Their schools are overcrowded, some villages still feature open sewage and unpaved roads, and unemployment runs high. Its leadership accuses the Israeli establishment of continuing to treat Arabs with greater suspicion than other sectors. No Israeli government, left or right, has ever included an Arab party, saying that would pose security risks. That effectively keeps the Arabs away from the public trough and has contributed greatly to the discrimination. In recent weeks, tensions focused on the demolition of illegal homes in Arab towns.
Residents say they build the homes because officials never grant the necessary permits.
Police later closed the road. Elsewhere, the fighting was fiercer. Police wearing flakjackets and helmets used live fire in Umm el-Fahm and in Fureidis, a town near the coast. In Nazareth, the town of Jesus' birth, rioters trashed Jewish-owned businesses. WNOL WB38 Inc. All Rights reserved.