The Washington Post said that Arab citizens of Israel (Palestinians within the Green Line) took to the streets for the first time in two decades in huge numbers to protest the escalation of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
She added that while unrest in the occupied territories (the West Bank and the Strip) is commonplace, the flow of support from Arab citizens of Israel to the Palestinians in Jerusalem and Gaza and the venting of anger in Israeli cities that contain a large number of Arab residents.
It is a rare challenge on the home front for Israel.
The newspaper pointed out that the demonstrations - which took place in predominantly Arab cities or inhabited by a mixture of Arabs and Jews - quickly turned into violent confrontations with the police and Jewish extremist groups.
She said that videos have spread on social media of ultra-Orthodox Israelis throwing stones at cars of Israeli Arabs in the city of Ramle.
In the neighboring city of Lod, close to Israel International Airport, Arabs in the interior attacked several synagogues and Jewish shops, while clashes and riots broke out in other cities, including Haifa, Acre and Sakhnin, according to the newspaper.
And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared - the first yesterday, Wednesday - the state of emergency in Lod, which witnessed the worst acts of violence after the killing of a 25-year-old Arab Israeli by Jewish bullets last Monday evening, and this is the first time that a state of emergency has been declared in Arab towns in Israel. Since 1966, when Israel lifted the restrictions imposed on the Arab movement after the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948, according to the newspaper.
The Washington Post quoted Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld as saying that 270 people were arrested last Tuesday across the country.
In the wake of widespread unrest and riots.
It also quoted Israeli Police Chief Kobi Shabtai as saying that "we have not witnessed this kind of violence since October 2000," referring to the mass Palestinian uprising that lasted 5 years and during which thousands of Israelis and Palestinians were killed.
Grievances
The Washington Post report cited the opinion of Hassan Jibrin - director general of the Adalah Center, a legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel - who said he had not seen this kind of "fear and concern for the safety of the Arab population" for two decades.
Political analysts and Arab activists believe that the protests taking place in Arab towns inside Israel reflect grievances over decades related to the status and security of Arabs inside Israel.
Ramy Younes - an Arab writer and director from Lod - also believes that among the causes of the current protests was the anger accumulated for years among the Arabs inside, and said that "it seems that there is a new generation that does not know fear and politeness, tired of the attacks on Arabs and their persecution."