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Report accuses israel excessive force Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=966432003http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=966432003
Report accuses Israel of 'excessive force'
BEN LYNFIELD IN JERUSALEM
IN A landmark report on Israel’s treatment of its Arab minority, a commission of inquiry found yesterday that police used excessive force in quelling Arab riots three years ago and rebuked former Israel prime minister, Ehud Barak, for his role in the affair.
Thirteen Israeli Arabs were killed in the October 2000 protests, in which thousands threw stones and blocked streets in a show of support with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the unrest, a Jewish motorist was killed by a rock thrown at his car.
Referring to shootings in the northern Arab town of Umm al-Fahm, the commission found that deployment of snipers using live fire against Arab citizens had "no justification". At least seven people were hit by bullets there, and one of them was killed. It also said police failed to supervise the use of rubber-coated metal bullets, which can be lethal if not fired at specified distances.
The deaths have been an open wound in relations between Israel’s Jewish majority and its Arab minority.
The commission blamed Mr Barak for "not being aware of the possibility of rioting" and for "not taking sufficient action to prevent the use of lethal means".
Most of the blame was placed on the police minister, at the time, Shlomo Ben-Ami, who should not be allowed to hold that post again, the commission said. It also made similar findings against the national police chief at the time, Yehuda Wilk, and Alik Ron, the police chief for northern Israel.
Three Arab leaders came under criticism for what the commission said was the stirring up of animosity towards the Israeli state in the run-up to the violence.
Arab reactions to the findings were generally negative, stressing that the report did not find any of the police criminally culpable.
"The commission has displayed callousness to our wounds and our grief," said Hassan Assiyleh, whose son Asil was among those killed. "This is a tunnel without light."
But the reaction of the mainstream Arab leadership, perhaps surprisingly, also contained a whiff of praise for the probe’s detailing of decades of government neglect of Arab grievances and its identification of this as the backdrop to the eruption of violence.
The committee said that improving the lives of Israel’s Arabs through more equal budget allocations for education, housing and job creation was an issue that required the personal attention of the prime minister.
"We commend their dealing with the issue of discrimination and hope there will implementation," said Shawki Khatib, head of a committee of Arab leaders.
But Moshe Arens, a Likud legislator, said much of the blame for the events of 2000 fell on the Arab leadership. "In the last decade we’ve seen a radicalisation of some of Israel’s Arab population that expresses itself in vociferous and violent verbal attacks against the Israeli government, be it expression of support for suicide bombings, for the Hezbollah, or lauding President Assad," he said.
Israeli helicopters fired at a car carrying Islamic militants yesterday, killing senior Hamas member Khader al-Husari and wounding 25 other Palestinians. Hamas sources said two other senior Hamas members were among those wounded in the Gaza City attack.
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