Israeli Arabs protest police fire that went unpunished. (Reuters)
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, September 18, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – An Israeli police inquiry, commissioned the Ministry of Justice, ruled out Sunday, September 18, that no Israeli police officers are to face charges over the killing of 13 Arabs during protests five years ago, drawing immediate cries of foul play by Israeli Arabs and left-wing parties.
Twelve Israeli Arabs and a Palestinian were killed when Israeli police opened fire on unarmed demonstrators, barely a month after the beginning of the Intifada.
But the Israeli inquiry, carried out by police, concluded that there was "insufficient evidence" to justify a prosecution over the shootings, which sparked riots across the north of the country, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Almost after five years, the commission claimed it was impossible to identify some of the police involved. It even added "firing at the legs of the protestors was justified".
"There is no alternative but to close all of the cases, some because of lack of sufficient evidence, and some because, to our regret, we have not managed to locate the responsible police officers," the report said, according to Reuters.
Unjust
This is not only an extremely sensitive but also potentially explosive affair," said Bishara. (Reuters)
But the decision prompted an angry reaction from Arab Israeli groups and left-wing MPs.
"This is an unjust decision which we are not prepared to accept," Shawki Khatib, head of a body representing Israel 's Arab minority, told reporters.
"We will not just soak this up and allow the guilty police to go on with their lives without a care in the world and if necessary we will address international organizations" in order to get justice, he said.
"For the future of our sons, we cannot keep silent in the wake of these findings," said Azmi Bishara, a member of Israel's parliament, urging protests and strikes to show the government it could not "forfeit the lives of Arabs," according to Reuters.
"You cannot play with the blood of sons. This is not only an extremely sensitive but also potentially explosive affair," said Bishara.
"Since the beginning it has been clear that the police inquiry has been more interested in protecting the perpetrators of these crimes than bringing them to justice," he added.
Zehava Galon, an MP for the left-wing Meretz party, agreed that the victims had been robbed of justice.
"This is a scorning of human life," she said.
An earlier government inquiry into the deaths and subsequent riots found that they were partly due to "the government handling of the Arab sector (which) has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory."
The report by the Orr commission in September 2003 attached severe blame to the Israeli police, recommending that some senior police officials never hold office again.
The October 2000 protests marked the biggest show of solidarity by Israeli Arabs for the Palestinian Intifada against Israel . Protesters blocked highways and threw stones at police.
None of the demonstrators was found to have carried guns, Reuters said.
But justice ministry official Herzl Shviro, who headed the investigation said, "We are not trying to justify shooting at demonstrators but we cannot rule out that in specific cases, such shootings are justified because there is a threat to life".
The killings marked the deadliest action by Israeli forces against Israeli Arabs since 1956, when dozens were shot dead after returning to Kafr Qassem village, then under martial law, after a curfew they said they were unaware of.
The officers involved in those deaths were sentenced at the time to several years in prison.
Israeli Arabs account for 1.2 million of Israel 's almost seven million-strong population.
They are the offspring of some 160,000 Palestinians who did not flee or were not expelled from their land after the creation of the Jewish state in 1948.
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