Funeral held for Arab-Israeli who police said rammed his car into security forces

Record ID: 165540

  • Title: Funeral held for Arab-Israeli who police said rammed his car into security forces
  • Date: 24th January 2017
  • Summary: UMM AL-HIRAN, ISRAEL (JANUARY 24, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THOUSANDS ATTENDING FUNERAL PROCESSION AS BODY BEING CARRIED TOWARDS CEMETERY, CHANTING IN ARABIC 'IN SPIRIT AND BLOOD WE WILL REDEEM YOU MARTYR'
  • Embargoed: 7th February 2017 12:59
  • Keywords: Israel Bedouin Umm Al-Hiran Violence
  • Location: UMM AL-HIRAN, ISRAEL
  • City: UMM AL-HIRAN, ISRAEL
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA00160FVL8N
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Thousands attended on Tuesday (January 24) the funeral of an Arab Israeli man whom police said rammed his car into a group of policemen in the southern Negev region, killing one before being shot dead last week. A rights activist who was present disputed it was an attack.
    Police said the violence sparked a riot in the village of Umm al-Hiran, where an operation was underway on Wednesday (January 18) to demolish Bedouin dwellings deemed by a court as having been built illegally on state-owned land.
    Police spokeswoman Merav Lapidot has said the suspect, Ya'akub Abu Al-Qi'an, was a local teacher who "surged towards the forces intending to kill" and that riots erupted after he was shot.
    But human rights activist Michal Haramati, who had come to Umm al-Hiran to observe the demolitions, said she witnessed the event and that the driver was not heading towards police when he was shot.
    Most of Israel's Bedouin, who predominate in the desert area that accounts for two-thirds of Israel's territory, are nomadic tribes which have wandered across the Middle East from Biblical times. Arab citizens make up about 20 percent of Israel's population of eight million, and 200,000 of them are Bedouin.
    Bedouin leaders in Negev say Israel has long discriminated against their communities, denying them public funds and services. Half of Israeli Bedouin population live in towns and villages recognized as formal communities by the government. Others live rough, in tents and shacks on patches of desert.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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