Posted on 03/04/2006 2:58:39 PM PST by anotherview
Mar. 4, 2006 10:41 | Updated Mar. 4, 2006 22:16
Man behind Nazareth attack requested asylum from Arafat
By YIGAL GRAYEFF, JPOST STAFF, AND AP
Police remove the baby stroller which was used to hide the firecrackers.
Photo: AP
Christians attend a mass at the Church of the Anunciation in Nazareth on Saturday.
Photo: AP
The man who caused a riot in Nazareth on Friday by throwing firecrackers into the Basilica of the Annunciation visited Yasser Arafat two years ago to request asylum.
However, police said on Saturday it was unclear why Haim Eliyahu Habibi was seeking refuge in the Palestinian Authority, but did disclose that he carried out the attack during a packed Lent prayer service at one of the holiest sites in Christianity because he wanted to bring attention to his financial problems. This had led welfare authorities to place two of his younger children into foster care.
"It's nothing to do with him being right-wing or left-wing," a spokesman said. "We know from the initial investigation that he has financial problems and we are looking at whether he has psychological problems."
Habibi carried out the attack in the presence of his Christian wife, Violet, and their 20-year-old daughter Lelia, although it was unclear if they participated, a spokeswoman said. All three were taken to Tiberius Magistrate's Court on Saturday night and remanded in custody for 15 days. The couple has four children altogether, three of whom have been removed from their parents' custody.
Lelia Habibi admitted to police that, "the motive behind our actions was economic," and added that her father specifically chose a church so as to shock the world and to bring attention to the family's distress.
In addition to economic hardships, a Jerusalem welfare agency recently decided to remove the couple's third daughter from her parents' care after the Habibis were deemed unfit to be parents.
"The state took my children," Habibi, who was lightly injured in the riots following the firecracker attack, said after leaving the hospital.
The Habibis' attorney, Pninat Yanai, asserted that all three were capable of standing trial.
The riot that took place after the attack left 17 policemen and about ten protestors injured, as police who arrived at the scene to protect the family were confronted by stone throwers.
Hundreds more policemen arrived in Nazareth, as did Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra and police chief Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi. The latter ordered increased security at holy sites around the country while Ezra praised the police for "their great restraint and sensitivity in difficult conditions." The incident started at 5:30 p.m. and ended at 10:00 p.m., with the result being slight damage to the church, police said.
Nazareth was quiet but tense Saturday evening following a protest march led by Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah to protest Friday's attack.
Security forces were absent from the rally, which lasted approximately an hour and a half, in order not to aggravate the situation and it passed off peacefully. In addition, nine soccer matches in the region were postponed, but police don't expect further demonstrations on Sunday, the spokeswoman said.
The Supreme Arab Follow-Up Committee held a special meeting Saturday afternoon at the Nazareth municipality building to discuss the attack, during which chairman Shawki Hatib said that the Israeli establishment expresses racism and aggression towards Arabs.
Hatib said that Friday night's riots by Nazareth residents were impulsive and represented an emotional reaction stemming from the church attack.
During the protest, Israeli Arabs filled the streets, holding up Palestinian flags and banners with slogans such as "Israel breeds hate" and "they accuse us of terrorism but they do terrorism."
Police deployed in large numbers on the outskirts of Nazereth out of concern that riots might erupt during the march.
Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement said that Habibi first went to a mosque, but when he found it empty, made his way to the church.
Despite police claims, United Arab List MK Taleb a-Sana'a told Israel Radio Saturday morning that the attempt to damage the church was the direct result of wild right-wing incitement, and the policies of the government towards the Arab sector and its religious institutions."
Palestinian Authority president designate, Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, added that the attack was a result of "The culture of hate that the State of Israel instills in its citizens against the Palestinians and religious places belonging to Islam and Christianity."
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called her counterpart in the Vatican on Friday evening, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, and assured him that Israel was dealing with the incident at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth and that Israel would do everything to protect the holy sites.
According to Livni's office, Lajolo expressed his appreciation to Israel about how it dealt with the incident, and said he would inform the Pope of the developments.
[Herb Keinon contributed to this report.]
The attempt to paint this as a right-wing settler attack at first was disgusting. Earth to left-wing media: the Jews in Judea and Samaria are not any different than Israelis anywhere else. Nutjobs can come from anywhere.
ping
The primer/trigger type device went off, but, fortunately, the body of the bomb did not.
There seems to be a huge deficit in some people's ability to detect when they are being unintentionally ironic. The "reality challenged" community has past it's sell by date, but it just keeps getting larger and leaping from illogical position to more illogical position.
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It's always right-wing settlers. :>)
I may have mentioned this before, but there was a time when here in the US settlers were the good guys.
Even the Jewish ones
A matter of perspective. The Indians had a different opinion.
I lost track of the number of times Haaretz and YNet (and also JPost) had to edit their headlines yesterday.
The Arab MK's are STILL BLAMING the "settlers" and the "right-wing Jewish religious extremists." But, they would do that no matter what.
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
So that's the real reason the Saudis refuse to allow any churches to be built in their country...
That's why Christians in Pakistan are thrown in jail for "blasphemy" against Mohammad...
That's why in most Muslim countries, conversion to Christianity is a death penalty offense...
them bad, bad JEWS?!
Give me a break.
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