A group of Old Acre residents have warned against action taken by some Israeli governmental institutions to expel the Arab residents of the old city. The latest action has revealed further the government’s strategy, locally and nationally, behind similar projects which pose a serious threat to Israel’s Arab citizens.
The residents’ statement, a copy of which was sent to Quds Press, called upon the city’s Arabs to be vigilant about plots being hatched behind closed doors and the laws invoked by officials to paralyse the local people and stop them from tackling attempts to empty Acre of its Arab population. The statement drew attention to a publication distributed to Arab citizens of Acre by Amidar, the state-owned housing company. It announced its plans to sell houses and properties it owns to the inhabitants of the old town; discounts are being offered, especially to those who are not in debt to the company. However, the sting in the tail is that if the current resident does not buy the house, the company “reserves the right to sell it to others”.
Acre’s Arab citizens are wondering who those “others” might be. Perhaps, it is said, foreign investors who could afford the prices being asked. What will happen to the existing tenants, asked the residents’ statement, when they cannot afford to buy their home? In closing, the statement reminded readers that Acre has always had a cosmopolitan population; historically-speaking, it said, the Arabs of Acre have contributed to the city’s development for centuries.
Arab citizens of Israel must be alerted to this aspect of the government’s ethnic cleansing project, say the people of Acre. They appealed to all of their fellow citizens’ conscience not to underestimate such projects undertaken by the government against Arabs and their presence in the city and country.