Goodbye coexistence? Israel's Jewish-Arab relationships up in flames Photos: Flash 90 With reporting by Yonaton Birnbaum It was a night of flames that no one from Lod, a mixed Jewish-Arab city near Tel Aviv, will forget in a hurry. As the sirens wailed last Tuesday and passersby ran for cover, the sky was alight with dueling Qassam rockets and Iron Dome interceptors, and the earth burned with the light of torched cars as an Arab mob rampaged. “My hometown has turned into a battlefield” was the thought that flashed through my mind as I passed masked Arab gangs just five minutes from my home. Lod has always been a mixed city, home to both Jews and Israeli Arabs. But the scenes I was now witnessing were the furthest thing from the quiet coexistence of the past. With stones in their hands, the Arabs seized control points, blocked roads by lighting fires, and vented their anger on parked vehicles, security cameras, and road signs. And the police were barely visible. Here and there, I saw lone policemen with helmets on their heads walking around the area.