Sunday, November 7th, 2010 Robert Berger | Jerusalem VOA News Tensions are rising between Israeli Jews and Arabs after the demolition of a Muslim house of worship. Upset Bedouins pelted Israeli police with rocks Sunday, angry about the demolition of an illegally built mosque.
Israeli officials said hundreds of officers descended on the southern Bedouin city of Rahat early Sunday, acting on an earlier court ruling that said the mosque’s builders never got the required permits.
Israeli authorities also alleged the mosque was built with
Police said they fired tear gas to break up the protests, and that no one was hurt. Officials said five stone throwers were detained.
Rahat’s mayor called a general strike to protest the demolition. He said residents are upset because the mosque was taken down during a holy period.One Arab resident compared the State of Israel to the Nazis.
He told Israel Radio that what the Nazis did to the Jews, Israel is doing to the Arabs. "There is no difference between Israel's behavior and Hitler's," he said.
Statements like that touch a raw nerve among Jewish Israelis because six-million Jews died in the Nazi Holocaust during World War II.
Israeli Arabs make up about 20 percent of the population, but this resident said he no longer feels like a citizen of the State of Israel.
"They did not break down a mosque," he said. "They broke the hearts of all Muslims."
Shlomo Tseazer, an Israel Land Administration official, said the demolition was carried out according to a court order.
He told Israel Radio that police were simply enforcing the law against a mosque that was constructed illegally on public property. He said the same law applies to mosques and synagogues alike.
But Israeli Arabs do not believe that. They say the demolition is another act of discrimination by the Jewish state against the Arab minority.
A representative of the Islamic Movement in Rahat said the mosque would be rebuilt.
Israeli media said some Rahat residents have already started the rebuilding process.
Some information in this story was provided by AP.