Amid economic pressures and political uncertainty in Palestine, a small personal altercation became a much larger episode requiring high-level political intervention to keep the local incident from turning into a national conflict. Such events are especially troubling in cases that expose religious differences and leave minority communities feeling vulnerable, as recently happened in Jifna, a predominantly Christian village of some 3,000 people north of Ramallah.
Hanan Rafidi, driving with her children in Ramallah on April 24, found herself in a traffic altercation and roadside incident involving a young man, Ayham Rizeq, who allegedly pushed Rafidi and verbally insulted her. Rafidi filed a complaint at the local police station that resulted in Rizeq's arrest at his home.
