The continuous wars between Arabs and Jews has moved from the battlefield to the symphony hall, as Jews in the Galilee, fed up with boisterous street parties after Arab weddings, counterattacked by turning up the volume of Beethoven and Mozart. Injuries have been limited to headaches.

The latest battle has taken place at Kfar Veradim, located in Upper Galilee near the Lebanese border and within hearing distance of the town of Tarshiha, an Arab community that shares its government with the Jewish city of Ma'alot.

However, as the sound waves go, Tarshiha is closer to Kfar Veradim, whose residents have complained of the late-night parties by wedding celebrants. The hosts often revel in the streets instead of a wedding hall.

                          Beethoven                                    “At midnight they usually let off fireworks and start shooting guns too. It can sound like a war zone,” Kfar Veradim resident Geoffrey Goodman told the Pacific Free Press. Tarshiha resident Amjad Dakwar, conceding that the noise can be loud, suggested that if the Jews “don’t like it, they should move back to Tel Aviv.”

The deafening wedding party music spurred the Jews into action. The Jewish town council, not missing a beat, armed itself with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and turned up the stereo to full volume, aiming the speakers at Tarshiha. It escalated the battle with a dose of Mozart’s Requiem and an opera by Puccini.

The council warned that if the Arabs do not tone down the party makers, it will move the speakers closer to the source of fire. It also is considering buying a sound meter to measure the number of decibels at Arab street parties.

Another constant disturbance to Jews comes from loudspeakers in Arab mosques, which, like everywhere else in Israel, call Muslims to prayer at all hours of the day and night, especially in the pre-dawn hours.