Monday, March 17, 2008

SOMETHING IN THE WATER

A Right-wing protester is hit with an elbow as he is arrested by police in Jabel Mukaber Sunday.Photo: AP

On Sunday, hundreds of right-wing activists stoned Arab homes in East Jerusalem in an attempt to raze the house of the family of Ala Abu Dhaim, murderer of eight students in the shooting spree at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva - 22 nabbed in right-wing Jebl Mukaber protest. In doing so the protesters were behaving no better than those of their neighbours who throw stones and worse at Jews in different parts of the country and in the Palestinian territories. Such behaviour is reprehensible and must not be condoned.

The comments of some Arab MK’s have not been helpful either. Hadash Chairman Muhammad Barakei described the attacks as "pogroms" and blamed not only the protesters but also the "government's policies, which nurtures these groups and sabotages any progress towards peace and calm." Someone should suggest to Barakei that perhaps the murders themselves, the reaction of thousands of Palestinians who celebrated them and the incitement on Palestinian media both from the PA and from Hamas are also likely to hamper progress towards peace?

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