Violence in Nazareth: background
Palestine, Local, 4/6/1999

The unprecedented violence in Nazareth in the last few days could have been averted but the Israeli government is to blame for not doing enough to solve the core issues of conflict between the two sides, Palestinian notables in the city said. In brief off the record discussions, those personalities avoided tackling the main issue of dispute around a two dunum slot of land of which both the municipality and the Islamic movement claim ownership. They mostly spoke of the phenomenal violence, trying to blame all the events on hoodlums and hot headed youths from both sides. But in fact, some blame is also directed to notables and leading figures of both the Muslim and Christian communities in the city for not utilizing their influence to stop their followers from resorting to violence.

The disputed land is located in the heart of Nazareth. Until a few years ago, it was the site of an old school. After the school was demolished, the Nazareth city council obtained a permit from the Israeli authorities to build a new state-of-the-art park that would host the major events of the new millennium celebrations in the city late this year. The city council prepared the plan some two years ago, in part of the Nazareth 2000 project that was launched to prepare for the third millennium celebrations.

Members of the Islamic movement claimed that the area was originally a grave site for Shihab Eddin, nephew of Muslim leader Salah Eddin Al Ayyoubi who fought the Crusaders out of Palestine. The Islamic movement rejected the municipality's plans and demanded that the site be renovated and that a modern mosque be built on it.

The dispute over the land became even deeper when Ramez Jaraysi, a well-known communist, was reelected mayor in the elections that took place more than a year ago. In those elections, supporters and members of the Islamic movement won the majority of seats. That situation led to a near total paralysis in the council that failed to hold even a single successful or quiet session. The Israeli government last week threatened to dissolve the council and appoint a committee to run the city's affairs if the two sides fail to reach an agreement in 12 days from now.

"The issue is very delicate. People may wrongly understand what is going on in Nazareth as being a dispute between Muslims and Christians. Yet this is very dangerous," said a former member of the Nazareth municipal council. He warned against the outbreak of religious conflict in a city that has always meant national unity for all the Palestinians, Muslims and Christians alike. He said that under former mayor of Nazareth, Tewfiq Zayyad, such a crisis wouldn't have been blown out of all proportion because of the fact that he was a Muslim. "Zayyad's fight against the Islamic movement would have been seen as a battle between right and left. Today the issue is more delicate because the mayor is not only a leading member of the Israeli Communist Party but is also a Christian, an element that indicates as if the conflict involves Christians only because they are Christians."

"Let us face it," the former counselor said, "Jaraysi is not as popular as Zayyad was. Secondly, the Islamic movement today is much stronger than it was in the days of Zayyad. Jaraysi was drawn into this conflict certainly unwillingly. He is still looking for ways to get out of it before blood is spilled over Nazareth soil."

That is perhaps the reason why Jaraysi in a statement issued on Sunday evening said he would accept the judgment of all parties. "Once they prove that the disputed land belongs to the Islamic endowment (trust) I would be the first to demand that a mosque be built there. But if it turns out to be state land, then the Israeli government has to decide what to do," said Jaraysi.

Shortly after Jaraysi blamed the Israeli government for not doing enough to solve the dispute, Tourism Minister Moshe Katzav met with a number of Muslim leaders and members of the Islamic endowment in Nazareth and presented to them three proposals to solve the crisis. Until late Monday, the Islamic movement has not officially issued its response. The rumor has it in Nazareth that Pope John Paul II might cancel his visit to the Holy Land if the dispute between the two sides continued. Others quoted pontifical sources as saying that the Vatican would do its best to prevent the establishment of a large mosque in such a close vicinity to the Church of Annunciation.

Katzav suggested that the whole dispute be deferred until January 1, 2001, way after the new millennium celebrations are over, while the government guarantees that no unilateral actions are taken by either sides to change the status of the land. He also raised another proposal that a mosque be built on part of the land while the rest is open for the public except for Sundays and Fridays on which days only the Islamic endowment is in charge. The third proposal spoke of the Israeli government allocating another slot of land for the planned mosque somewhere out of the city center instead of the disputed slot. So far, it seems that the two sides might settle with the proposal that suggests waiting until after the ownership of the land is finally determined. Then, it is going to be the Israeli government that should take a decision. If the Islamic movement would not like that decision, they will have to settle their account with the government and not with the citizens of Nazareth.

A source close to the Islamic movement argued that he would not accept any solution that compromises the right of the Muslims to build their planned mosque in the area. The source said he did not have to wait for impartial deliberations to determine the ownership of the land and said that some time ago, human bones were found in the area proving that there was a human grave.

The Palestine National Authority, meanwhile, kept neutral in the dispute issuing so far calls on both sides to resort to democratic dialogue as a means to settle their differences. An official statement quoted the PNA Cabinet as strongly condemning "the irresponsible acts of violence that harm national unity" among Palestinian Arabs inside Israel. PNA President Yasser Arafat reportedly called leading members of the Arab Follow Up Committee in Israel asking them to intervene and settle the dispute before further violence erupts in the city.

Back in the late 70s, Islamic fundamentalist activists who at the time were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, were involved in a serious conflict with the PLO and its supporters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. In those days, members of the Muslim Brotherhood, roots of today's Islamic movement, attacked the offices of the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza and set it on fire. The PRC at the time was run by a coalition of Palestinian patriotic and left-wing forces, headed by Dr. Haidar Abdul Shafi and it was considered one of the major national institutions in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip turned a blind eye to actions of those Muslim fundamentalist groups because they served the main designs of the Israeli government that was fighting strenuously against the PLO. Today's events do not seem to be that different from those in the late 70s.

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