Burning Hate

(Translated from Yediot Ahronot, August 17, 1988.)

People in Or Yehuda (a city near Tel Aviv; the name means Light of Judea) burned three Palestinians to death a week ago. Two people died the day after the burning and the third several days later. Two days after the burning Shuki Khalif, 16, living in Or Yehuda, said, "What does it matter if an Arab burns? What does an Arab matter at all? It's not a human being. I wouldn't care if more than 2,000 burned." His friend, Reuven Alayev, said, "I would burn 5,000 more." A third friend suggested, kindly, that he would take us to visit the immigrants from Russia. Why? "Because they really hate Arabs!"

A couple of older people playing cards said that it wasn't okay to come and ask children such questions because it gives a bad name to the place. They said that these kids, who just yesterday had their bar mitzvahs, are competing to see who will say the worst things about Arabs. But even among all these older people there were only three out of 10 who said the burning wasn't good.

The youth in Or Yehuda are growing up in an atmosphere that probably encourages hate. At the edge of Tel Aviv, where the city lights are not so bright, dark hate awakened. Youths burned the shack. This is their story.

"It was all organized beautifully. They threw gasoline on them. And they didn't pay attention. They were sleeping." The man who spoke was 30 years old living near the place. He was a witness to the event. He didn't want to give his name because he has problems with the police. "I saw everything 20 minutes before it began. Two threw gasoline on this shack; the third threw a match and they ran."

How old were they? "Seventeen years old. Youths. "

What do you think of this event? "Look, I could put 10 in a line and shoot them. That's okay. But burning, I can't do. When it happened I sat on the veranda and if I didn't have family reasons not to I would dance. I wouldn't help them. Let them be burned, the Arabs. "

Did somebody help them? "Yes, a neighbor just released from the army. He heard 'Help' in Hebrew and he couldn't have known they were Arabs. If he had known he wouldn't have helped them. Look, one of the Arabs ran out while he was burning and he stood on the road but nobody helped him.

This conversation occurred while the speaker was fixing his car. His 17-year-old brother, who was helping him, said he had nothing to add, especially after his brother bragged that he had punched an Arab who was cleaning the stairs and asked for his salary. But the younger brother added, "I will go to the border guards to kill Arabs by beating them with clubs."

A hundred meters from the burned shack a slogan was painted, "Death to the Arabs and the traitors!" Not only there. There are a lot of places in Or Yehuda which are getting their slogans from Kahane's repertoire. One of the card players said, "This is our intifadah. "

Avi Darwish, 20, wants to be mayor of Or Yehuda. He suggests that Arabs be transferred from Or Yehuda, "according to law, of course. Yesterday we sat here in the coffeehouse and we thought about how to establish such a political party. I will be the leader of it." He is a soldier and the couple of friends sitting with him were also soldiers. Golan Shai, 20, also a soldier, said, "They did well to burn them. Why should they be ashamed? Believe me, I would help the people who burned them." Rami Na'im, 19, said, "if we knew who did it we would give him a medal. Maybe they didn't want to burn them, exactly, but only to frighten them. I personally can't burn, but whoever can, more power to them." Golan is very proud to say that he could even slit their throats. "I was happy that they burned them. A lot of us have died, so why shouldn't they lose some? It's a mitzvah, what they did.. "

Rami Darwish is Avi's brother. He declared he wouldn't go to the army because there are some people who give work to Arabs. What is the connection between these two things? "Avi," he said to his brother, "explain to him." Avi said, "Do you want him to go to the army to protect Jews while at the same time the Jews are giving work to Arabs in our own home? When I am the leader of this party I will go to the restaurants and bring them some Jewish guys to work instead of Arabs in their restaurants."

You can't follow these young men because one moment they can say that the people who burned the workers are murderers and the next moment they can say that the people who did it have a clean conscience for their whole lives. They laugh a lot and all the time invite other young men to be interviewed.

A taxi driver said, "I hate Arabs but it's terrible what they did to them." Another younger taxi driver said that we had to do to them what Hitler did to us. A nice, kindly guy from Rabat Gan said that he doesn't care if they put them in concentration camps.

This translation from the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot was made by the Database Project on Palestinian Human rights. For information contact Louis Cainkar at (312) 987-1985.