Arabs, Jews clash in Israel on Yom Kippur

Jerusalem, Oct. 9: Cars and stores were damaged as Jews and Arabs clashed in the Israeli city of Acre after an Arab man was assaulted for driving during Yom Kippur, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Thursday.

The unrest erupted around midnight on Wednesday, several hours after Jews began marking Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the holiest observance in the Jewish calendar, when Israel comes to a virtual standstill.

A group of Jewish youths assaulted an Arab man who was driving his car, in an incident that to-uched off large-scale rioting between Jews and Arabs, resulting in extensive damage to dozens of cars and shops, Haaretz said in its Internet edition.

The police used force to disperse the crowd of several hundred peoples, the newspaper said, citing the police officials. About one third of Acre’s population are Arab.

Arab MPs have for years asked security forces to take tougher action to prevent Jews from stoning cars driven by Arabs on Yom Kippur.

One of them, Abbas Zkoor, said such attacks occurred frequently. "Despite numerous complaints filed in police stations, officers were not sent to disperse the racist gatherings," Mr Zkoor said. He called on religious authorities to condemn such behaviour, which he said "surely contravenes the basic principles of the Jewish religion."

Israel came to a virtual standstill as the country marked Yom Kippur, which started at sunset on Wednesday and was to end on Thursday evening.

—AFP