October 2008 in Akka (Acre)

Below is an important report on what has been happening in the
Palestinian city of Akka (occupied and largely depopulated of the
indigenous Palestinian inhabitants in 1948) in case you're following
this in the media and tryin to figure out what's been going on.

Edited by Ala Hlehel

Published by the "Akka Residents Coalition," a group of non-profit
organizations, institutes, political activists and public figures.
Updated 14 October 2008.

"Co-existence is a catch-phrase. After all, Akka is a city such as
Ra'anana, Kfar Saba and Haifa, that must maintain its Jewish identity.
I don't think there is a dispute. Akka is the Galilee capital,
thousands of years of Jewish history. We are here in order to preserve
the Jewish identity, fortify its spirit and to withstand this national
challenge."

-- Rabbi Yossi Stern, head of the Akka "Hesder" Yeshiva


I. Timeline of Events

Tuesday, 7 October

Abbas Zakour, an Arab member of Knesset (Islamic Movement) and a
resident of Akka sends a letter to the Minister of Public Security,
Avi Dichter, demanding that the police place mobile patrols in Arab
and Jewish friction areas in Akka. He warns of a disaster on Yom
Kippur (the holiest Jewish holiday; the Day of Atonement) after the
violent events in the past years on this day in Akka. His request is
refused.

Wednesday, 8 October (Yom Kippur eve) around 12 midnight

Tawfik Jamal, a 48-year-old Arab citizen of Israel from Akka, rides in
his car to the house of relatives, the Sha'aban family, who live in
the eastern part of the city, to pick up his daughter. The daughter
helped the family prepare cakes for a wedding ceremony planned to be
held the following week. Jamal drove slowly and quietly with no radio
or speakers turned on. His 18-yearold son and the son's 20-year-old
friend were also in the car. Jewish youth attacked the car with stones
after he parked it and entered his relatives' home from which he
called the police. "Me, my son and his friend were close to death by a
hairbreadth," said Jamal.

Fifteen people were besieged in the Sha'aban family home, surrounded
and attacked by a large group of Jewish individuals, while the police
stood aside. A rumor spread in the old city of Akka that one of the
besieged people was killed and that people were called to help them
escape. Simultaneously, the police were negotiating with the Jewish
rioters to rescue the besieged family in order to prevent further
conflict between the Arab and Jewish residents.

After a few hours, the family members were rescued. The hundreds of
agitated Arab youth returned to the old city, and on the way back, a
few of them through stones at cars and shops in the city's Ben-Ami
street.

Thursday, 9 October

After Yom Kippur ended, a large group of Jewish residents, estimated
at 1,500, gathered around the train station in the eastern and
northern parts of the city. The chief of the northern district police,
major general Shimon Koren, reported two riot centers, one between
Strauss junction and "Magen David" junction in the eastern part of the
city, and the other in the Wolfsson neighborhood, north of the Akka
bus station. The Jewish rioters threw stones, clashed with the police
and attacked Arab passersby.

Ten rioters were arrested and a few people were injured.

Hundreds of Jewish rioters closed in on the Abu-Ataba family house,
located on Ehad Ha'am Street.

They threw stones at the home and damaged it, and at the same time,
they called out, "Death to the Arabs". Some of the family members were
injured.

That night police commissioner Inspector General Dudi Cohen met the
leaders of the Arab and Jewish communities in Akka. After the meeting,
he said that, "it is important to call for total calm. Everyone must
examine themselves and restore peace and quiet. We need to reach a
state of calm in the city, and let life return to its path." Leaders
of the Arab public issued statements to calm down the situation as
well, but representatives of the Jewish community did not. Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni also
demanded that peace be restored, but to date, no Israeli official had
denounced the violent actions of the Jewish residents.

Friday, 10 October

During the riots after the holiday, at least eight people were
injured. Repeatedly, Jews were injured while colliding with police
forces, while the Arabs were injured by Jewish offenders. Five hundred
police were stationed in the city. Despite statements made by the
police that their intent was to prevent further riots in the eastern
neighborhoods, the rioters were not driven away but they continued
assaulting Arab citizens who that lived in the area.

The police cleared away a few gatherings of rioters near the "Eshkol"
school, where the protesters threw stones on a few Arab cars and
homes. Ten people were arrested.

The Jewish crowd attacked the Hamad family home, near the West Galilee
College; the Barghouti home located on Hayozrim Street; and another
Arab family house on Ehad Ha'am Street. Two other Arab family homes in
Harav Lopez and Ramhal Streets were burned down.

Akka mayor Shimon Lankri announced the cancellation of the Akka
Alternative Theater Festival which is held annually in the city. The
festival was due to open on 15 October. The mayor stated that,
"considering the anger and infringement of the religious rights of the
residents conducting the festival would be in bad taste." On the
previous evening, the mayor had called on Israelis to come to the
festival. The festival's cancellation came after Jewish rioters
demanded it as an economic sanction against the city's Arabs.

Riots in the northern neighborhoods took place in Alkalai, Ben Shushan
and Ehad Ha'am Streets. In these areas of the city, there is a Jewish
majority; about twenty Arab families live there in total. The Jewish
rioters gathered in the streets and cried "Death to the Arabs". They
attacked Arab family homes trying to make their inhabitants flee; they
damaged the homes and set them on fire. The riots continued: trees and
garbage cans were set on fire in the streets. A text message
distributed to Jewish residents called to boycott Arab tradesmen and
shopkeepers.

Around midnight, three Jewish residents were arrested while trying to
damage an Arab family's house. The violent clashes resumed in the
eastern neighborhood. Twelve rioters were arrested.

Saturday, 11 October

Arab public representatives issued a statement in which they condemned
Jamal, the driver of the car, for driving on Yom Kippur. The driver
publicly apologized before a session of the Knesset's Interior
Committee. The representatives of the Jewish community in Akka, the
mayor and the city's rabbi, declined to accept the apologies. Riots
continued. The mayor demands more arrests.

A petition is circulated on the Internet to which many Arab and Jewish
artists and academics have signed on. The petition calls for the Akka
Alternative Theatre Festival to be held as planned.

At nightfall, a Jewish mob burns down another house of an Arab family.
The police confront the Jewish law-breakers.

Sunday, 12 October

Several Arab women and children who have been evacuated from their
homes try to return in order to take clothes and supplies but fail to
do so. The Arab families demonstrate in front of City Hall; Jewish
lawbreakers come there and attack them.

Mayor Lankri changes his position and declares: "I'm glad the Arab
leadership is condemning this grave incident." During the last four
days of confrontations, 54 people were arrested, half Jews and half
Arab citizens. Systematically, the courts release most of the Jewish
detainees, while the time of detention for the Arab detainees is
extended.

The Minister of Science, Culture and Sport, Galeb Majadle, announced
that he opposes the postponement of the Akka Festival. In an interview
to Ynet, the chief of the northern district

police Shimon Koren states that those who are disrupting public order
are Jewish: "We know who they are and we'll get them." He made it
clear that even when the riots end, arrests will continue: "We have
evidence and we will file indictments."

In response to these violent events, the head of the "Hesder" Yeshiva,
Rabbi Yossi Stern promised to build a new campus for the Yeshiva in
town as soon as possible: "Akka is the national test in the struggle
for the character of the State of Israel," he declares.

Monday, 13 October

Police arrest and interrogate the son of Tawfik Jamal, the Arab
citizen of Israel who drove in the Jewish neighborhood on the eve of
Yom Kippur and who was blamed for causing the riots although he was
attacked and his life was in danger. Later, the police released Mr.
Jamal's son and arrested Mr. Jamal himself. He is being interrogated
and his detention was extended by the court. The police claim that he
is suspected of driving beyond the speed limit, endangering human life
and hurting "religious sentiments" when driving on Yom Kippur in a
Jewish neighborhood. Hurting the feelings of others and driving on Yom
Kippur are not criminal offenses.

Tuesday, 14 October

Solidarity committees for the Arab residents of Akka, initiated by
Jews and Arabs, are visiting the city.

The riots against Arab citizens in Akka receive Arab and international
attention around the world. Arab public leaders demand a neutral
independent investigation committee and not one appointed by the
state. "We have learned the lesson of October 2000," Arab leaders
declared.

There is still no solution for the Arab families forced to flee from
the eastern neighborhood during the nights of riots. Most of them are
still staying in hotels and at relatives' houses. The police are not
acting to bring them back to their homes.


II. Attacks by Jewish extremists on Arab citizens in recent years

Violent harassment by Jews against Arab residents of the city of Akka
did not start on Yom Kippur eve 2008. The wave of attacks and
intimidation already started in 2002, just before a religious Yeshiva
school was established in the city and Jewish settlers moved in. A few
of the many documented events are listed below:

2002: Lawyer Madikha Ramal's car is set on fire following a bomb
explosion in Netanya.

2005: The homes of three Arab families on Alkalai Street are set on
fire: the Ramal, Sha'aban and Khalaile families.

2007: In the same neighborhood, Subhi Morsi is attacked and his car is
set on fire.

8 April 2008: Jewish extremists set Ramal's house on fire again.
Molotov cocktails are thrown into the house while the family members
are asleep.

23 April 2008: "Al-Manshiya" mosque is vandalized by four Jewish youth
living in the neighborhood. During the interrogation, they admit to an
attempt to burn down another Arab family's house a few months ago.

Since 2002, slogans like "Death to Arabs" are permanently tagged over
the neighborhood's walls and inside the elevators of apartment
buildings.


III. Testimonies from families who were attacked

The Ali Family

Walid and Tamam Ali and their three children have lived on Lopez
Street since 1976. On 9 October 2008, at around 19:30, they saw a mass
of people -- about three hundred -- approaching their house. Within
seconds the crowd started throwing stones and shouting 'Death to the
Arabs', 'Leave this place and our country', and similar slogans. A
barrage of heavy stones (pieces of pavement) damaged the doors of the
house and the windows, including a large glass door in the living
room. The attack lasted for around 30 minutes.

Everything within the house was shattered, and the mob closed in on
the house. Tamam Ali, the mother, lost consciousness due to a drop in
her blood pressure caused by the events.

The Ali family called the police multiple times, always receiving the
same reply: the police know about what is occurring and would do
something but the whole city is in shambles.

However, the police never came, and eventually the Ali family called
their relatives to ask them to come and assist them in escaping.

Walid Ali's brother and nephew arrived in their car but could not
enter their street because the police had put a barrier at the
street's entrance and were not allowing anyone to pass. After about
one and a half hours of asking the police, two Arab police on guard
finally agreed to let them enter the street as well as to accompany
them to home of the Ali family.

Together they helped the family members leave the house; the mother
was in a bad physical condition and the rest of the family was in a
state of shock. Throughout the rescue, the mob outside kept throwing
stones and swearing, and began cheering that they "succeeded" in
driving the family from its house.

After the family left the house, the crowds dragged Ali's car into the
middle of the street, turned it over and went on throwing stones at it
as well as the house. Later that evening, one of the Jewish neighbors
called the police and said that the mob had set fire to the car. Later
that night the police sent six officers to guard the house's entrance.

On Friday, the next morning, the eldest son of the family, along with
a friend, came to the house to fetch some clothes, money and several
other things. The moment they reached the house, dozens of Jewish
rioters approached them and threatened that they would hurt them if
they did not leave immediately. They yelled and swore at them, calling
them "dirty Arabs".

The two teenagers were scared and left immediately without taking
anything. On their way out, one of the neighbors -- a department
manager in the city hall -- told the crowds: "Drive them away. Don't
let them stay here. We don't want Arabs in this neighborhood and not
in our country either. This is our country." The policemen who
witnessed all of this did not interfere. That evening, the son's car
was also set on fire while the police watched. On Saturday, the next
evening, the mobs set fire to the whole house, again while the police
watched. Several Jewish neighbors called the fire brigade. Despite the
fact that the fire station is located very close to the house, it took
the brigade around 15 minutes to arrive. On Sunday evening, the boys
returned again, trying to take some school books and uniforms for the
younger son from the house. They found most of the house had been
burned down, and no electricity. They could not assess the damage
because of the lack of electricity. The neighbors informed them that
before the mob had set fire to the house they had stolen many things
from inside.

The Sa'adi Family

Hana and Jalal Sa'adi live in a house on 9/3 Yosef Gadish Street in
Akka's Eastern Quarter.

The couple have three daughters aged 7, 6 and 3 and half years old.
Hana also has two sons from her previous marriage: Tamer Zaidan (24)
and Omri Zaidan (20). On 9 October, the family, including the two sons
and three daughters, was at home when a violent Jewish mob appeared
outside.

The mob forced open the house gate, destroyed the garden and broke the
blinds on the living room window and the glass window on the porch.
The family called the police multiple times but received no
assistance; the police did not come to aid or evacuate the family.
After the mob left, Hana fled on foot to the police to ask for help,
first from an officer who responded by telling her "to learn her
lesson", and then at the police station, where she was told to return
home with no police escort, being promised that a YASAM (riot police)
unit would be sent immediately. Hana returned home on foot, despite
the danger involved. She waited for hours for the police unit to arrive.

The next day, the Jewish mob appeared at the house again. Around nine
o'clock in the evening, people began to throw rocks at the house while
cursing and yelling racist slurs, causing extensive destruction to the
house and scaring and traumatizing the entire family.

After around twenty minutes a YASAM unit arrived and told the
occupants to prepare for a rescue-evacuation. They were evacuated in a
police vehicle, while the rioting mob hurled rocks at the vehicle.

The vehicle arrived at the station, where the adult members of the
family were notified of their arrest. The girls were put into the
custody of family members. The next day, 11 October, Hana, the mother,
was released at 2 o'clock in the afternoon but Jalal, Tamer and Omri
were kept under arrest.

The three, in addition to five Jewish residents who had been arrested,
were brought before a judge in the Kiryon Magistrate's Court.
Subsequently all of the Jewish detainees were released but the
detention of the three Arab detainees was extended and they remained
imprisoned. While the family members were trapped in the house, they
received no police assistance, and thus they threw stones back at the
rioters in order to keep them away. This was the reason given for the
arrest and detention of the adult males in the family.

This pattern was repeated in the other assault cases: the police
arrested the victims of assault together with the perpetrators, and
then in court the perpetrators were set free while the victims'
detention was extended.

The Rammal Family

On 8 October, the members of the Rammal Family were removed from their
home in Alkalai Street in Akka under police protection because they
feared that their lives were in danger.

They have been moving to different locations since then and so far
have been unable to return home. In an interview with Arab journalists
the mother, Ronza Rammal, criticized the powerlessness of the police
against Jewish extremists who are creating a regime of terror by
attacking Arab families in the area. She emphasized that she and her
children live in extremely difficult circumstances, wandering from
house to house without their most basic belongings.

Her daughter, Walaa, asked all institutions and responsible
individuals to interfere quickly and to solve the family's problems by
letting them return to their home. Currently they are living in a
two-room apartment in Wolfsson with ten inhabitants.

On Sunday 12 October, Walaa asked the police to escort her to her home
in order to pick up clothing and other necessary items for the family.
The police refused to accompany her, declaring "We are not your taxi
drivers." However, after the family insisted, the police agreed to
their request and two police cars accompanied the taxi in which the
family traveled. At the entrance to Alkalai Street, they encountered a
threatening mob of Jews shouting "Death to the Arabs!" and the police
immediately withdrew, requesting that the family retreat. Ronza Rammal
says that these attacks have one goal, "to drive us out of our
neighbourhood, and to make the Arabs leave Akka. But we will remain in
Akka, where we were born, in spite of the violence directed against
us," she insisted.

The Halaila Family

The Halaila family was removed from their home in Alkalai Street by
the police on October after their daughter was attacked by Jewish
rioters. The mother and her four daughters currently have nowhere to
live. On 12 October, she approached the Akka Municipality ask for help
and to find a solution for her problem.

In an interview, Mrs. Halaila said: "Our situation is extremely grave.
The children do not go to school, we have no clothes, we do not go to
work. We asked the Municipality to provide us, as it is obligated to,
with temporary living quarters. We also asked to be escorted to our
neighborhood in order to collect our necessities and clothing." On 12
October they tried to return home, but were attacked and chased away
by Jewish rioters.

The Sha'aban Family

The Sha'aban family's home on Alkalai Street was attacked, vandalized,
and subsequently burned down by Jewish rioters. The police helped the
family to leave but did not protect the house.

The Morsi Family

On 11 October, Jewish rioters attacked the home of Soubhi Morsi in the
Al-Manshiya neighborhood in the eastern part of Akka. "They destroyed
everything. It just shows how much hatred has been buried inside them
for years," said Morsi in an interview. The attack left the house
completely burned down.

The Barghouti family's home in the eastern part of Akka, in HaYotsrim
Street, was attacked damaged and set on fire several times during the
riots.


IV. "Activities to Judiaze Akka"

The latest events in Akka are part of a trend that has not received
public attention: a widespread attack by the national right-wing
groups on mixed Jewish-Arab cities. It is worth reading the racist
calls to boycott Arab businesses in Akka together with the call to
settle in Led (Lod) in 2002. These calls have produced results and one
can see the connection between them and the activities of extremists
in Jaffa-Tel Aviv. In recent years the national right-wing party
called "the Seeds of the Settlements" have concentrated in Led, Ramla,

Akka, Jaffa, and other areas at 'demographic risk' and they are being
encouraged by the local authorities to carry out 'social work' in the
areas. Today there are around 200 yeshivas in Akka in addition to
around 1000 settler-extremists.

The Ometz (Courage) Group

This group in Akka was established by Jewish settlers, graduates of
yeshivas in the West Bank towns of Hebron, Kedumim, and south of Mount
Hebron. One of the founders is Ishai Rubin, who was born and raised in
the 'ideological' settlement of Elon Moreh. Rubin and his friend David
Cohen had initially planned to join a new settlement on one of the
hills around Hebron, but decided to move to Akka instead.

In 1997 a group of young families settled in Akka, with the intention
of strengthening the process of "Judiazation of the city". More and
more young settlers are moving to the mixed towns who are members of
the national religious movement mainly focusing on 'social issues.'
Some of them see this as an important ideal in and of itself. Others
view it as a means of increasing the financial support among Israeli
Jews. Their leader is Rabbi Nachshon Cohen, formerly of the Hebron
Yeshiva in the Beth Romano settlement in Hebron.

In an interview with journalists from Ha'aretz, he declared: "There is
no doubt at all that the settlement of Yesha is as vital as that of
Misgav Am or Kiryat Shmona."

The National Unity Party is active in Jaffa. A conference in April
2008 devoted to the 'settlement' of Ramla was initiated by the
nationalist right-wing party, the religious Amichai group and the
Komemiut movement (established after the withdrawal from Gaza).

The illegal actions of these settlers, which appear to be supported by
the government, are similar to that undertaken in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory (OPT).

These young settlers are carrying out "social missions", intended to
judiaze Israeli society and to reinforce hostility against the Arabs.
They recruit residents by promising nationalreligious families the
chance to improve their quality of life by moving to mixed cities in
communities within Israel with economic support from the State.

According to the Head of the Hesder Yeshiva in Akka, Rabbi Yossi
Stern: "Akka is a national test. Akka today is Israel in 10 years'
time. What happens in Akka today is what will happen in Israel. We are
the vanguard. We respect the State, and we must, by every possible
means, be strong and stand firm for its honour.

Co-existence is a slogan. Ultimately Akka is a town like Raanana, Kfar
Saba, or Haifa, and must safeguard its Jewish identity. I think
everyone would agree that Akka is the capital city of Galilee, of
thousands of years of Jewish history. We are here to preserve that
Jewish identity and to reinforce that spirit, to stand for our
nation's honour.

There were plenty of houses for sale here, and the situation was that
either Arabs would buy them, or that we would bring yeshiva students
to live in them. Recently another 30 families from the group have come
in. Today, we are constructing a large community of settlers, and
creating permanent housing for them." (Channel 7).

The yeshiva is located on the site of an old synagogue in Kiryat
Wolfsson. It is intended to block access to Arab residents in the
area, and to contribute to the 'Judiazation' of the city.

Thus the apartments in which the yeshiva students live are in
buildings and areas in which all or most of the residents are Arabs.

Economic boycotts -- not the first time

A petition recently disseminated among Jewish residents calls for the
boycott of Arab tradesmen and businesses in the city. A new Internet
site has been set up, specifically to encourage these sanctions:
www.akko.txt.co.il

During the riots, flyers were distributed -- "Jews don't buy from
Arabs". An important rabbi endorsed the boycott. Other boycotts were
also organized following the events of October 2000, and for almost a
whole year Jewish citizens purchased very little from shops in Akka's
Old City and rarely visited the area. A similar boycott was attempted
following the violent events at the end of Simchat Torah two years ago
but failed.

Arab businesses in Akka are suffering as a result, yet the
Municipality has cancelled the Alternative Theatre Festival -- one of
the best sources of income for Arab tradesmen in the Old City.

Four ongoing processes are underway to 'Judiaze' the mixed towns:

a) Making life more difficult for Arab citizens, instituting
discriminatory practices with regards to providing services,
marginalizing Arabs in order to encourage them to leave;

b) Erasing all signs of Arab identity including the destruction of
historic buildings and inscriptions, and street names and names of
historic sites in Arabic;

c) Acquiring buildings and property through government-owned companies
in accordance with laws targeted at the 'Judiazation' of cities, not
allowing families to inherit property, and making squatting and other
forms of control of property easier.

All of this is supported by unlimited financial contributions from
wealthy Jews abroad;

d) Rehabilitating some of the neighborhoods; turning them into
artists' quarters, galleries, and tourist projects without the
inclusion of any Arab citizens.