An idyllic description of Jewish-Arab togetherness in Israel.

It is three years later, March 30, 1976. Nine A.M. The br

Galilee, northern Israel, home of 300,000 Israeli Arabs. The vil- br

lage of Sakhnin, a model of social and economic progress since br

1948. It has good roads, electricity, water, schools, appliances, br

television sets in every home. It has “greatly advanced its inte- br

gration into all fields of life of the State of Israel.”

More than 1,000 equal citizens of Israel—Arabs—are in the br

street facing a small number of police and soldiers. It is “Land br

Day,” and the crowd grows larger by the minute. “Falastin, br

Falastin!” (“Palestine, Palestine!”), the mob roars. Other br

chants and shouts are heard: “The Galilee is Arab!” “We will br

free the Galilee with blood and spirit!” Rocks are suddenly br

thrown in the direction of the soldiers and police. The small br

group of security men stare in disbelief and growing ner- br

vousness. A fiery Molotov cocktail smashes against a wall a few br

yards away. More and heavier stones, flaming torches, lighted br

cans of gasoline, and by now the soldiers are surrounded by a br

growing circle of hate-filled faces. “Our villages do not belong to br

Israel,” shouts a young Arab. “We belong to the State of br

Palestine!”

The Israeli papers report what happened:

“The dams burst. ‘We are all Fatah,’ men and women br

shouted in chorus, even as they threw stones and other objects at br

the police. The police fired warning shots into the air which only br

increased the agitation. The rioters began to move toward the br

police and soldiers, threatening to trample them. Not even the br

pointing of the rifles at them stopped the mob. ‘They’re br

overrunning us,’ the police shouted into their radios” (Maariv, br

March 31, 1976).

“The mob wandered through the main street, raining br

stones, torches, and firebombs on the military and police vehi- br

cles. Some of the excited youth wanted to set up roadblocks. br

Others moved closer to the security forces—with clear intent to br

burn the vehicles. In face of the dangerous situation the soldiers br