Four Arrested Over Brawl Between Druze and Muslims in Northern Israel

Police arrested four men Monday on suspicion of involvement in the mass weekend brawl in Abu Snan, in which at least 41 people were injured.

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All four suspects are men in their twenties, police said. One is thought to have thrown the fragmentation grenade that caused the most serious injuries in the confrontation in the northern Israeli village. The others were arrested on suspicion of throwing rocks and disturbing the peace. All four will be brought to the Acre Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for detention hearings.

Chief Superintendent Kobi Karni, the Acre police chief, said additional arrests were expected. Maj. Gen. Hagai Dotan, commander of the police’s Coastal District, said police would spare no effort to find all those responsible and bring them to justice.

Sheikh Moafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, visited the injured at Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya yesterday afternoon. After his visit, he denounced the brawl and urged both sides to demonstrate restraint and responsibility in order to restore calm to the community.

Abu Snan is a mixed village, of Muslim and Christian Arabs and Druze. Friday’s brawl was mainly between Muslims and Druze.

Fourteen people were still in hospital last night, including one in very serious condition.