Israel Matzav

Bedouin torch-bearer's car torched

The car of a Bedouin woman who lit one of the twelve torches on Mount Herzl Wednesday night was torched last night to take revenge for her good relations with Israelis. A molotov cocktail was also thrown at her home while she and her children were inside. Sana Elbaz is the daughter of a Bedouin family from Tel Sheva, and the head of the first of its kind daycare center in the Bedouin sector, who had led a revolutionary educational program and brought about changes in the Bedouin society. She lit the torch with Fahoum Fahoum, 16.5, a Muslim 11th grader, who takes an active part in efforts for coexistence between Jews and Arabs. He is considered an outstanding tennis player and a member of Israel's youth delegation. But someone was unhappy about Elbaz's lighting the torch and efforts for co-existence generally, and last night they paid her a visit.

Elbaz was watching TV late on Thursday when she heard the sound of glass breaking outside of her home. She alerted her neighbors, who helped to put out her blazing car, and called the police and her husband.

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Her husband Khalil told Ynet: "I have no doubt that the molotov cocktails thrown at my car and my home were because Sana lit the torch on Independence Day. Even before the event there was denouncing talk about the torch and it looks like today someone has acted upon it.

"We are a very well-known family in the community, and until Independence Day we were never threatened, I guess some people are bothered by it. I am a man who knows his people well and so I realize how many are opposed to participation in such an official ceremony."

Khalil added that despite the torching he and his wife are proud that Sana was asked to light the torch. "We are strong and fear nothing," he said. "They won't break us. Sana is a leading woman in education and she deserves the esteem she is receiving from the country."

The police have launched an investigation into the incident.

Tel Sheva, which is near Be'er Sheva, is within 'pre-1967 Israel.' But I'm sure George and Condi still believe that our conflict with the Arab-Muslim world is only about the results of 1967's Six Day War. After all, that's what Ehud and Ehud and Feigele told them.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:49 PM