Fireworks in church spark Nazareth riot
Three Jewish attackers entered one of Christianity’s holiest sites yesterday and began throwing fireworks, sparking a large riot in Nazareth, police said.
At least seven people were injured as police struggled to bring the situation under control.
Police officials said the attackers were disguised as Christian pilgrims when they entered the Basilica of the Annunciation.
The attackers remained barricaded in the building late yesterday, as the angry mob of several thousand people blocked police from entering.
Rescue workers said at least two protesters were wounded in the unrest, and others were suffering from tear gas inhalation. Five police officers were injured, officials said.
When an ambulance arrived, the crowd attacked the vehicle, breaking windows and forcing it to turn away. Police said special commando units were being dispatched to the scene.
Dan Ronen, the police chief for northern Israel, said the three attackers were Jewish, though a motive for the attack remained unclear. He said his forces were still trying to get the three people – believed to be a man and two women – out of the church.
The church is at the site where Christians believe the Angel Gabriel appeared before the Virgin Mary and foretold the birth of Jesus.
Nazareth, the boyhood town of Jesus, is located in northern Israel.
It is inhabited by Christian and Muslim Arabs, and religious tensions have boiled over in the past, with the two sides in a dispute over attempts to build a mosque next to the church.
Israeli Arabs make up about 20% of Israel’s population.
While they are entitled to Israeli citizenship (in contrast to Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip), Israel’s Arab minority complains of systematic discrimination at the hands of the Jewish majority.
Meanwhile, Hamas’ leader ruled out any softening of the militant Palestinian group’s hostility to Israel after high-profile talks in Moscow at which Russia called on it recognise the Jewish state and abandon violence.
Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal welcomed the outcome of the meetings yesterday with Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, saying at a news conference they were “good, constructive and open.” He did not give details.
But a statement from the Foreign Ministry after the meeting said that the Russian side had urged Hamas to endorse the “rejection of violence as a means of obtaining political goals”, existing Israeli-Palestinian agreements and “recognition of Israel’s right to exist”.
