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Posted on 12/11/2004 5:29:26 PM PST by Alouette
Hadash MK Ahmed Tibi's car broke down in his hometown of Taiba a few years back. Calling the tow company, Tibi was shocked to hear they did not give service to the northern Israeli-Arab town, because, they said, it was too dangerous.
Tibi's feeling of helplessness hasn't changed and, if anything, "It has spread to more and more people within Taiba," the Arab MK said Thursday.
With 33,000 inhabitants, Taiba sits along the seam line in northern Israel and, with its rundown, crime-ridden, sewage-filled streets, looks more like a Palestinian refugee camp than a modern Israeli city. In contrast, quite a few of the city's residents live in large, gated luxurious homes and drive new BMWs, Mercedes and 4x4s.
On October 20, Yihye Hariri, from Umm el-Fahm and referred to as the "Ze'ev Rosenstein [underworld kingpin] of the North," was gunned down on Taiba's main street. Two days later, two Taiba residents, suspected of involvement in Hariri's murder, were shot dead outside the Hariri mourners' tent erected in the city. Hardly 48 hours later, Hariri's nephew was shot while driving up a main Taiba thoroughfare.
For most of Israel, Hariri's murder appeared to be just another underworld liquidation. But for the people of Taiba, it sparked recollections of a brutal feud a decade ago between the Hariri family and its rival in Taiba – the Abed al-Kader family – which locals say was the starting point for the city's on going deterioration.
Today, parents, fearing further street killings, won't let their children roam the streets without supervision. Strangers who enter the city are followed and when they leave their cars unattended it is usually the last time they see them. Most residents lock up their cars within gated walls surrounding their homes, while others install closed-circuit televisions to keep an eye on the street.
Last month, three locals were indicted for planning to bomb the railway line near Netanya. With its close proximity to the territories – Taiba is between Tulkarm to the north and Kalkilya to the south – the city serves as a main transit point for Palestinian infiltrators and, as Mayor Salah Jabara points out, "If your car is stolen you can be sure that within seconds it's in the territories."
Jabara is an interesting character. On the one hand he can be credited with implementing the Interior Ministry's recovery plan, upon taking office two years ago, which included laying off some 180 municipal workers. On the other hand he is notorious for his close relationship with the Hariri and Abed al-Kader families, people most residents steer clear of. "People who say Taiba is dangerous or has a high crime level are wrong," Jabara told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday. "The crime here is no different from any other Israeli city. Taiba has suffered from a bad name ever since a clan war a decade ago but since the sulha [reconciliation] between the sides crime has drastically gone down."
Coming from Jabara, the reassurance of a decrease in crime is of dubious value for some locals. Just last month, they point out, a grenade was thrown at his home. No one was injured but since the incident Jabara doesn't move without his two trusty Jewish bodyguards.
Jabara laughs off the notion thought that his life is at risk. "I get along with everyone in the city," he says. "If it was up to me, I wouldn't have the security but the police force me to."
Jabara admits to having a close relationship with the Hariri family. But he says, the reason is because "I am not only a municipal mayor, in charge of running the technical side of the city, but I am also a social mayor whose job it is to make peace between people and get along with everyone."
But locals reject Jabara's attempt to portray himself as a peacemaker, calling him "Hariri's crooked puppet."
"Jabara needs to be kicked out of Taiba and all of Israel," says Monir, a businessman. "He is a crook and basically heads a criminal organization. He does nothing for the city. Just look at the education system and the infrastructure," he adds, pointing to the pothole-filled streets outside his store.
Muhammad Tabah, owner of a local paint shop who has run for city council twice, says the city's problems are mostly political and once they are solved "Taiba will once again be normal."
"The problem here has always been that the mayor was more concerned with saving his coalition than in improving the city," Tabah says. "All the politicians here are interested in survival no matter what the cost. People get killed and robbed and no one lifts a finger. In Taiba there just is no law."
And Tibi is optimistic the city will one day pick itself out of the dirt and become a proud center for Israeli-Arab intellectuals and academics as it once was in the past.
"Taiba is a city of intellectuals and academics and has provided the largest number of Arab Knesset members," Tibi says. "There are those who want the city to deteriorate and they may seem now to be winning. In the end, however, everyone will see that we will be victorious and will restore pride in Taiba."
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Reminds me of some neighborhoods in Chicago in the 70's.
Sounds like Taiba is in a blue state.
"Jabara doesn't move without his two trusty Jewish bodyguards."
heh...
Sounds very much like Sharon and his cabinet.
I can't think of anything nice to say about a movement and people that revered Arafat while he was robbing them blind and now he's dead, still thinks he was a god. Let's see. Those with brains turn to crime? Sounds about right.
Sounds like a democratic stronghold to me. And many of their voters as well.
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