Jews, Arabs React Out of Fear as Hebron Tensions Rise

Tension rose sharply in Hebron on Thursday after Palestinians reported a rampage by Israeli settlers and Jews said they feared a massacre at the hands of their Arab neighbors.

Thousands of Arabs manned rooftops early Thursday after a rampage during which Jewish settlers vandalized Palestinian cars, according to deposed Hebron Mayor Mustafa Natshe.

Meir Indoor, a Jewish settler, said he and his family, who live in a tiny Jewish enclave in a Muslim quarter of the city, were awakened during the night by cries in Arabic of “Slaughter the Jews!” and rushed outside with their weapons.

“One of the people living here who survived the massacre 60 years ago said: ‘That’s what they did in 1929. They started yelling Allah is great from the mountains and the buildings around,’ ” Indoor said.

In 1929, Arab rioters attacked the Orthodox Jewish quarter in Hebron, killing 60 people and wounding 50. Jews fled the city and it wasn’t until 1979 that a group of militant Israelis forced the government to allow them to resettle in the center of town.

Rabbi Moshe Levinger, the spiritual leader of the settlement movement, said that because the army was slow to respond, residents of the nearby Kiryat Arba settlement arrived and engaged in a rock-throwing battle with the Arabs, the Hebrew-language newspaper Yediot Aharonot reported.

“When they attack us, we attack back,” Indoor said. “We have all sorts of secret funny plans to show them that we are not afraid.”

Settlers Drive Through Streets

The Israeli army said that about 10 or 15 Jewish settlers, on learning of an Arab demonstration, drove through the streets firing shots in the air before being chased away by troops. The army said they caused no casualties.

An army spokesman said the military has no evidence that Arabs had tried to attack Jews.

Natshe, Hebron’s deposed mayor who is also a leading Palestinian nationalist, said the trouble began shortly before midnight when the Jewish settlers went on a rampage.

“The city was suddenly awakened by the sound of shooting and flames rising from parked Arab cars. When people heard the settlers, they took to their roofs shouting “God is great!” he said.

A young foreigner staying in Hebron said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. The Arab family I live with thought their lives were in danger, and everyone went to the roofs with sticks and iron bars to protect themselves.

“It was dark, but you could see bullets flying and shooting from speeding cars,” said the woman, who asked not to be named.

Reporters counted five vandalized cars with windows smashed and tires cut.

The Jewish settlers gave a different account. Rabbi Levinger said, “If we did not stop them, they would have arrived at . . . the synagogue and committed a massacre against the Jews--men, women and children.”

Noam Arnon, another resident of the 40-family Beit Hadassah complex where Levinger lives, said Arabs did not attack Jewish homes.

“There was no damage to Jewish property,” he said, adding that he believed militants from the Kiryat Arba settlement were responsible for damaging Arab property.

The area military commander also disputed Levinger’s claim.

“It’s important to stress that the riots were directed at the army, and at no stage was there an intention or attempt to attack Jewish homes,” the commander, who did not give his name, said on Israel Radio.

Three Shot in Legs

The Israeli army said an officer shot three Palestinians in the legs when small groups of youths barricaded streets and hurled stones at soldiers.

The rest of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip was reported calm on Thursday after serious disturbances throughout the occupied areas the previous day to mark the start of the fourth month of a Palestinian uprising against Israeli rule.