Israel President Rivlin warns of civil war as Jews, Palestinians clash over Sheikh Jarrah

In the latest development amid the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, Israel President Reuven Rivlin on May 12 has warned of a civil war between the nation’s Arabs and Jews. Anger and fear have instilled among the people over arms exchange with Palestinian militants in Gaza and Israel even as leaders across the globe call for immediate cessation. Religious and political leaders have also called for calm but Israeli TV showed riots in several ethnically mixed towns describing it “near-lynchings” of Jewish and Arab motorists. 

The broadcast on Israel’s Channel 12 showed violence on the streets and then cutting to a phoned-in appeal by President Reuven Rivlin to “please stop this madness.” Police, by Wednesday, said that the assaults appeared to be more by Jews against Arabs, one such conflict was also aired on television. Israeli President whose role is largely ceremonial then warned for a “civil war.”

"We are endangered by rockets that are being launched at our citizens and streets, and we are busying ourselves with a senseless civil war among ourselves," said Rivlin.

As per reports, Israel’s 21% population are Arabs who are Palestinian by heritage but Israeli by citizenship. The Arab minority in Israel is mostly descended from the Palestinians who lived under Ottoman followed by British colonial rule before staying in Israel after the country’s 1948 creation. As per reports, several people in the community are bilingual in Arabic and Hebrew and have a sense of kinship towards the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza strip. The Arabs have often flagged systematic discrimination, unfair access to housing, healthcare among other essentials.

Hamas spokesperson urged Arabs to ‘rise up’

Domestic unrest in Isreal budded from the latest escalation in the decades-old Israel-Palestine conflict has been reportedly welcomed by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that has a stronghold on Gaza. One of the Hamas spokesperson reportedly urged Arabs to “rise up” against "our enemy and yours.” Taking to Twitter, a senior Israeli Arab lawmaker, Ayman Odeh accused the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu-led government along with other conservative and far-right allies of fueling ethnic tensions.

"We must not yield to this," Odeh said on Twitter. "A common struggle by Arabs and Jews is the response to the violent vision of Netanyahu, (Itamar) Ben-Gvir and (Bezalel) Smotrich."

Image credits: AP