The High Follow-up Committee for Arab citizens of Israel is calling for a general strike tomorrow in Arab towns and communities over the conflict at Al-Aqsa Mosque and violence by settlers in mixed cities. Members of the Committee met yesterday with residents of Jaffa and Lod to hear their feelings and concerns.

The meeting came as tensions continue to rise in Jewish-Arab mixed cities for a second week. Last week, clashes and tensions in east Jerusalem during Ramadan, painful photos from the Al-Aqsa Mosque showing Israeli police bursting into the mosque, violent protests across Jerusalem and the ongoing battle over the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood have created an explosive situation with Hamas firing rockets toward Jerusalem. And while Israel rained airstrikes on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, an internal battle has developed between Arab residents and their Jewish neighbors in mixed cities such as Lod, Jaffa and Ramle.

There have also been several intense clashes in Arab towns and protests against the events in Jerusalem during Ramadan. The incidents included rock throwing, disorderly conduct, arson of a synagogue, attacks on Jewish citizens by Arabs and attacks on Arab citizens by Jews and destruction of private and public property, leaving many wounded. One man was killed in Lod. Mousa Hassouna, 32, was shot to death by a Jew who was arrested. 

The chaos led President Reuven Rivlin to demand the Arab leadership speak out against the raging violence. He called its silence “shameful, giving support to terrorism and rioting and encouraging the rupture of the society in which we live and in which we will continue to live once all this has passed.” He also called on the Israeli government “pursue the rioters with a firm hand restore security and order while fighting terrorism from Gaza without compromise.” The president later held a conversation with all of the mayors of Arab and Jewish towns in the Negev to ask them to calm their people and end the violence.