William Molinié, edited by Alexandre Dalifard / Photo credits: AMIR LEVY / GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
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06:59, November 16, 2023
The southern front with the Gaza Strip, the northern front with the Lebanese Hezbollah, the West Bank front in the territories. Israel, for its part, would do without a fourth front. It could be internal, that of mixed cities where Jews and Muslims live together. In the Jewish state, more than 2 million Arabs, Israeli citizens, live. Most are descendants of Palestinians who were not forced into exile in 1948… In 2021, during the last war against Hamas, several of these mixed cities were ablaze with riots, violence and attacks. War, bombings, economic and social pressure put coexistence between communities to the test. Like in Lod, in central Israel, where Europe 1 went.
“It’s difficult, it’s very difficult”
“Do you see the land there? Do you know who lives here? 95% of them are Arabs.” Yezechiel has been repairing tires in his garage for 75 years. This Iraqi Jew recognizes that the Arab neighborhood, across the street, is poorer than his own. “Why do we have to get to this point? Tell me! Look, why isn’t it the same thing over there as here?” he asks on the microphone of Europe 1. Standard of living inferior, insecurity, not the same access to employment, the difference between the two neighborhoods is obvious.
“Relations between Jews and Arabs are deteriorating. Arabs are afraid to return to work in hospitals because of their image. Many Jews do not differentiate between Hamas, the civilians of Gaza and us,” laments the Arab doctor Thabet Abu Rass who heads the “Abraham Initiatives” association. The feeling of discrimination is mixed with fears linked to the massacres of October 7. “We have 30 employees here. Half of them Jews, the other half Arabs. We try to keep what we have to stay together. But it’s difficult, it’s very difficult,” he admits.
The specter of the 2021 riots is on everyone’s minds with two deaths and dozens of injured in this city. If for the moment, coexistence between Israeli Jews and Arabs survives, it has never been so fragile.