Here is the latest on the war.

Fear and Tensions Rise Among Arab Citizens of Israel Amidst Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Fida Shehada is a member of the City Council of Lod, a town of some 84,000 people, perhaps 30 percent of them Arab citizens of Israel.

And Ms. Shehada, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, is afraid, to put it mildly, of what may come now, after the massacre of Israeli civilians by Hamas. “Everyone is in great distress,” she said. “There is a great fear that there will be a mighty revenge.”

Living in Fear and Distress

In Lod, which lies just south of Tel Aviv, Jews and Arabs often live in the same building, she said, but now Arabs are reluctant to go into the air-raid shelters. “They say they see hate in the eyes of the Jews,” Ms. Shehada said. “They say they see hate, but I think what they really see is distress and fear.”

Arab citizens of Israel, many of whom want to be identified as Palestinians, make up some 18 percent of the population. They have been caught for years between their loyalty to the state and their desire for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, the creation of an independent Palestine and a better life for themselves.

Now, after this unprecedented killing of Israelis inside Israel, when an enraged Israeli Jewish population is calling for revenge, normal tensions have been raised to almost unbearable levels.

Leaders Condemn Violence and Call for Calm

The leading Arab politicians in Israel, like Mansour Abbas and Ayman Odeh, both members of the Knesset, have clearly condemned the actions of Hamas, the Palestinian faction that carried out the attack on Israel, and called for calm.

But people are torn in their feelings, Ms. Shehada said, and so they tend to hide them. Young Arabs at first felt pride in the resistance of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, she said. “In the first moment when the people of Gaza invaded Israel, people were happy, they felt that someone was doing something about the situation.”

But that surge of pride faded quickly, she said. “This was before we saw all the images of slaughter, kidnap and rape,” Ms. Shehada said. “This is not a legitimate form of struggle.”

In May 2021, during another Israeli-Palestinian crisis, Lod was wracked by riots and mutual hatred between Jewish and Muslim communities. Ms. Shehada, 40, says she was attacked in her own home by Jews throwing rocks.

Challenges of Poverty, Crime, and Segregation

Even in more normal times, Lod has deep-seated problems of poverty and crime, with Arab criminal organizations operating with little interference from the Israeli police, people here say. Even the local government is largely segregated, with separate Arab and Jewish sections within departments.

The police are the responsibility of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister and leader of the ultranationalist Jewish Power party, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government. Mr. Ben-Gvir, who has supported settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, has also been ramping up tensions with Israel’s Arab population.

Hope for Greater Understanding

Mohammad Magadli, one of Israel’s most prominent Arab journalists, is more optimistic. He sees the shock of the past week bringing a sort of stunned calm. Unlike in 2021, he said, in mixed cities, “the Arab and Jewish societies are more aware of each other’s pain and can understand how destructive the consequences can be if they don’t consider each other’s feelings.”

“There is greater responsibility between the two societies,” Mr. Magadli said, “even among the leaders who, from the outset, called for calming the situation.”

Ms. Shehada said her aunt was visiting Gaza now and could not leave. Buildings on either side of where she is staying have already been bombed, Ms. Shehada said, then paused, sighed, and said, “I don’t think they will survive this war.”

In Ramla, a similarly mixed town nearby, the sprawling market normally overflowing with local vegetables and fruits was nearly empty, with an unusual wariness in the air, said Mousa Mousa, 23, an Israeli Arab in a Hebrew-language T-shirt advertising his juice stall. “I’m not sleeping,” he said. “I’m afraid of the reaction of the villagers on the road to what Hamas did.”

The market is a mix of Arabs and Jews, he said, “but the feeling is different now.”

“I feel an animosity from the people here — they’re not smiling as they used to,” Mr. Mousa said. “I try to keep my head high.”

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• SDG 16.1: Reduce violence and related death rates everywhere
• SDG 10.2: Empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status
• SDG 11.3: Enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

No specific indicators are mentioned in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets. However, progress towards reducing violence and promoting social inclusion can be measured through indicators such as crime rates, access to justice, and social integration policies. Progress towards sustainable urbanization can be measured through indicators such as urban population growth, access to basic services, and urban planning policies.

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

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Source: nytimes.com

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