(MENAFN- The Peninsula) An arson attack targetting first-grade classrooms at a Jewish-Arab school sparked a wave of condemnation yesterday, as months of racial tensions in Jerusalem showed little sign of abating.
The attack, apparently by Jewish extremists, occurred Saturday evening at the Hand-in-Hand bilingual school, a rare symbol of coexistence in a city fraught by growing friction between Jews and Palestinians from annexed east Jerusalem.
Scrawled on the walls were slogans in Hebrew reading "Death to Arabs" and "There's no coexistence with cancer," police said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and pledged to act "forcefully" to return "the rule of law" across all parts of the city.
And Justice Minister Tzipi Livni pledged a "zero tolerance" approach to anyone behind such acts. "I will work determinedly against everyone who acts against the law and expresses through violence the racist demon which has emerged in Israeli society - whether it is through hateful graffiti, arson or other forms of violence," she told reporters at the school.
Headmistress Nadia Knane said one of the first-grade classrooms had been badly damaged by the fire, and that the attackers had tried to set alight another classroom.
The assailants had piled up textbooks and set them on fire.
"After I saw what was written, I realised it was not just a fire. They wrote 'Death to Arabs' and 'Kahana was right' - words which have a lot of meaning," she told army radio.
Meir Kahana was a virulently anti-Arab rabbi whose Kach party was banned over incitement to racial hatred but whose ideology still inspires loyalty among Jewish extremists.
"The school had been targeted several times in recent months but every other time was outside the school. This is the first time it was inside," the headmistress said.
Inside the classroom, blackened and charred books were piled on the floor and the walls and ceiling were badly burned. On the balcony outside were the words "Death to Arabs".
Yesterday, scores of people gathered in support of the school and its pupils and teachers.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.