Greg Ansley: Conflict puts Australia on alert

Australia's race relations watchdog yesterday appealed for calm as fears rose of a violent local backlash against the war in Lebanon.

Concern has been heightened by a number of attacks on both mosques and synagogues in major cities, and protests by Australia's large Lebanese community that Canberra has not taken a sufficiently strong stand on Israel's campaign against Hizbollah bases.

Previous conflicts in the Middle East and the Balkans have also sparked violence between rival ethnic groups in Australia.

Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner Tom Calma said Israel's war against Hizbollah had affected both Lebanese and Jewish communities in Australia, many of whose members feared for familyand friends caught up in the conflict.

He said he was concerned at the potential for the war to increase tensions between the communities.

"As Australians, we should act together to ensure that the climate of conflict and violence overseas does not foster fear and suspicion between and within communities here."

Calma said that while racial and ethnic discrimination was outlawed - and in some cases on the basis of religion - legislation could not end racism and violence.

"Constructive dialogue between communities and solidarity in denouncing the killings in Lebanon and Israel will go a long way to ensuring that violence is not replicated in Australia," Calma said.

But security has already been stepped up at Jewish and Islamic institutions, following violent attacks by both sides since the war began.

In Sydney, a block of cement was thrown through the window of a Rabbi's house attached to the Parramatta Synagogue, and the windows of two cars were smashed.

Witnesses told police a group of men of Middle Eastern appearance had been seen running away, laughing, after the incident.

At Bondi, a Jewish youth centre under construction near the Mizrachi Synagogue was doused in petrol and set alight, but only minor damage was caused.

The Coogee Synagogue and North Shore Temple Emanual had been attacked several weeks earlier.

In apparent retaliation to the latest attacks, the windows of a Sydney mosque were smashed.

In Melbourne, Jewish organisations have received threatening phone calls and emails, and the Australian Jewish News reported that an ultra-Orthodox Jew was assaulted in the suburb of Caulfield.

The newspaper also said the Beth Weizmann Community Centre intended protecting its front doors from ram raids by fitting concrete pillars on the footpath outside, and extra security guards had been employed by a number of Jewish schools.

In Perth, Lebanese protesters last Saturday mobbed Prime Minister John Howard's car and scuffled with police during a protest against Australia's response to war.

The Australian Council for Islamic Education in Schools also urged Howard to set aside Australia's traditionally strong support for Israel and use stronger pressure to end the conflict.

The council said the Government did not respect the rights and humanity of Lebanese families in Australia and needed to be impartial and just when its citizens were involved in conflicts in other countries.

But leading Muslim cleric Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali said the Islamic community refused to import the Middle East's problems into the country, and condemned the attacks on Jewish property.

"This is a very bad action," he said. "I condemn any terrorism attack. Australia is the land of peace."