Crowd of Israeli Arabs surrounds the bus after the shooting. (Reuters)

SHFARAM, Israel, August 5, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Israeli Arabs staged a one-day strike Friday, August 5, protesting the killing of four of their fellows by an Israeli soldier on a bus.

The soldier, wearing a military uniform and the skullcap of a religious Jew, shot dead four Arab Israelis and wounded at least 22 others when he emptied his rifle in bus passengers in the northern town of Shfaram late Thursday.

"This was an ugly criminal operation. It was carried out with the help of the extreme right and the settlers. It can't have been just one individual," said Iqbal Bahus, whose brother Michel was shot dead while driving the bus, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

"Terrorists were behind this. The whole family, the whole country is in shock," he told AFP as he received mourners at the family's home.

After the Israeli soldier, Eden Nathan Zaada, who came from the West Bank settlement of Tapuah, had emptied his rifle in the bus passengers, furious residents lynched the Israeli soldier.

"We are afraid that this is an organized act of discrimination and racism," Israeli Arab deputy Azmi Bishara was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Muhammad Baraka, a member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, also condemned the terrorist attack against the Israeli Arab citizens.

"We are witnessing attempts by extreme right-wing people - terrorists - who want to set the region ablaze and feel they have freedom of action in light of the behavior of the security, political and judicial establishment," Baraka told Israeli Radio.

Arabs make up about one fifth of Israel's population.

The relationship between Israel's 1.2 million-strong Arab population and the Jewish settlers has a volatile history.

In October 2000, Israeli forces shot dead 13 Israeli Arabs when they tried to quell a rally in support of the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation.

In the worst attack by an Israeli settler on Arabs, in 1994, Baruch Goldstein killed 29 Muslim worshippers in the West Bank city of (Al-Khalil) Hebron. He hoped to derail interim peace accords with the Palestinians.

Israeli Arabs light candles at Shfaram, following the terrorist shooting. (Reuters)

Thousands of Israeli police were called to the north of Israel after alerts of potential protests to the killing, an Israeli spokesman said.

Israeli soldiers who headed towards Shfaram had been stationed outside Gaza to try to prevent marchers from infiltrating settlements to disrupt the Israeli pullout from Gaza, due later this month.

The Israeli army said the 19-year-old Zaada had "deserted and was of a problematic background".

Zaada is said to have deserted his unit a few weeks ago, after refusing to take part in the evacuation of Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

His father, Yitzhak, told the Israeli news Web site Ynet that he had left his home in the Israeli city of Rishon Letzion in favor of the West Bank settlement of Tapuach after he did not report back to his military duty two months ago, according to Reuters.

He had been a staunch opponent of Israel's planned Gaza pullout and left a note at his base that condemned the plan, the Web site said.

Zada's mother said she had tried to contact the army to warn them that her son was a potential danger, but received no response, AFP said.

"We told everyone he's AWOL, that he could do something with his gun. We begged them to take away his gun," Debbie Zada told Ha'aretz.

Police said three of Zada's friends had been arrested Friday on suspicion that they knew of his deadly plan.

"Jewish Terrorist"

Condemning the attack as "a reprehensible act by a bloodthirsty Jewish terrorist who sought to attack innocent Israeli citizens", Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appealed to Arab Israeli leaders to ensure that the shootings would not serve as a trigger for violence which could lead to the unraveling of his plan to withdraw from Gaza, due later this month.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas also condemned the shooting as a "savage crime" which he said illustrated the threat posed by extremist settlers, AFP siad.

"This crime is a clear illustration of the danger posed by Jewish settlers to our people and we want to know why the Israeli government allows them to be armed and commit crime after crime," a statement from Abbas said.