentalist Hamas movement took immediate "credit" for the latest terrorist assault. A Hamas statement called the attack "a natural response to continuing Zionist aggression against innocent Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip." Of course, the group did not mention that Israeli soldiers and over 8,000 civilians entirely evacuated the coastal strip in 2005, as demanded by Hamas and other Palestinian groups, and that the economic blockade imposed on the area earlier this year was in response to a series of unprovoked Palestinian rocket assaults on nearby Israeli civilian centers.

End Of The Truce?

Gaza-based terrorists fired a Kassam rocket into Israeli territory just two days before the Jerusalem stabbing attack. The rocket landed in open ground north of the Gaza Strip, causing no damage or injuries. Still, it was a clear and serious violation of the four month old Egyptian-negotiated ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

In response to the rocket attack, Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered all border crossings into the Gaza Strip temporarily closed, preventing fresh food and fuel supplies from entering the Palestinian coastal zone. This came several days after Israeli community leaders serving around the Gaza Strip were advised to step up security alerts in the face of intelligence reports that fresh Kassam launchings were being planned by Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group, which takes its orders directly from Iran.

Hamas leaders made clear during October that they will probably end the six month ceasefire that was indirectly negotiated between them and Israeli officials in June. If so, Israeli civilian communities around the Gaza Strip can expect a river of fresh rocket attacks around the end of this year. Some military analysts expect the time out to come to an end before then, possibly followed by Israeli army action designed to sever Hamas control of the Palestinian coastal zone. Israeli soldiers remain on high alert in the area, ready for any possible action that may be ordered by the government.

Inter-Palestinian Tensions Rising Again

Palestinian Authority security officials announced in late October that over 500 PA policemen would soon be deployed in the holy city of Hebron, in coordination with Israel. The move was seen as yet another attempt to shore up PA control in the wake of ongoing Hamas threats to oust PA security forces from Judea and Samaria. The city-sacred to both Muslims and Jews-is a known Hamas stronghold.

Hamas again warned Palestinian Authority leader and Fatah party chairman Mahmoud Abbas that he risks an imminent full scale revolt inside portions of Judea and Samaria, currently controlled by PA forces assisted by the Israeli army. In an apparent effort to help deflect such a possible coup attempt, Abbas announced in late October that he would dismiss General Intelligence commander Tawfik Tirawi, as demanded by Hamas. He and another man that Hamas wants fired-Diab Al Ali-have been heavily involved in ongoing PA security operations against Hamas agents operating inside Jordan's former West Bank.