3 Stabbings Spark Anti-Arab Rioting in Israel

Palestinians stabbed three Jews to death in an aluminum factory today and sprayed Muslim fundamentalist slogans on the walls before fleeing, police said. The killings sparked anti-Arab rioting and cries for vengeance.

The latest in a string of knife attacks on Jewish civilians also brought demands from Israeli right-wingers for a crackdown on Palestinians.

Police Minister Ronni Milo warned of a “harsh and unequivocal response” to such attacks.

The slayings in the mixed Arab-Jewish town of Jaffa, next to Tel Aviv, brought Jewish mobs onto the streets, stoning cars, attacking Arab passers-by and clamoring for vengeance.

Police said the attack is thought to have been the work of an Arab from the occupied Gaza Strip who works at the factory, and one accomplice. Both are being sought, they said.

The attackers apparently waited outside the Alum Shin plant until two Jewish employees arrived and escorted them in. They then stabbed Iris Asraf, a 22-year-old secretary, metal cutter Moshe Awan, 40, and Yehoshua Hakmaz, 30, an upholsterer working next door who ran to help after hearing screams, police said.

The bodies were found about 8:30 a.m. when another secretary arrived, found knives and pools of blood on the floor and called for help, police said.

Police did not allow reporters into the factory. They said slogans in black paint on the walls claimed responsibility on behalf of Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist underground group.

Hamas, which marked the third anniversary of its foundation today, had called on Palestinians to mark the date by escalating their uprising against Israel.

Paramilitary border police poured into Jaffa to reinforce police coping with crowds of angry Jews. The rioters torched a car with a Gaza license plate and besieged a coffee shop where an Arab had taken refuge behind the police.

“Let’s do to them what they do to us!” bellowed one man. “If we aren’t safe among them, they shouldn’t be safe among us!”

Police said three Arab cars were damaged, one Arab was slightly injured by a knife and three Jews were arrested.