In Jaffa, Arabs face eviction threat

In Jaffa, Arabs face eviction threat

TEL AVIV: Supermarket cashier Israa Jarbou has missed a week of work for fear of getting attacked by Jews on the bus out of Jaffa, a mixed Arab-Jewish quarter of Tel Aviv. “They’ll see I’m religious,” said the 27-year-old, who wears the Muslim hijab head covering. “There is no security.” Living nearby, Jewish seminary student David Shvets, 24, voiced similar fears, saying local Arabs had pelted him with stones and that a nearby synagogue was torched.

“We now go in a large group with a police escort to get home at night … in the heart of the Jewish state!” he said incredulously, describing the situation as a “jungle”. Hostility has gripped usually quiet mixed communities of Jews and Arabs since the start of a full-blown military escalation a week ago after Zionist army escalated attacks on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The most intense fighting since 2014 was sparked by unrest in Jerusalem, where Zionist riot police stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque and clashed with Palestinian worshippers. Violence has flared nationwide between Jews and Arabs, a 20 percent minority. Synagogues, mosques, graveyards, a theatre and restaurants have been targeted, and at least one man has died. Now, in the Mediterranean seaside community