Middle East Where Hatred Begets Hatred

By Guy D. Garcia

Meir Kahane never expected to die peacefully. "People are frightened by my message because they know in their hearts that it is true," he once said. "They can stop me, but they cannot change the truth."

The Brooklyn-born rabbi spent his life preaching a doctrine of intolerance, racial hatred and violent confrontation. Last week he became a victim of Jewish-Arab animosity himself when he was gunned down by an assassin in a New York City hotel. Charged with Kahane's murder was El Sayid Nosir, an Egyptian- born New York City maintenance worker who became a U.S. citizen in 1989. Nosir, who was arrested after he was wounded in a shoot-out with a Postal Service officer, is believed to have acted alone.

The reaction in Israel was swift and violent. Hours after the shooting, two Palestinians were shot dead by a man witnesses identified as a Jewish settler in the West Bank, apparently in revenge. Bracing for further violence, Israel deployed reinforcements to guard roads, intersections and the homes of prominent Palestinian and left-wing Israeli politicians, who also came under Kahane's wrath. Said Miriam Cohen, a Kahane follower from Jerusalem: "The Arabs will pay for this with their lives. I don't care if hundreds die."

At Kahane's funeral two days later, more than 20,000 followers marched through Jerusalem chanting "Death to the Arabs!" As the procession streamed through the city, they searched stores and markets for Arabs, beating one unconscious and injuring three others. Two policemen were also hurt, and 13 Jewish rioters were arrested.

Kahane might have enjoyed the spectacle. He had managed to alienate even hard-line Zionists with his abrasive tactics and calls for the mass expulsion of Arabs from Israel and the occupied territories. But his message of hate and brutally simple solutions appealed to a small and dedicated constituency. Founder of the New York-based Jewish Defense League, Kahane moved to Israel in 1971, where he started the ultra-right Kach movement and was elected to the Knesset in 1984. Four years later the Israeli Supreme Court barred Kahane from running for re-election on the grounds that his movement was "racist."

Some Palestinians reacted with joy to the death of "someone who believed that all non-Jews were animals," as a spokesman for the extremist group Islamic Jihad put it. But they also feared reprisals from Kahane followers. Faisal Husseini, one of the most prominent Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem, warned that "the Kach supporters represent a real danger to the life of every Arab."

If the man is gone, his ideas still retain a dangerous appeal, and his death will only intensify anger among those who will endow him with martyrdom. As the cries for revenge continue, support for his doctrine of hatred and segregation is likely to grow among both Israelis and Palestinians.

With reporting by Christine Gorman/New York ! and Jon D. Hull/Jerusalem