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After hundreds of Druze rampaged for three days, looting and burning Christians' cars, homes, and businesses throughout the town of Mughar, Arab Christians believe they face a stark choice: Rebuild or pull out from their hillside community of 20,000 in northern Israel.

Dozens of Israeli police now guard Mughar's Christian quarter. Residents have cleared away much of the damage following the anti-Christian riots that started on February 10. But the scars remain. Broken windows mar the town's only Christian church. Patches of melted asphalt mark where Christians' cars had been torched. Fire-gutted homes and shops are everywhere. Iron supports in doorways hold up a block-long charred building in danger of collapse. The building contained several Christian shops, including the town's largest clothing store. Tense calm prevails.

Soon after the attacks, Druze leaders met with Christians from Mughar and surrounding towns to restore peace. Political and religious tensions between some Druze and Christians had diminished in recent years. But Kamal Ghanem, a local Druze, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "For 50 years we have nurtured our relations, and it was all destroyed in one day."

There are 100,000 Druze in Israel. Mughar's population includes 10,000 Druze, 5,000 Christians, and 5,000 Muslims. The Druze sect departed from Islam in the 11th century when Imam Hakim declared the caliph al-Hakim to be an incarnation of God. Nearly all the Christians in the region are Orthodox or Catholic.

Since that meeting, Hamzeh bin Ali, a previously unknown radical group, told Christians to leave Mughar or face attack. The Hamzeh bin Ali group also demanded that Christians post white flags on their homes, according to one Christian leader. "All the Christians are in danger, maybe the priest more," this leader told Christianity Today.

Some Israelis compared the February attack to the nightmarish pogrom, Kristallnacht, during which Nazis targeted German Jews for violence in 1938. "There is only one name for events of this nature," Knesset member Amram Mitzna wrote in a newspaper commentary, "one that is well known to every Jew—pogrom."

It all started with a spat between teenage boys—one Druze and one Christian. After the dispute, the Druze youth accused the Christian of posting pornographic pictures of Druze women on the internet. Mughar Christians say the phony story spread like wildfire, as did anger among the Druze. That night, Mughar's streets filled with young Druze wielding Molotov cocktails and iron bars, and the attacks began.

The next two nights, Druze from nearby villages also took part. Finally, Israel mobilized a massive police response, which quickly ended the pogrom. In mid-February, Israeli investigators took a Druze youth into custody as a suspect in connection with the assaults.

Maher Abboud, priest of Mughar's St. George's Greek Catholic Church, said only three police officers were on hand the first day of the attack. The second day there were 30 police. "But what can 30 police do when more than 1,000 people are attacking?" Abboud asked. "We hoped on Friday the police forces would be increased. But police didn't interfere." A few Christians say the local Druze police themselves joined the violence.

Abboud said 53 businesses and 74 homes were damaged or destroyed and 151 cars set on fire. Police report that 11 people, including 3 officers, were injured during the rioting. At least one Druze marauder was shot in the leg and at least one Christian suffered broken legs. About three-quarters of Christian children have stopped attending school since the attacks ended for fear of more violence. Mughar's Christians say authorities confiscated weapons found on Druze students in Mughar's junior high and high schools.

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May 2005, Vol. 49, No. 5