Nazareth residents blame Israel for attack
By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer Thu Jul 20, 4:30 PM ET
NAZARETH, Israel - About 60 men gathered under a black tent in this Arab Israeli city Thursday to drink bitter coffee, accept condolence visits and mourn two young brothers killed by a Hezbollah rocket the day before.
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Many in this town did not blame Hezbollah for the deaths, holding
Israel responsible instead. Some expressed support for the Lebanese guerrillas — underscoring the divided allegiances of Israel's Arabs.
"I'm not angry at anyone, this is all from God," said Abir Talussi, the father of 4-year-old Mahmoud and 8-year-old Rabiah, who were killed as they played in the street.
"It's war, and we are stuck in the middle," said his brother, Omar Talussi. "All the world knows the reason, everybody knows."
Another mourner chimed in: "It's Israel's fault."
"That's it," Omar Talussi said, wiping his hands in a motion of disgust.
Many Arabs here, who are Israeli citizens, feel they are involved in their own low-level fight with Israel.
Though they make up about 20 percent of Israel's population, their towns often get less development money than comparable Jewish areas and their average incomes are usually far less than those of the general population.
Many Israelis consider the Arabs a fifth column allied with the country's enemies, while many Arabs feel the country's Jews would just as soon push them out.
Nazareth, where scripture says Jesus grew up, is the largest Arab city in Israel. Two-thirds of its 70,000 residents are Muslims, with Christians making up the rest. Few believed Hezbollah, the Islamic group that has been raining hundreds of rockets across northern Israel, would have intentionally attacked them.
"This is not Israel. This is Nazareth," said 36-year-old Ayman Besher.
"Everybody knows it was an accident," said Afif Zidani, who acted as a translator for the grieving family.
Though Hezbollah offered no public apology for the killings, many here heard rumors of one and that was good enough for them.
"No one here is mad at Hezbollah," Zidani said. "Nobody."
Nazim Abu Salim, the Muslim cleric who addressed the mourners, seated on plastic chairs in a parking lot, said the radical Islamic militia is Lebanon's protector — a far cry from official Israel's description of the organization as a terrorist group sworn to its destruction, which provoked Israel's nine-day-old bombing campaign in Lebanon by kidnapping two soldiers in a cross-border raid.
"Hezbollah belongs to Lebanon," Abu Salim said. "They are the sons of Lebanon, the heart of Lebanon. Not like America says, they protect Lebanon from these evils."
People in Nazareth's downtown tourist district, near the Basilica of the Annunciation, where Christians believe the Angel Gabriel foretold the birth of Jesus to the Virgin Mary, were more guarded in their language but expressed similar sentiments.
"Nobody will tell you (Hezbollah leader Hassan) Nasrallah is a killer," one man said, refusing to give his name. "Ask. No one here will tell you he's a terrorist."
