Despite promises by Israeli Arab leaders that they would ensure peaceful demonstrations in today's commemorations of deaths in last October's riots, rioting took place in several cities and towns in Israel's Galilee region. Rioting broke out in the cities of Nazareth and Umm el-Fahm, with Army Radio reporting that dozens of hooded rioters pelting stones and Molotov cocktails at security forces, which entered the town in an attempt to prevent demonstrators from attacking police, passing cars, journalists and even Arab politicians. Israeli flags and tires were burned, and crowds chanted "Death to the Jews" and shouted support for Osama bin Laden. Four policemen were injured.

Ha'aretz reported that in Nazareth police arrested eight youths after several dozen demonstrators clashed with police, throwing stones, smashing store windows and igniting garbage containers. Police responded by firing tear gas. The demonstrators also threw stones at the police station in the city and shattered windows at the post office. Nazareth Mayor Ramaz Jarisi and his deputy intervened to calm the situation, but the riots continued for hours.

The situation in Umm el-Fahm deteriorated further. At the main junction leading to the city, more than a hundred youths pelted rocks on the main highway, and damaged a bus. Specially trained Israeli security forces were summoned to the site and closed the road to traffic for about an hour. Police forces were positioned opposite the demonstrators, but used only firecrackers in an attempt to disperse them. The demonstrators refused requests from Arab political and religious figures to disperse, and some even tossed rocks at them.

Army Radio reported that security forces were ordered into the center of Umm el-Fahm after police officer Hussein Farris was lightly injured by a thrown stone.

The day's events began with a minute of silence at 12 noon in memory of the victims. Memorials were unveiled in many villages and Arab towns. Marches took place in Umm el-Fahm, Nazareth, Sakhnin, Gat, Kfar Kana, Arabeh and Kfar Manda. Tens of thousands took part in the marches, which culminated in mass rallies.

Before the events turned violent, Abed Inbitawi, spokesman for the Arab leadership monitoring committee, the organization that often represents the Israeli Arab community, said he expected that the vast majority of the country's Arab community would observe the general strike and the minute's silence. "There is a great deal of anticipation and willingness on the part of the [Arab] public to do something to mark this the first anniversary of the events of October and commemorate the 13 demonstrators killed by police and the security forces," he told the Jerusalem Post.

Police planned to respond wisely
Israeli Police decided in advance not to enter Arab communities even if demonstrators closed down highways in Israel's north, but the attacks on security vehicles and the injuring of security personnel caused them to change plans, at least in Umm el-Fahm, and enter the town to quell the riots. "We will not be carried away and we will respond wisely," Galilee Region commander, Deputy Commander Yehuda Solomon, had promised earlier.

"If the police are not in the vicinity, events pass quietly and organizers are able to control any hotheads who do try to cause trouble," Inbitawi had promised. It didn't turn out that way, and hundreds of mostly young demonstrators ignored the pleas of Arab Knesset Members and other local notables, pelting police and passing cars with stones.

Northern District police commander Yaacov Borovsky said that police reviewed instructions regulating firing orders and drilled various scenarios similar to those that occurred in the Galilee region last year. "If we are required to act, which we hope we will not have to do, we will act in such a way that the damage will be minimal,'' he told Israel Radio.

Police will be on full alert in Jerusalem this Thursday, when the Temple Mount Faithful plan another Third Temple cornerstone-laying ceremony, similar to the one held on Tisha B'Av. Police intend to do everything possible to ensure that the ceremony will not lead to confrontations, and will only allow the group to gather at the Givati parking lot adjacent to the Old City. The Temple Mount Faithful plan to bring two huge stones to the ceremony.

"This is an act of terror of people acting within the framework created by the Israeli government, which is just like the Taliban," charged MK Issam Makhoul (Hadash). Police sources, responding to such accusations, claimed that the Arab leadership was guilty of "wild, uncalled-for incitement."

Weekend demonstrators chant anti-Israeli slogans
Israeli Arabs began marking the one-year anniversary of the Intifada over the weekend. Friday prayer services held at the mosques of the Temple Mount, one year after Ariel Sharon's controversial visit to the site, passed calmly. Entry was limited to men over the age of 40 and all women holding Israeli citizenship. Some ten thousand Muslims attended the prayers.

A national rally was held Sunday in Haifa, organized by the Hadash party, and was attended by Arabs and Jews calling for full equality for the Israeli Arab population. At a rally yesterday in Nazareth, marchers laid wreaths at the site where two city residents died in clashes last year with police forces. Nazareth police deputy commander Ch.-Supt. Dani Hacker praised Nazareth Deputy Mayor Ali Salim and his organization for preventing demonstrators from interfering with motorists on the nearby road.

On Friday an angrier demonstration organized by the southern branch of the Islamic Movement was held in Nazareth. Attended by some 2,000 people, including MK Abdulmalik Dehamshe (United Arab List), the rally was marked by slogans chanted against Israel's "occupation policy" and denunciations of American plans to attack targets in Afghanistan. Masked men began throwing stones at a local police station before being chased away by organizers.

Minister Saleh Tarif (Labor), who is responsible for Arab affairs, called on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the government to issue an official announcement expressing sorrow for the killing of Arab citizens in the clashes in Israel last October. "It is important for the government of Israel not to ignore… the memorial day for the October events in the Arab sector; and I would expect the government to express empathy as an act of openness and a gesture of reconciliation toward its Arab citizens," Tarif said.

Yesterday President Moshe Katsav declared that "the death of 13 Israeli Arab citizens is a blemish on the history of the State of Israel." Even so, Katsav stated that Israel could not accept having some of its citizens calling for the "liberation of Palestine" and refusing to condemn suicide-bombing attacks.

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