As violent clashes between Arabs and Jews continue across the country, residents of mixed cities are concerned about the impact of the riots on coexistence and trust between residents.
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The old city of Acre, which is usually bustling with tourists and visitors, looks like a ghost town.
"No one wants to take a risk and everyone stayed home. That's the situation," said Nidal, who owns a small grocery shop in the old city. She closed it Thursday afternoon.
"It will take years for us to return to coexistence and mutual trust," Acre resident Samer Tanus told Israel Hayom. "This isn't like the October 2000 riots or the 2008 Yom Kippur incident. Back then, there was no Facebook or Instagram, or TikTok. This time everything is documented and shared [online] in seconds. The problem is that you Jews from day one began to call for boycotts of Arab businesses."
Residents of Lod were relieved to see hundreds of Border Police officers arrive in their city to restore order after the government declared a civilian state of emergency in the mixed Jewish-Arab city. Some were so glad to see the officers that they went out to greet them and lifted them on their shoulders in joy.
Residents of Ramle, another epicenter of clashes, expressed disappointment that a similar emergency lockdown had not yet been imposed in their city. Both Jews and Arabs called for an end to violence and asked the police to ban both sides from protesting.
"We live alongside each other and we cannot allow anyone to ruin that. True, the Arabs started his, but this must be stopped," one of them said.
Yael, who lives in Bat Yam where riots erupted Thursday night, told Israel Hayom, "When I saw all these young men gather and chant 'Death to Arabs,' it was scary. The police were hardly seen, and instead of getting the rioters out of there within minutes, they just let them do whatever they wanted."
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