The recent Yom Kippur passed peacefully, without any violent incidents between Jews and Arabs in Israel. I would not bother to mention it had it not been for the massive police forces deployed in advance in an attempt to prevent clashes between Jews and Muslims in the so-called mixed cities, and for the intensive efforts to mobilize the leaders on both sides in advance, to prevent friction and conflicts.

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting, abstinence and prayer, the holiest of all Jewish holidays, was celebrated this year on the same day, Oct. 4, as the first day of Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, the most important of all Muslim holidays. While Jews were fasting to atone for their sins, praying to God to write them in the Book of Life, Muslims were commemorating the willingness of Abraham, the shared father of Muslims and Jews, to sacrifice his son to God. The Muslim holiday is marked by a sumptuous feast, with grilled or roast meat as the main serving, in remembrance of the ram sacrificed as a burnt offering.

And when Jews are fasting to plead with their God, while Muslims indulge in a lavish feast to please their God in such a close interval of time, it's an almost sure recipe for a flare-up, all the more so just a few weeks after the conflict in Gaza.

As it turns out, however, the gloomy predictions have proven wrong. Indeed, it could be that this specific test, successfully passed in the mixed cities of Acre, Haifa, Ramle, Lod, Jaffa and even Jerusalem, shows that Israeli Jews and Palestinians who share this land are far more prone to compromise than their leaders.