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Efforts begin to repair Jewish-Arab ties Jewish and Arab civic leaders and members of the two communities have started a process of dialogue aimed at rectifying relations after nearly two weeks of rioting and internecine clashes. Residents of Jewish communities in the Misgav region of the Galilee, who were cut off for several days because of violent demonstrations by Arabs, are initiating a peace tent in the area. The project is being coordinated primarily with residents of Arraba, two of whose residents were killed in the riots, in an effort to achieve a rapprochement. The tent, which was set up yesterday afternoon on the grounds of the Misgav Regional Council offices complex, was already full by evening and hundreds of people were calling from Jewish and Arab communities wishing to participate. 'The idea, which was initiated by a resident of Lotem and residents of Arraba, is to hold a dialogue between people, not civic leaders or politicians, but the local residents and work toward reconciliation,' said council spokeswoman Sharon Shafrir. Council chairman Erez Kreisler has called on civic leaders and local dignitaries from Sakhnin and Deir Hanna, as well as Arraba, to hold a joint meeting with members of the regional council and heads of communities in another effort to rebuild good relations. Kreisler held a meeting with heads of the six Beduin communities in the region, including that of Wadi Salameh, the home of St.-Sgt. Omar Sawayid, one of the three IDF soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah. The aim was to appraise the Beduin of the feelings of Jewish residents and also discuss concrete steps to help rectify the situation. The Beduin communities were caught in the middle during the recent disturbances, being viewed by some Jews as untrustworthy, even though many of their young men serve in the IDF, and as collaborators by the Arabs. The mood of reconciliation was evident in other parts of the country, despite further disturbances by Arab residents of Acre late on Tuesday night and counterdemonstrations by Jews which almost led to another confrontation. Mayor Shmaryahu Biran was hit in the head by a stone thrown by Arab protesters and lightly injured. Police intervened and kept the two sides apart. Magen David Adom reported last night that paramedics had treated two people for light injuries as a result of stones being thrown at cars on the Acre-Karmiel highway opposite Majdal Krum. Also, police reported that stones were once again thrown at cars on the Nahal Iron [Wadi Ara] road near the Umm el-Fahm junction, and at least two people were injured. Demonstrators also ignited tires near the junction, blocking the road for a short period. Elsewhere, civic leaders in the Sharon met with their counterparts from the Triangle, and there was a similar meeting in the Jezreel Valley. Members of Rabbis for Human Rights visited people who were injured in the riots at Haifa's Rambam Hospital yesterday. The also paid a condolence visit to the family of Assil Asleh, a peace activist from Arraba, one of the 13 Israeli Arabs killed in the clashes. Executive director Rabbi Arik Ascherman said the rabbis, after hearing the accounts of those who were injured in Nazareth, Tamra, Kafr Manda, and other parts of the Galilee, had no doubt that a judicial commission should be appointed to probe the police's handling of the riots. 'It was very painful for all of us to hear the stories, to see the tears in the eyes of the injured and the family of Assil Asleh, and to feel their grief. It's hair-raising to think that something like this could have happened in a democratic country like Israel,' said Ascherman. 'We all condemn bloodshed and violence, be it by Palestinians, Israeli Arabs, or Jews, but we have to open our hearts and minds and do some real soul-searching over what has happened and the underlying problems that created this pent-up anger and led to this outburst. 'It is also clear that there has to be a commission of inquiry into events. Even though we cannot corroborate the stories we heard, it does seem that there was excessive use of legal force by the police,' he said. Meanwhile, MDA director-general Avi Zohar has commended two paramedics from the Hadera station who, despite police warnings, entered Fureidis at the height of riots on October 1 to treat a local resident suffering from severe head wounds. Zohar praised the courage and determination of Amit Dillon and Eli Manjarski, who drove their ambulance into the heart of the village and were surrounded by a hostile crowd. He said they had endangered themselves to perform their humanitarian duty to an injured person and their efforts had saved his life.
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