October 2000 protests in Israel

In September 2000, tensions between the police and Israel's Arab citizens rose. On 12 September, Israel Police Northern District Commander Alik Ron requested an investigation of Hadash MK Mohammad Barakeh for inciting violence against police. At a meeting of the High Follow-up Committee for Arab citizens in Israel the next day in Kafar Manda, United Arab List's MK Abdulmalik Dehamshe declared: "We will beat or forcefully attack any policeman and we will break his hands if he comes to demolish an Arab house … we are on the verge of an Intifada among Israel's Arabs following Alik Ron's incitement." On 14 September, Nazareth declared a general strike protesting "police incompetence in handling violence and crime" after the murder of a local resident, Nabieh Nussier, 52. Demonstrations in Arab towns in northern Israel began to spread after repeated airings of news footage showing the alleged shooting death of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah, who was said to have been caught in the crossfire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militia. ==Timeline==

1 October Arab demonstrations and acts of civil-disobedience in solidarity with the Palestinians turned violent following the proclamation of a general strike by the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee to protest the deaths of Arab rioters in Jerusalem the previous day. Demonstrators in Nazareth threw stones, burned tires, looted and burned shops. A scuffle at an Or Akiva shopping mall between Jewish and Arab citizens resulted in an attack on the responding police and the throwing of a Molotov cocktail. attacked Arabs and their homes and businesses in Nazareth on the eve of Yom Kippur. Police, informed of the intention to attack Arabs, beefed up their forces and deployed them on the seam line between the two communities. When hundreds of Jewish youths from Nazareth Illit came down to throw stones and vandalize Arab properties, however, the police did not impede them. The Arab residents emerged from their homes to defend them, and reciprocal stone throwing clashes ensued. Police dispersed the riots with tear gas and live ammunition. In Nazareth, a crowd of mourners from the funerals of the two demonstrators killed a day earlier approached the police station and threw rocks and firebombs at it, despite the police's decision to keep all officers inside and out of sight until quiet set in. The police responded with tear-gas; when the stone-throwing continued, the assistant-mayor and two Arab Knesset members on the scene guaranteed a cessation in exchange for a police retreat, which they did. Arab youths also vandalized traffic signals at the Canyon Junction. In Migdal HaEmek, Jewish residents blocked the main road and stoned cars believed to be owned by Arabs. A number of stoners were detained, and teenagers marched on the police station insisting on their release, with rocks being thrown at police, resulting in one being wounded. Several hundred youth from Umm al-Fahm stoned dozens of passing vehicles on Highway 65 and vandalized utility poles. The assistant mayor unsuccessfully attempted to stop the youths per agreements with police to avoid their involvement. The police still decided to keep distance, and the Umm-al-Fahm municipality finally cleared debris from the road allowing it to be reopened. 10 October 11 Arab businesses inside Acre's historic old quarter were vandalized. == Reactions ==

According to the Arab media organization ''I'lam'' the media coverage of the events of October 2000 created an atmosphere of war inside Israel, painting Arab citizens as violent rioters displaying their disloyalty to the State through riots; I'lam and other Arab organizations say that overall Arab citizens engaged in peaceful protest during October 2000, and that the entire population was treated in blanket fashion as a rioting 'fifth column.' The Arab Association for Human Rights, Adalah, Mossawa, ''I'lam, and other Arab NGOs in Israel cited "deep rooted frustration [of Arabs] at their own status as second class Israeli citizens", as an underlying factor. The Arab youth organization Baladna'' was formed partially in response to the events of October 2000. According to Marwan Dwairy, the events of October 2000 are "an important landmark in the narrative of the Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel." The Or commission report, which was established to investigate the events of October 2000, found a pattern of government "prejudice and neglect" towards the Arab-Israeli minority. The commission stated that Israeli establishment insensitivity had allowed widespread discrimination against Arab Israelis leading to the "combustible atmosphere" that led to the riots. The commission was critical of the police's use of excessive force to quell the riots including the use of sniper fire to disperse crowds. In conclusion the commission said that Israel "must educate its police that the Arab public is not the enemy, and should not be treated as such." In 2005, the Israel Police Internal Investigations Department decided not to indict any officers involved in the events. The decision was supported by the Israeli State Prosecutor's Office. In 2008, following a review of the case by Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and Police Internal Investigations Department Chief Herzl Shviro, Mazuz accepted the State Prosecutor's Office recommendation and decided not to press charges against any police officers and close the case, declaring that a re-examination of the gathered in the Or Commission and Police Internal Investigations Department's report found no evidence of criminal conduct by police. ==See also==