A little while back there was a dispute between the residents of Ramat Eshkol and the residents of the nearby Arab neighborhood of Issawiya. The Jewish residents of Ramat Eshkol were upset with the level of the volume of the Muezzin, saying it was disturbing them and especially at unreasonable hours. The Arabs of Issawiya eventually gave in and agreed to remove the speakers that were directed toward Ramat Eshkol, but only after the Ramat Eshkol people threatened to blast rock music out of speakers directed toward Issawiya.

And peace reigned.

But only for a short while.

According to this report on Mynet, residents of Issawiya have been approaching the representative who dealt with the issue and are complaining that they have been made to look like freiers, as the Jews have been declaring victory over the Arabs. Darwish, the rep from Issawiya, is so upset that he has been made to look like the fool that he has threatened to reinstall the two speakers and even add two more! His threat is dependent upon Bechler, the Jewish rep, apologizing to him and the neighborhood.

Bechler is putting up a good front, saying that he isnt worried. He says that Darwish should be thanking him for preventing the local residents from blocking access to Issawiya with concrete blocks. Either way, he plans to meet Darwish to calm things down.

It is interesting how strong the need is to not appear as a freier, to not appear as having "lost", that even though the situation has, presumably, worked out well, they are willing to retract everything and go back to fighting just due to the appearance...



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