An Arab member of the Knesset came under attack by some of his Jewish colleagues over the weekend amid signs of growing restiveness in the Israeli Arab community.
Three Likud Knesset members demanded that the attorney general immediately revoke the parliamentary immunity of Mohammad Miari, leader of the Progressive List for Peace, on grounds of “incitement to violence.”
Miari, addressing his party’s convention in Nazareth, warned that Israeli Arabs might stage their own uprising “if the (Israeli) authorities continue to deny them their rights.” Even Knesset members of the dovish Shinui party protested, saying Miari’s statement damaged Jewish-Arab relations.
Miari, whose party includes left-leaning Israeli Jews and Arabs in its Knesset faction, promptly backtracked. He told reporters that he was not implying that the current unrest in the administered territories would spread to Israel proper, only that “the situation could push” Israeli Arabs toward an uprising of their own.
Tension is mounting. The windows of a Jewish-driven car were smashed by stones thrown in the Arab village of Musmus over the weekend. No one was hurt and no arrests were made. Musmus lies opposite the larger Arab town of Umm el-Fahm, near Afula, the scene of violent disturbances during the Israeli-Arab general strike of Dec. 21.
A resident of Umm el-Fahm, Hassan Jabarin, 38, was just placed under administrative detention for six months, on orders of Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Jabarin is secretary of the radical Al Ansa group, which denies Israel’s right to exist. He can be held in custody for up to six months without trial or charges.
Meanwhile, the Nazareth regional court ordered three juveniles from the city held in custody for three days on suspicion of throwing stones at vehicles. The police representative who pressed charges in court said the authorities would invoke an article of the law that allows prison sentences of up to 20 years for stone-throwing.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
