-Caveat Lector- >From Ha'aretz Tuesday, April 6, 1999 Nazareth under siege from within Mosque-piazza problem simmers By Joseph Algazy, Ha'aretz Correspondent and AP A tense quiet, punctuated by a few incidents of stone-throwing, prevailed yesterday in Nazareth following Christian-Muslim clashes on Easter Sunday over a plan by the municipality to build a Venetian-style plaza for Millennium pilgrims on land held sacrosanct by Muslims. More than 10 people were injured, 30 cars were damaged and 11 people were arrested in Sunday's incidents, when demonstrators from the two faiths attacked one another with clubs and stones. Ha'aretz received many phone calls yesterday from Christian storekeepers in Nazareth complaining that armed thugs who said they were activists of the Islamic Movement had demanded that they close their businesses. If not, they threatened to set the stores ablaze. "We are living in an atmosphere of terror and there is no one to protect us," one of the callers said. Muslim leaders yesterday called a commercial strike in Nazareth, effectively shutting down the city center. Some Christians said they observed the strike to avoid possible retribution. Helmeted Israeli riot police told residents over loudspeakers to remain indoors as hundreds of Muslim activists gathered at a downtown protest tent erected on the site of the proposed plaza. The city, whose population of about 60,000 is 70 percent Muslim, has always prided itself on its tolerance, but recently Muslim-Christian tensions have mounted, particularly in the wake of the planned Millennium project - currently the subject of a court battle. The site of the proposed plaza is next to the major Christian holy site in Nazareth, the Basilica of the Annunciation, where, according to Christian tradition, the angel Gabriel appeared before Mary and told her she would "bring forth a son." It is also adjacent to a Muslim sacred site, the grave of Sheikh Shihab a-Din. The prime minister's adviser on Arab affairs, Motti Zaken, met early yesterday with the heads of the Waqf (the Muslim religious trust) and the leaders of the Islamic Movement, urging them to maintain quiet in the city and prevent the resumption of violence. Tourism Minister Moshe KatSav, who is the government's liaison with the Arab community, is to meet with Islamic leaders in his office on Thursday. A spokesman for the movement complained that the city's Muslims have been discriminated against for years, also protesting the suffering of the Muslims in Kosovo. The city's mayor, Ramez Jeraisi, a Christian narrowly reelected last November, has been unable to govern effectively because the Islamic Movement has a majority on the city council. Katsav, too, finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place: the Muslim community is putting heavy pressure on him to permit the construction of a large mosque on the disputed plot of land, while the Vatican has made its objections known to any Muslim edifice that might overshadow the Basilica of the Anunciation. Sources in the Prime Minister's Office were critical yesterday of the failure of National Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon to involve himself in dispute, as the land under dispute is registered in the name of the Israel Lands Administration, a unit in his ministry. The executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization yesterday issued a statement expressing its regret over the confrontations between Christians and Muslims in Nazareth. The committee called on the city's inhabitants "to put an end to the violence and to commence a dialogue." The PLO statement said that the confrontations "harm national unity. © copyright 1999 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved Tuesday, April 6, 1999 Background The writing was on the wall By Joseph Algazy Many observers point a finger of blame at the government, which let the situation in Nazareth simmer for a year and a half and took no action - until finally the eruption came this week, only nine months before the advent of the millennium, when Nazareth is expected to be inundated by Christian pilgrims.The dispute in which the Waqf (Muslim religious trust) and the Islamic Movement are locked with Nazareth Mayor Ramez Jeraisi, a Christian, dates back to December 1997. Since then, leaders of both the Christian and Muslim communities have warned that the absence of a solution would eventually generate violence. Until a few years ago the 1,860 square meters of disputed land was the site of an elementary school. When the school was demolished, the town got permission from the Israel Lands Administration to build a large plaza on the site as part of the preparations for the millennium celebrations in the city. However, the leaders of the Waqf claimed the lot belonged to them, demanding that they be allowed to build a large mosque. In December 1997, on the eve of the Christmas season and the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, activists of the Islamic Movement set up a large "protest tent" on the site and surrounded it with black flags. At the time, senior figures in the country's Arab community came to Nazareth and prevented the outbreak of violence between the protesters in the tent and the participants in the annual Christmas procession through the city's streets. During the 16 intervening months the tent has remained. Meanwhile, the Islamic Movement had plans drawn up for the mosque it wants to erect on the site, while none of the state authorities involved - the Israel Lands Administration, the Interior Ministry, the courts, Tourism Minister Moshe Katzav and the prime minister's adviser on Arab Affairs Motti Zaken - have come up with a solution to the dispute. About two weeks ago, in a meeting with the Islamic Movement leadership, Katzav proposed three possible solutions. One, defer a solution until the year 2001 and in the meantime not take any irreversible steps; two, set aside 400 square meters of the plot for a mosque and the rest for the use of the general public. The third proposal would have government ministries allocate another place in the city for the mosque. But a source in Katzav's office of Arab affairs adviser said on Saturday night that no reply had been received from the Islamic Movement to the proposals. At the same time, Likud activists claiming to represent the Shin Bet security service and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed the Islamic Movement that they backed the plan for the mosque. But statements issued by the offices of Katzav and his Arab affairs advisor Motti Zaken condemned the intervention of the Likud functionaries. The dispute was aggravated by the results of last November's municipal elections. Mayor Jeraisi (Hadash) was reelected, but the majority of seats on the city council went to members of the Islamic Movement. In the more than four months since, Hadash and the Islamic Movement have not been able to agree on a coalition, thus paralyzing the municipality's activity. Interior Minister Eliahu Suissa has announced that he intends to begin proceedings to dissolve the council and appoint an emergency body in its place. Hadash and other political groups in the city thereupon accused Suissa of encouraging the obduracy of the Islamic Movement. Tension in the city is mounting as the May 17 Knesset elections draw closer. About three weeks ago the heads of the Waqf and the Islamic Movement announced that during excavations at the disputed land they had found human bones. Their conclusion: a cemetery had once stood on the site. About a week later, around the time of the Muslims' Friday prayers, Deputy Housing Minister Meir Porush, from the ultra-Orthodox Agudat Israel party - which is vehemently against the excavation of graves - turned up in Nazareth to view the bones. Porush took the occasion to deliver a speech that fanned the flames, according to various sources in the city. And last weekend the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabah, warned of a flareup that could endanger the coexistence of Christians and Muslims in the city. In the meantime, leaders of the the Arab community have visited Nazareth and set up a standing committee to monitor the situation and prevent additional violence. A statement issued by Mayor Jeraisi on Sunday after the riots in the city urged quiet. "If it turns out that the disputed lot is Waqf land, I will be the first to demand its return to its rightful owners," he said, adding: "If it turns out to be state land, the address for a solution is exclusively the government." The Islamic Movement issued a statement in which it called for the building of a new mosque on the site and demanded the mayor's resignation © copyright 1999 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved Tuesday, April 6, 1999 PM's Office warns Jewish gays of Palestinian slights By Nitzan Horowitz, Ha'aretz Correspondent WASHINGTON - As part of its continuing propaganda campaign against the Palestinian Authority, the Prime Minister's Office has contacted Jewish homosexual organizations warning them of the PA's "negative attitude toward gays." A letter from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office sent several days ago to the World Congress of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Jewish Organizations points to blunt remarks about homosexuals recently made by Palestinian Police Chief Ghazi Jibali in an interview he gave to the Hebrew weeklies Yerushalayim and Tel Aviv, local papers published by Yedioth Ahronoth. In the newspaper clip attached to the letter, under the title "Palestinian police chief maligns homosexuals," the Prime Minister's Office underlined the following quotes from Jibali: "I believe we enforced the law exactly as the Germans and British do. We do not like homosexuals and I heard that in Britain there is even a law against homosexuals. I even heard that the Australian ambassador to Sweden is a homosexual." Jibali was responding to a question by the interviewer regarding the summary execution last month of a Palestinian officer for allegedly sodomizing a young Palestinian boy. The letter from the Prime Minister's Office was signed by Michael Freund, Deputy Director of the Communications and Policy Planning department, and surprised the World Congress of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Jewish Organizations. A spokesman for the group noted yesterday that he did not remember ever before receiving such an official document from the government of Israel, and expressed satisfaction at the actual correspondence. "We are an integral part of the Jewish people, and there is no reason for the governments of Israel not to keep us notified of various developments, as is customary with other Jewish organizations in the diaspora," Vice President Lee Walzer told Ha'aretz. "We will be glad to continue receiving material and briefings on issues important to our communities." As to the actual point in question, Walzer voiced objection to the connection made by Jibali between pedophilia and homosexuality, but noted that responding to the Palestinian police chief's remarks was not within his group's jurisdiction. The World Congress of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Jewish Organizations is an umbrella organization for some 65 homosexual groups and synagogues around the world. It was founded in 1980 to fight homophobia within the Jewish community as well as anti-Semitism. Its membership includes organizations from Europe, north America, south America, Australia and Israel. In the past the organization has sent letters to various Israeli ministries protesting treatment of gays in Israel, but says it never received meaningful answers. © copyright 1999 Ha'aretz. 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