Posted on 09/19/2005 9:16:21 PM PDT by SmithL
Professor Shimon Shamir, a member of the Or Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the October 2000 riots, sharply criticized the Police Investigations Department (PID) for closing the files of the 12 Israeli Arabs and one Palestinian shot to death by policemen during the riots without calling for a single indictment.
"Israeli society needs a police investigation department which is both efficient and credible," Shamir said during a lecture sponsored by the Konrad Adenhauer Program for Jewish Arab Cooperation at Tel Aviv University on Monday.
The lecture was entitled "The Arabs in Israel - Two Years after the Or Commission Report."
Archive: Click here for in depth coverage of the Or Commission report.
The decision not to indict any of the policement was also met with angry responses from both Left wing and Arab Knesset members, who termed it "prejudiced" against the Israeli Arab population.
Israeli Arab leaders on Monday night decided on a series of measures to protest against the decision to close all the cases against policemen and officers over the killing of 13 Arabs in the October 2000 riots.
Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) MK Muhammad Barakeh said the minority Arab community in Israel and its leadership would not rest until the report was "thrown into the dustbin" and the decisions rescinded.
"It is totally unacceptable that people's lives were taken and nobody is being brought to justice for the killings. The lives of Arab citizens cannot be abandoned," Barakeh told The Jerusalem Post.
He spoke after an emergency meeting of the monitoring committee of the Israeli Arab leadership that was called to decide on measures in light of the decision of the investigations unit.
It was agreed at the marathon meeting, which lasted over four hours, to begin the protest steps from next Sunday (Sept. 25) with a mass demonstration outside the Prime Minister's office.
Two days later, Israeli Arab leaders, including Knesset members, will pitch a tent in the same spot and begin an indefinite hunger strike.
In parallel, protest tents will be established in all the cities, towns and villages where the 12 Arab citizens and a Palestinian were killed in clashes with police during the riots.
"These initial measures will be accompanied by a clear demand to the Attorney-General and the government to reject the decision of the police investigations unit and reopen the inquiries against those responsible for the killings," monitoring committee spokesman Abed Inbitawi told the Post.
There was a heated debate during the meeting over whether or not to declare a general strike on October 1 - the day officially designated to commemorate the deaths of the 13 Arabs.
No decision was made, although Inbitawi said it was still on the agenda and would be discussed again nearer to the date and would be implemented if it was thought necessary.
Marches and rallies are planned on October 1 in the various places where the victims were killed to mark the fifth anniversary of the events, as well as a mass parade from Kafr Manda to Sakhnin.
"We understand the significance of this report and the danger it represents to us as citizens as well as to democracy itself and we will not let it pass quietly," said Inbitawi.
"No normal, law-abiding society can accept such a report that notes the murder of citizens but finds noone to blame," he said.
Barakeh stressed that the protest measures agreed upon by the monitoring committee at the emergency session Monday night were only the opening steps.
"We are preparing for a long campaign if necessary until the report by the police investigations unit is thrown into the dustbin and it is rejected by the government," said Barakeh.
Other proposals include staging a public show-trial, with retired judges from abroad and lawyers taking part.
Participants at the meeting said they would also take the case to the international courts if their efforts to get justice in Israel proved unsuccessful.
murder of citizens but finds noone to blame
Blame noone, he did it.
I blame the rioters and those that instigated the riots, and am quite satisfied with capital punishment for them.
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