Wave of Attacks on Religious Sites

Judaism, Christianity,and Islam all preach tolerance,but in the pressures of the Middle East all at least occasionally fail to practice it. Over just the past few days we've seen a surge of attacks against places of worship, perhaps the most provocative type of attack. Variously:0

•  Muslims and Copts have clashed in Aswan Governorate after a reported attack on a Coptic church and other Coptic-owned properties in the village of Marinab in Upper Egypt;

• Prime Minister Netanyahu has expressed his outrage after a mosque in the Israeli Arab village of Tuba-Zangariya in Upper Galilee was burned, by Jewish extremists who scrawled "price tag"on the walls,suggesting they may be West Bank settlers who've vowed to exact a "price tag" for restrictions on the settlements. Similar  attacks have occurred in the Occupied West Bank, but this is the first in Israel proper, in Galilee..

•  I noted early today that David Gerbi,who had hoped to restore the Synagogue in Tripoli, Libya, says he has been blocked by threats and locked doors despite being welcomed by the National Transitional Council.

None of these appear at this time to be acts of governments, but they are hardly good signs.