Last update - 01:22 13/02/2005
Calm restored in Maghar following clashes
By Jack Khoury and Eli Ashkenazi
Calm was restored in the Galilee village of Maghar yesterday, following two days of violent clashes between Druze and Christian residents that resulted in seven injuries and caused many Christian families to flee the village.
Earlier in the day, two people suffered gunshot wounds and were taken to a Tiberias hospital for treatment. Six people suffered light wounds, including one police officer. Some Christian families fled the village as ethnic tension rose and clashes between Druze and Christians entered their second day.
A brawl between Christian and Druze youths broke out Thursday after rumors spread that some Christian youths created photo images of Druze girls as nude models and posted them on the Internet. Over the weekend, the violence spread, gunshots were fired, shops and vehicles were vandalized and stone-throwing mobs clashed with each other.
Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi arrived yesterday at the village and said during an emergency meeting with local community leaders and religious officials that "we have reached a critical point - either the local leadership calms the spirits, or police will intervene and restore public order."
Calm was restored in the afternoon, upon the arrival of members of the National High Arab Monitoring Committee, Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra and Border Police riot brigades.
Yesterday's clashes erupted after a group of Christians held a quiet protest in front of the church, against what they perceive to be a slow police response to Friday's violence.
Schools in the mixed Druze-Christian village declared a strike yesterday to protest the violence that swept the town on Friday. The regional council convened an emergency meeting in wake of the riots, to consider creating a public committee with representatives from the region to compensate business and home-owners who suffered damage.
Christian community leaders met simultaneously to discuss the event. Yesterday morning several leaders of the Arab community, including MKs, arrived in the village to promote a reconciliation between the sides.
Also yesterday, police arrested two residents of the town on suspicion they looted stores during the violence.
Witnesses said hundreds of Druze entered a Christian neighborhood in the village and proceeded to bombard the residents with stun grenades and set cars and buildings on fire.
Residents of the neighborhood complained that police were late to arrive at the scene of the riot.
They also said that fire-fighters didn't come at all, though they were called repeatedly.
Hadash MK Mohammed Barakeh said yesterday that he will demand Ezra explain the slow police response.
Police said in response that around 100 police officers poured into the village and were working with the town's officials to solve the dispute.
Some 18,000 people live in Maghar. Of them, Druze comprise 50 percent of the population, 35 percent are Muslims and 15 percent are Christians.
Many people encounter economic hardships in the village, and the ethnic tensions may be a result of animosity between the wealthier Christian population and the poorer Druze.
Druze leaders have been complaining that despite the fact that their sons serve in the military and in the security forces, the government is not rewarding the community, while at the same time Christian youths acquire a higher education and land better jobs.