VZCZCXRO6216
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHTV #2330/01 2891353
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151353Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8781
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 002330 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PINS PINR SOCI CASC IS
SUBJECT: YOM KIPPUR RIOTS IN THE MIXED CITY OF AKKO 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  On October 8, at the beginning of the Jewish 
holy day of Yom Kippur, the drive of an Arab resident of the mixed 
Arab-Jewish city of Akko (Acre) into the predominantly Jewish 
neighborhood of "Ben Gurion" became the proximate cause for riots 
between the two communities for more than 24 hours.  A large police 
deployment contained the violence, and there was no loss of life. 
Simmering tensions in this mixed city have outed opportunists from 
both ends of the political spectrum, who are only too glad to use 
inflammatory rhetoric, and forced the cancellation of a planned 
theatre festival.  Minister of Public Security Avi Dichter visited 
Akko on October 10 to praise the police and to promise to put 
rioters behind bars.  He said he regretted statements made by public 
figures and MK's, both Jewish and Arab, whose remarks have inflamed 
tempers in Akko and beyond.  End Summary 
 
¶2.  (U) Most orthodox Jews observe the weekly Sabbath on Saturday 
and Jewish holidays by refraining from driving vehicles, and it is 
customary throughout the country for all Israeli citizens - save 
emergency medical and security personnel - to refrain from driving 
on Yom Kippur (and the evening before the holiday when observance 
begins).  This is the quietist day of the year when most Jews fast 
and attend synagogue, and others navigate on foot or on bicycles. 
Periodically, there are reports of attacks against drivers -- no 
matter what their religious identity and often despite their 
emergency mission -- who violate these norms.  This most often 
occurs when someone enter neighborhoods where religious observance 
is customary, such as the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim 
in Jerusalem.  But the tension is often acute in mixed neighborhoods 
or cities where religious identity and observance are most apt to 
collide.  For example, on Yom Kippur in 2007 a 20-year-old 
Israeli-Arab man ran over and killed a 9-year-old Jewish girl while 
she was riding her bicycle in the northern town of Kfar Tavor. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Tawfik Jamal's drive into the Ben Gurion neighborhood of 
Akko touched off riots for a number of reasons, some real and others 
imagined.  The initial facts of the event that touched off the riot 
are in dispute.  Akko Arabs maintain that Mr. Jamal was returning by 
vehicle to his family's residence in the mixed Ben Gurion 
neighborhood where his vehicle was attacked by Jewish residents who 
were reportedly waiting to respond to any perceived provocation with 
violence.  According to Galilee Police spokesman Eran Shak, who is 
quoted in the Jerusalem Post, Mr. Jamal was brazenly violating norms 
by driving his car and blaring music from it. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Mr. Jamal and fellow passenger fled and hid in the 
family's house.  According to Ahmad Odeh, an Akko city council 
member from Hadash Party who is running for mayor this November, the 
whole residential building of Jamal's family that included another 
two Arab families was consequently surrounded by a large number of 
Jewish residents from around 10:00 pm until 2:00 am on October 9 
when the police finally managed to rescue the Arab families and take 
them to their relatives outside the neighborhood.   Rumors 
purporting that the surrounded Arab families had been seriously 
harmed or killed quickly circulated in the Old City of Akko, which 
is mostly inhabited by Arab residents.  Arab residents reportedly 
headed for Ben Gurion neighborhood and caused extensive damage to 
vehicles and storefronts. 
 
¶5.  (U) Israeli National Police dispatched hundreds of police to 
Akko to disperse rioters on October 8.  They remained in the city 
throughout Yom Kippur and were on hand the following evening 
(October 9), when Jewish groups gathered at the entrance of the Old 
City to stage a demonstration.  Some of these demonstrators 
reportedly tried to cross police lines, without success.  On the 
afternoon of October 10, there were reports that the home of another 
Arab family in the predominantly  Jewish neighborhood of Manshyeh 
has been surrounded by Jewish residents. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Odeh said that what happened is an unfortunate event but 
was just an excuse for the Jewish residents to inflame the situation 
and prevent  Arab residents from buying houses in mostly Jewish 
neighborhoods.  Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab minority Rights in 
Israel, has scheduled a hearing at the Supreme Court of Israel on 
October 27 against the new Akko city law that will ban Arab 
businesses from opening on Saturdays in a predominantly Arab 
neighborhood in Akko. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) A senior Embassy FSN noted that Akko is a poor city, both 
for Jews and Arabs, making confrontation that much easier to spark 
given the numbers of disenchanted people on all sides.  Arab members 
of the Knesset reacted strongly, with one member reportedly making 
references to these events as "Jewish pogroms."  Right-wing Jewish 
MK's from the National Union and other parties blamed the Arabs for 
inflaming the situation.  Minister of Public Security Avi Dichter 
visited the city on October 10 and promised to put rioters behind 
bars.  He said he regretted statements made by public figures and 
MK's, both Jewish and Arab, and said these remarks inflamed tempers. 
 
 
¶8.  (U) The two days of riots/demonstrations led the Mayor of Akko, 
Shimon Lankry (Kadima), to cancel the "fringe theatre" festival 
 
TEL AVIV 00002330  002 OF 002 
 
 
planned for the upcoming Sukkot holiday next week.  The Chair of the 
Knesset Interior Committee, MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor), reportedly 
went on the radio to urge reconsideration of this decision.  He 
announced plans to hold an emergency Knesset meeting to discuss the 
Akko situation. 
 
CUNNINGHAM