ISRAEL: Israeli Arab communities go on strike to commemorate killing of 13 men in 2000 riots

Record ID: 1532333

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israeli Arab communities go on strike to commemorate killing of 13 men in 2000 riots
  • Date: 2nd October 2009
  • Summary: PROTESTERS MARCHING
  • Embargoed: 17th October 2009 01:02
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA62HNAV649US266B6JAHROPL2R
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Arab communities in Israel held a general strike and residents took to the streets on Thursday (October 1), to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the "October 2000 riots," when Israeli forces killed 13 Israeli Arab men in clashes that followed the start of the second Palestinian uprising.
    Shops were shut on the streets of the town of Taibeh, as well as in Arabeh, where hundreds gathered to march in commemoration and demand justice for the killing of the men, which residents say was never received from the Israeli authorities.
    "This strike of the Arab population is very important. In this day we have a civil message for the Israeli government, Israeli society and for the world community. The message that after nine years of killing 13 of young Arab people by the Israeli forces until now there is no investigation about this,"
    Zoher Tibi, a Taibeh resident, told Reuters Television before the demonstration.
    Israel's attorney general said, after an investigation that took more than seven years to conclude, that he would not indict Israeli police officers involved in the deaths of the 13 Arab-Israeli protesters in 2000. The decision drew accusations of discrimination against Arabs, as well as the accusation that there was a failure to bring about justice for the victims and their families.
    During the incident in October 2000, Israeli police used live ammunition to disperse Israeli Arabs who threw stones and Molotov cocktails at police and passers-by, during demonstrations in northern Israel in support of a Palestinian uprising, or intifada, that had erupted days earlier.
    A Jewish motorist died from a rock that penetrated his car windscreen, and several police officers were injured. None of the protesters who were fired upon were found to have used guns.
    The Israeli attorney general's decision was consistent with past Israeli inquiries, and effectively closed the case against the policemen accused of being responsible for the protesters' deaths in October 2000.
    One Arabeh resident said the purpose of the demonstration was to allow Israel's Arabs to demand their rights.
    "Some kind of, you know, to raise our voice to the local authorities here to know that we are exist, that we are a minority in Israel and we have our rights and we have our land and we have everything here. Our roots actually are here, since, you know, day one. But, you know, we face a lot of, you know, racism especially from the authorities, you know. Actually, this kind of demonstration some kind of to express our rights and that we are exist, and to celebrate the memorial day of this kind of young people that killed for, you know, defending their land and for nothing," Samer Yassin told Reuters Television.
    Arabs make up about one-fifth of Israel's population and often complain of discrimination and not having the same rights their fellow Jewish citizens. Many Israeli Arabs sympathise with a Palestinian revolt in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, but few have been involved in militancy.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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