•aaaIn the very heart of Israel, the area of Emek Yizrael, south br

of the Galilee, sits the “Triangle.” There, along the main road br

from Hadera to Afula and the surrounding area, are concen- br

trated no fewer than 50,000 Israeli Arabs. In the Wadi Ara area, br

surrounded by this huge Arab population, sits one lone Jewish br

settlement, Mei Ami. Its nearest neighbor is the largest Arab br

village of them all, Umm al-Fahm, one of the most openly anti- br

Israel centers. (On January 20, 1980, a bloody attack was made br

on a visiting Jewish soccer team. Cries of “Down with Zionism” br

and “Khomeini” were shouted, and police had to use tear gas br

and fire into the air to rescue the Jews, as hundreds of Israeli br

Arabs tried to break down the door to the locker room. Said a br

police official: “This is more than the usual soccer riot. . . .”)

In the summer of 1979, arsonists set three consecutive fires br

that burned down 110 dunams (2,705 acres) of Jewish National br

Fund trees owned by Mei Ami. Police traced the tracks of the br

arsonists to one of the nearby Arab villages. The bitter Jewish br

settlers accuse the Arabs of Umm al-Fahm of the destruction of br

a tractor and claim that millions of dollars in damage have re- br

sulted from Arab activities.

The secretary of the settlement, Oren Mitki, complains of br

shots fired at night at Mei Ami. Police know that hundreds of br

stolen automatic weapons have reached Arab villages in Israel. br

All the Jewish settlements in the area are plagued by Arabs who br

steal anything that is not nailed down. One member of Kibbutz br

Ayal told Maariv reporter Amos Levav, “We will open a new br

industry—attack dogs. We cannot take it anymore.”

•aaaThe village of Ma’ilya was always known as a “moderate” br

Arab village, being the subject of various Israeli myths. It was br

Christian, educated, and had prospered greatly under Jewish br

rule. Ergo—it was surely moderate. On the morning of July 9, br

1979, hundreds of the “moderate” inhabitants charged a Jewish br

National Fund tractor, bloodying two of its drivers (who had to br

be hospitalized), while one woman shouted: “Sons of dogs! br

Your day will yet come!” The tractor, under court order, was br

attempting to pave a road as part of the project to establish a br

Jewish outpost on state land near Ma’ilya. The Arabs swore not br

to allow the outpost to go up and at a meeting held earlier, for br

the first time, called the police and the state “the enemy.”

•...On January 5, 1980, sixty Bedouins attacked Israeli br