Saturday will mark the sixteenth anniversary of the popular demonstrations in October 2000 during which 13 Arab civilians were killed by police. Over 1,000 civilians were wounded and 660 arrested. The events of October 2000 were the first time that Arab citizens faced violence of this scale since Land Day of 1976 and the Kafr Qassem massacre of October 29th, 1956, when 49 Arab citizens were killed for violating a curfew.
But police brutality and violence against the Arab community continues today. Since 2000, 36 Arab citizens have been killed by police. This does not include those killed by civilians, soldiers or other security personnel.
Little has been done to truly reform the policing and justice systems which allow these killings. Around last year’s anniversary of the killings, photos of the 13 young men were spread across social media with a caption that read, in Arabic, “We carry the memory, we continue the struggle.”
Officers involved in incidents of violence are often granted legal immunity and cases for criminal charges are closed without conclusion. Two of the officers involved in the events of October 2000 were released from duty but all cases against any of the officers were closed without trial. Then-Attorney General Menachem Mazuz granted the officers immunity despite the Or Commission’s conclusion that the shootings and killings were illegal. Attorney General Mazuz refused to condemn the killings.
This represents a pattern which continues today. Khayr Hamdan, age 22, was killed by police on November 8, 2014 in Kfar Kana. The killing sparked widespread demonstrations and his family pressed for criminal charges against the officers involved. In May 2015, the head of the Ministry of Justice Police Investigations Department, Uri Carmel, said that the officers will not be charged. Sami al-Ja’ar, 20, was shot and killed in Rahat on January 14, 2015. While one officer was arrested on charges of “opening fire against the rules of engagement” and may have admitted to shooting al-Ja’ar, the officer subsequently changed their testimony. The state prosecution team dropped the case in March 2016 due to a “lack of evidence.”
Higher-ranking officials are similarly unaccountable, instead being allowed to continue their careers. Major General Bentzi Sau was Commander of the North District’s Border Police in October of 2000 and was involved in ordering police snipers to fire on Arab protesters. He was later promoted to Deputy Police Commissioner and served as Acting Commissioner during the surge of violence in late 2015.
As tensions between the Arab community and police continue, the government has yet to demonstrate a commitment to the substantial reforms that are clearly necessary. The Or Commission Report emphasized that one result of flawed policing in Israel is that many Arabs see the police as enemies. Israeli officials have announced plans to open 12 new police stations in Arab localities and to recruit 1,350 new Arab Muslim officers. But in March of this year, the Israeli police cut their only training program on relating to and working in Arab communities, ending a 12-year partnership with the Abraham Fund. The case of Sami al-Ja’ar shows how such reforms are still direly needed. While Al-Ja’ar’s father was a police officer himself, relations between police and Arab citizens still deteriorated. The shooting of al-Ja’ar sparked demonstrations across the country. Clashes erupted between police and civilians at his funeral, which was attended by over 8,000 people. Sami Ziadna, 45, was killed in the clashes with police.
On the anniversary of the events of October 2000, the Mossawa Center is joining with its allies in the Arab community to call for an end to the impunity granted to police. Police brutality, profiling of Arab citizens and race-based violence of all kinds must end.
List of Arab civilians killed since 2000: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5QtjbpKAJHOQ0xDbWdTekdTdUdoNUF5c1JTS3pzdXpiSXdZ/view?usp=drivesdk
Infographic on Impunity: https://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/Public/files/English/Newsletter/Mahash-Eng-Infographic-Sep-2014.jpg
On Saturday October 1, there will be a march across the North to commemorate those killed in the events of October 2000: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1699221450396582&id=1670743696577691
The 13 civilians killed in 2000:
21-year-old Rami Ghara in Jatt; 26-year-old Eyad Lawabny in Nazareth; 23-year-old Mohammed Jabareen in Umm al-Fahem; 18-year-old Ahmed Jabareen in Mu’awiya; 19-year-old Misleh Abu Jarad in Umm al-Fahem; 17-year-old Asel Asleh in Arrabe; 18-year-old Ala Nassar in Arrabe; 21-year-old Walid Abu Saleh in Sakhnin; 25-year-old Emad Ghanayim in Sakhnin; 19-year-old Mohammad Khamayseh in Kufr Kanna; 24-year-old Ramez Bushnaq in Kufr Manda; 42-year-old Omar Akkawi in Nazareth; and 25-year-old Wissam Yazbak in Nazareth.
