Wadi Salib events

The Wadi Salib events were a series of street demonstrations and acts of vandalism in the Wadi Salib neighborhood of Haifa in 1959. Those events were a social rebellion against ethnic discrimination, and against the "Mapai" (Labor party) establishment that ruled in Israel at that time.

On July 9 1959 police confronted a Wadi Salib resident, who was drunk and disturbing the peace, ultimately shooting him in the leg. Following the shooting, people gathered and a violent debate started. The commander of the local police station came and calmed the crowd.

Later that night, (false) rumors of the death of the wounded man were spread. In response hundreds of neighborhood residents demonstrated the next morning (July 10) in front of the local police station. This demonstration dispersed peacefully, but later that day further demonstrations developed into violent riots. The demonstrators went to the well-established Hadar, Haifa and Carmel neighborhoods throwing stones, blocking roads, igniting cars, breaking display windows, and looting stores. Back in Wadi Salib, the anger targeted the clubhouses of "Mapai" and the "Histadrut" (the Israeli congress of trade unions). The police tried to disperse the demonstrators by force, and 13 policemen and 2 demonstrators were wounded. 34 demonstrators were arrested.

In July 11 similar riots broke out in other places in Israel, particularly in places which in they were large communities of North African immigrants, like Tiberias, Beersheba and Migdal HaEmek. After the events there were accusations that the riots were not completely spontaneous, and that a local movement called "Likud Yotsei Tsfon-Africa" (Union of North-African Immigrants) was involved in planning some of the demonstrations. David Ben-Haroush, one of the movement's founders, was sentenced to prison. Ben-Haroush participated in the following elections while in jail, running on the Union's list, though it failed to cross the electoral threshold.

The events aroused international interest. The Jewish residents and the King of Morocco expressed concern for the condition of North African immigrants.

According to the Jewish Agency for Israel, "the term 'Wadi Salib' becomes an inseparable part of the consciousness of 'the Second Israel', designating Oriental Jews in contrast to 'the First Israel', which designates European Jews." [ [http://www.jafi.org.il/education/jafi75/timeline4j.html#1 Timeline] Jewish Agency for Israel] Amos Gitai in 1979 produced a film about these events,"Wadi Salib Riots (Meoraot Wadi Salib)" [ [http://www.amosgitai.com/html/film.asp?docid=35&lang=1 The Films of Amos Gitai] ] , and they have been discussed in scholarly articles ["Emerging Patterns of Ethnic Strain in Israel " by Judith T. Shuval [Social Forces, Vol. 40, No. 4 (May, 1962), pp. 323-330, doi:10.2307/2573888 /Available at [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-7732(196205)40%3A4%3C323%3AEPOESI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G JSTOR] (subscription site) ] , [ "The second Israel: Peace in the Middle East and the implications of militant oriental Jewish ethnicity" by Daniel L. Smith Dialectical Anthropology Volume 16, Number 2, pp. 153-166 (June, 1991) DOI 10.1007/BF00250243 available at [http://www.springerlink.com/content/u18h7083p5946gl5/ Springerlink] (subscription site)]

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