The Jewish Home party has scheduled an urgent meeting for Monday morning to discuss Arab nationalist violence in the Galilee region. The meeting will also deal with the planned Arab provocation on the upcoming Independence Day (Tuesday, 6.6) at the Lavie Forest next to Golani Junction, where Highways 65 and 77 meet.
The head of the party's Galilee branch, Datia Yitzhaki, told Arutz Sheva that Arab terrorism in the Galilee has become worse in the last few years. The "agricultural terrorism", she explained, involves forcibly taking over land, attacking shepherds, theft of agricultural equipment, illegal construction and more. More recently, she said, an additional element of “demonstrations and parades” has been added to the Arab nationalist activity.
The decision by Arabs from Nazareth to organize a provocative march on Israel's Independence Day is an example of this kind of activity, Yitzhaki explained.
Yitzhaki spoke of firebomb attacks and rock ambushes against vehicles which are hardly reported in the news media but which cause many Jews in the Galilee to prefer not to leave their homes at night.
She added that the mass Zionist picnic that has been held at Megiddo Forest for several years on Independence Day will be moved to Golani Junction this year in order to provide a proper response to the Arab provocation.
Former MK Michael Ben-Ari informed his Facebook followers a few days ago that "the Arab enemy in Nazareth" is planning to bring 10,000 people to demonstrate "solidarity with the uprooted residents of the village of Lubia" on Independence Day, "next to the picnic site at Lavi forest, where thousands of Jews gather annually to celebrate the miracle of the return of the Nation of Israel to its land, and the salvation from the Arabonazis' attempt to annihilate us in the War of Independence."
The Arabs plan to disrupt the Jewish state's holiday celebration, explained Ben-Ari, "in the name of 'democracy' and 'freedom of protest.'"
Ben-Ari promised that he and another well-known nationalist activist, Baruch Marzel, will be present at the Jewish celebrations near the Golani junction.
The former parliamentarian said that he has asked the Minister of Public Security not to allow the Arab demonstration, but the minister has not agreed to block the protest.