Israel braces for clashes after attack on Arabs

Israel went on alert on Friday for a possible wave of Arab unrest after a Jewish militant shot dead four Israeli Arabs.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon condemned the gunman, who was beaten to death after the attack by residents in the Arab town of Shfaram, as a “bloodthirsty terrorist.”

And he vowed that Israel would begin pulling its settlers and forces out of the occupied Gaza Strip as planned on Aug. 17, no matter what attempts were made to thwart it.

Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres said on Israel Radio: “My God, how this country is vulnerable to the actions of murderers, madmen and fanatics who endanger all our lives, Jews as well as Arabs, peace and hope. These people should be rooted out. I hope this country unites to punish those responsible.”

Thousands of Israeli police were redeployed to heavily Arab areas of northern Israel, where Thursday’s attack aboard a bus occurred, to pre-empt potential riots before or after funerals for the four dead.

Another feared hotspot was a Jerusalem shrine sacred to both Muslims and Jews where Friday prayers for Muslims were scheduled.

Threat from Hamas
The main Palestinian militant faction, Hamas, which with other armed groups adopted a de facto cease-fire with Israel in February, threatened reprisals for the bus shooting.

Security agencies had warned that Jewish militants could target Palestinians or Israeli Arabs to whip up conflict to try to stop the removal of Jewish settlers from occupied Gaza.

Sharon bills his plan as “disengagement” from conflict with the Palestinians. It would be Israel’s first dismantling of settlements in territory that Palestinians want for a state.

Israel’s army said the gunman, Eden Nathan Zaada, 19, was a soldier who had deserted and was “of a problematic background.”

Aside from the four dead, at least 22 people, all but seven of them Arabs, were hurt in the shooting and an ensuing melee.

It was the worst attack by a Jewish radical since a West Bank settler killed 29 Palestinians praying in a mosque in 1994.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

'There could be a lot of problems today'
A shrine of flowers stood at the scene of Thursday’s attack. Municipal cleaners were sweeping away shattered window glass.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

“Our town is at the heart of the state of Israel and they are targeting people here. The state is not doing enough (to protect) its Arab citizens,” said cleaner Mounir Baki.

“It (rioting) could happen. There could be a lot of problems today. If it happens, it will be against the police because yesterday they wanted to protect this terrorist,” said Wafiq Abu Shah, referring to initial police efforts to arrest the gunman.

Israeli media said Zaada, who was from a Tel Aviv suburb but moved recently to a radical Jewish settlement in the West Bank, had left his unit in protest at army preparations to forcibly remove settlers who resist evacuation from Gaza.

Israel Radio said police had arrested three youths in the settlement of Tapuach on suspicion they had prior knowledge of his intent to kill Arabs.

“The attempt to harm Jewish-Arab coexistence will not succeed,” Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Israel Radio. “On this day we need to do all we can to calm tensions. I call on the Arab leadership to work to put things back on track.”

Arabs make up about one-fifth of Israel’s population and often complain of discrimination.

The government has accused some ultranationalists of trying to incite violence ahead of the plan, which involves removing 9,000 settlers from Gaza and a corner of the West Bank.

Some of the police sent as reinforcements to northern Israel had been stationed outside Gaza to try to prevent rightist marchers from infiltrating settlements to disrupt the pullout.