A Christmas tree in a town square in Israel has become a symbol of the country's divisions.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the Acre Municipality placed the tree there at the request of Hatem Fares, an Arab-Israeli Christian who serves on the town council.

However, the chief rabbi of Acre, Yosef Yashar, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview that according to Jewish law, there is no place for Christian symbols in the city.

He stopped short of calling for the tree to be taken down, however, saying: "Acre is a mixed city, and to remove the tree at this point would cause disrespect and create a provocation. From the outset it should have been considered whether this was a good idea, but now that [the tree] is there, there is no need to come with force and remove it."

He said that next year the council would need to consider how to avoid a recurrence of the situation.

The tree also has its defenders, including Muslims. Anton Shulhut, an Israeli-Arab writer and publicist from Acre, told the Post on Sunday that Christian Arabs have four or five churches, pay taxes, and have rights as well. He argued that putting the tree up promoted pluralism and tolerance. "I would hope that all of the religious leaders would support coexistence and not tensions and conflict," he said.

The row has broken out as the government of Israel is in turmoil over attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to introduce a law defining Israel as a Jewish state. Opponents say that the legislation would discriminate against Israel's minority Christian and Muslim populations, and the dismissal of two of Netanyahu's coalition partners, Tzipi Livni and Yair Lapid, has forced early elections.

It is not the first time that Christmas trees have led to controversy in Israel. The speaker of the parliament denied a request by a Christian member last year to display one in the building, and the mayor of a Jewish town near Nazareth has also refused to allow one to be erected in the past.