Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 14, 1990 TAG: 9005140010
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HAIFA, ISRAEL LENGTH: Medium
The desecration followed a similar act last week in Carpentras, France, where 34 graves were violated and the body of a man was dug up and mutilated.
About 10,000 people gathered in Carpentras in protest Sunday, and in Paris Jews clashed with right-wing extremists. Some minor injuries were reported but there were no arrests.
Israeli police described the 41-year-old man detained in the vandalism of 300 graves in Haifa as "eccentric."
The slogans were in black spray paint and in grammatical Hebrew.
Noam Gabrieli, a city official, said on Israeli radio that the language was not typical of Palestinian leaflets distributed during the uprising in the occupied lands and may have been written by a mentally unstable person.
But Haifa police chief Yossi Levi said investigators still could not determine whether the desecration was a political provocation, the work of Arab extremists or of a mentally disturbed person.
Police department head Avi Tiller said police bolstered forces in the city to prevent possible vigilante reprisals and appealed to the public to "show reserve."
Riot police were also sent to the Kfar Samir Cemetery to guard against violent demonstrations by thousands of bereaved relatives and other Israelis who rushed there after the news was reported on the radio.
"I can't believe this happened in a Jewish state," said Sonia Fuar, pointing at the graves of her parents.
The desecration was condemned by Jewish and Arab leaders alike, and Mayor Arieh Gurel called on Haifa residents to keep calm.
Yosef Yisraeli, whose mother and mother-in-law are buried in Kfar Samir, said, "I saw the horrible sight, and my blood boiled."
Other slogans said "Moslem Brothers: destroy the Jews and Found Palestine" and called on Arab leaders such as Iraq's Saddam Hussein to "burn the Jews."
Wajdi Tabari, an Israeli Arab, said the desecration was a "very bad thing that would not help peace or coexistence."
"I don't think a Moslem . . . would ever think to do something like this. We respect graves and cemeteries very much in our religion," Tabari said.
Haifa, where 10 percent of the 220,000 population is Arab, has been a model of Arab-Israeli coexistence.
Right-wing and ultra-Orthodox legislators blamed Arabs.
"What happened in Haifa must return us all to our good senses, to know with whom we are dealing and to stop fighting among ourselves and unite," said Rabbi Moshe Zeev Feldman of the ultra-Orthodox Agudat Israel party.
In France, the nation's Grand Rabbi Joseph Sitruk led prayers at the cemetery in Carpentras. Similar ceremonies were held elsewhere.
by CNB