Living on top of one another in a small country can lead to high tensions. We have seen this time and time again as the Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting for many, many years without a resolution in sight. No surprise, then, when two religions come together and fight about their differences and begin treating each other poorly. This particular instance was between the Christians and the Druze, a religious community that is said to be an offshoot of Islam but is unique in that it incorporates other philosophies, what Donna Rosenthal in her book The Israelis calls “a mix of Judaism, Christian mysticism, Shiite Islam, Persian Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism, Messianism, and Hindu-like reincarnation,” (296). Being a separate religious community, means “they have their own religious courts, which oversee marriage, divorce, alimony, property, and other matters...in accordance with Druze religious law,” (294).
Back in June, the Druze and Christian communities began fighting and armed riots and clashes between the two broke out. Anti-riot squads had to be deployed to lessen the fighting. The author of the article, Jack Khoury, tells us that there were forces that were deployed between the town's Druze neighborhood and Christian homes in the town center after a night of rioting. During the riots, “four policemen were lightly injured by stones, and a riot control vehicle was damaged by gun shots. An officer who came under gun fire was saved by the flak jacket he was wearing. Rioters torched cars and damaged shops and houses in the city center, mainly those belonging to Christians. Police officers armed with stun guns clashed until dawn with hundreds of rioting youngsters, mostly from the Druze neighborhood.”
The clash is said to have begun because of a rumor that a YouTube clip on the Internet vilified Sheikh Mawfak Tarif, a Druze religious leader, and his late grandfather, Sheikh Amin Tarif. Tensions between the two sides had been running high in the town leading to Druze and Christian teenagers fighting among themselves from time to time. This occasional fighting turned into a mass brawl, though, in which “nine teenagers were stabbed, and two of them were moderately wounded. The weekend fighting subsided with the help of religious leaders into a tense, volatile calm in Shfaram for a few days, until violence flared again on Tuesday night with the YouTube rumor.”
Sheikh Tarif, who helped calm the Druze youngsters the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, said neither side was to blame. “The man responsible is someone vile who must be denounced, no matter which community he comes from. We will continue to persuade people to calm down,” Tarif said.
“Our message is one of love and reconciliation, that's the way we've been living for decades, but whoever sparked the violence must be punished,” said Naif Alian, one of the town's Druze leaders, who visited Christian homes that had been damaged in the riots. He was accompanied by the Druze community's Imam Sheikh Yosef Abu Abid and a delegation of religious leaders.
“We won't allow bloodshed and denounce every act of violence,” said Abu Abid.
Ihab Bahout of the Christian community, whose restaurant was badly damaged, was furious as he made his way through the ruins. "My restaurant was attacked on Saturday night, and I thought it was over. I replaced the broken windows and didn't imagine it would erupt again. Apparently all that talk about fraternity and unity is just talk and below the surface there's a lot of anger and hatred and frustration. It's the leadership's job to find out what is happening here," he said.
His neighbor, Samir Ayoub, was examining his and his son's cars, which had been damaged in the clashes.
"I saw masked men with sticks breaking windows and someone torched a car nearby. I've lived in Shfaram my entire life and don't remember such violent acts. But you can't say all the Druze are against all the Christians. We have Druze friends who protected their Christian neighbors' homes with their bodies and prevented much greater, perhaps irrevocable, damage," he said.
This article is pretty good in terms of bias. The author, Khoury, provides us with interviews from both sides instead of just one. He doesn't take sides at all and gives us the information that we need. The article is also just a look at a specific instance that took place and seems really just to serve as an insight into the communities in Israel. There is no political swing involved, just good old-fashioned reporting. We are left to make up our own minds as to who is to blame – if anyone needs to be.
Back in June, the Druze and Christian communities began fighting and armed riots and clashes between the two broke out. Anti-riot squads had to be deployed to lessen the fighting. The author of the article, Jack Khoury, tells us that there were forces that were deployed between the town's Druze neighborhood and Christian homes in the town center after a night of rioting. During the riots, “four policemen were lightly injured by stones, and a riot control vehicle was damaged by gun shots. An officer who came under gun fire was saved by the flak jacket he was wearing. Rioters torched cars and damaged shops and houses in the city center, mainly those belonging to Christians. Police officers armed with stun guns clashed until dawn with hundreds of rioting youngsters, mostly from the Druze neighborhood.”
The clash is said to have begun because of a rumor that a YouTube clip on the Internet vilified Sheikh Mawfak Tarif, a Druze religious leader, and his late grandfather, Sheikh Amin Tarif. Tensions between the two sides had been running high in the town leading to Druze and Christian teenagers fighting among themselves from time to time. This occasional fighting turned into a mass brawl, though, in which “nine teenagers were stabbed, and two of them were moderately wounded. The weekend fighting subsided with the help of religious leaders into a tense, volatile calm in Shfaram for a few days, until violence flared again on Tuesday night with the YouTube rumor.”
Sheikh Tarif, who helped calm the Druze youngsters the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, said neither side was to blame. “The man responsible is someone vile who must be denounced, no matter which community he comes from. We will continue to persuade people to calm down,” Tarif said.
“Our message is one of love and reconciliation, that's the way we've been living for decades, but whoever sparked the violence must be punished,” said Naif Alian, one of the town's Druze leaders, who visited Christian homes that had been damaged in the riots. He was accompanied by the Druze community's Imam Sheikh Yosef Abu Abid and a delegation of religious leaders.
“We won't allow bloodshed and denounce every act of violence,” said Abu Abid.
Ihab Bahout of the Christian community, whose restaurant was badly damaged, was furious as he made his way through the ruins. "My restaurant was attacked on Saturday night, and I thought it was over. I replaced the broken windows and didn't imagine it would erupt again. Apparently all that talk about fraternity and unity is just talk and below the surface there's a lot of anger and hatred and frustration. It's the leadership's job to find out what is happening here," he said.
His neighbor, Samir Ayoub, was examining his and his son's cars, which had been damaged in the clashes.
"I saw masked men with sticks breaking windows and someone torched a car nearby. I've lived in Shfaram my entire life and don't remember such violent acts. But you can't say all the Druze are against all the Christians. We have Druze friends who protected their Christian neighbors' homes with their bodies and prevented much greater, perhaps irrevocable, damage," he said.
This article is pretty good in terms of bias. The author, Khoury, provides us with interviews from both sides instead of just one. He doesn't take sides at all and gives us the information that we need. The article is also just a look at a specific instance that took place and seems really just to serve as an insight into the communities in Israel. There is no political swing involved, just good old-fashioned reporting. We are left to make up our own minds as to who is to blame – if anyone needs to be.
