No police to be tried for Arab deaths in 2000 riots

[Scurrilous]

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/625876.html

<snip>

"The Justice Ministry's internal affairs investigation unit announced Sunday that it had no choice but to close the cases of all police officers involved in the October 2000 riots, in which 12 Israeli Arabs and a Palestinian were killed in clashes with Israeli policemen during the riots.

After finding out the results of the inquiry, the families of the riot victims began holding a protest at Jerusalem's Beit Agron, where a press conference is planned. MK Azmi Bishara (Balad) said he would consider calling widespread protests."

<snip>

"From the first moment it was clear that the investigators would sweep away the crime instead of finding guilty parties," said Bishara. "We cannot stay silent in light of the findings. I will recommend a severe response, maybe even a general strike and demonstrations in all of the Arab villages."

<snip>

"MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash-Ta'al) and the head of the Islamic Movement's northern wing, Sheikh Ra'ad Salah, announced Saturday that they may file a complaint with international courts against police officers responsible for the killing of Israeli Arab protesters during the 2000 riots, should the Justice Ministry decide not to try them."

[Team44Car]

1. As Gomer would say: Surprise SURPRIIISE Surprise!

Gomer was very astute on these matters.

[Scurrilous]

2. Arabs furious at police decision

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3143771,00.html

Arabs, left-wing blast police decision not to indict any officers over deaths of 13 Arab civilians during October, 2000 riots in support of Aqsa Intifada. MK Cohen: 'racist decision'. MK Barake: 'premeditated murder against Israeli citizens'

<snip>

"Israeli Arab leaders and left-wing politicians slammed Sunday's decision by the Police Investigations Committee not to prosecute any police officers for the deaths of 13 Arab civilians during riots in support of the al-Aqsa Intifada in October, 2000.

MK Mohammed Barake (Hadash –Ta'al) said the decision meant the state was guilty for the deaths.
"The decision to clear the state representatives who committed these murders... places the responsibility for the killings on the state.

"The State of Israel murdered its citizens with it's own hands. If Arab citizens can't find justice in the Israeli justice system, they will find it elsewhere – in international courts," he said."

<snip>

"Knesset Member Ran Cohen (Yahad-Meretz) said, "it turns out that racism has also spread to the judicial system, otherwise the decision not to launch charges is incomprehensible. The responsibility for this falls on the Attorney General, who must place charges and apply the conclusions of the Or Commission."

Zahava Gal-On, a Knesset Member from the Meretz-Yahad party, said that "it was unfathomable that citizens are killed and no one there to lay down the law. This is contempt for human life and a slap in the check to the Or Commission recommendation. Gal-On said she filed a draft law who's aim is to punish all those who the Or Committee found responsible. "Only legislation like this would breathe life into the conclusions of the Committee," she said."

[eyl]

3. O.J. Simpson in Wadi Ara

The closure of all the investigations that were opened against Israeli policemen following the October 2000 riots comes as no surprise. It would only have been surprising if the police's systemic failure had been translated into indictments against one officer or another.

Essentially, the bloodshed during these riots stemmed from the police's lack of preparedness to cope with nationalist disturbances - events that are somewhere between law enforcement and combat, in which a violent mob endangers besieged policemen and citizens, thereby producing a sense of "the few against the many." Wisdom on the part of senior local officers can make a difference - in Jaffa, for instance, no one was killed - but the one constant was the imbalance in the size of the forces. An isolated, frightened policeman is liable to pull the trigger, while his better-protected colleague will show more restraint.

The Or Commission, like other state commissions of inquiry before it, was simultaneously too weak and too strong. It was too weak because it could only make recommendations, and government agencies can always find creative ways to circumvent recommendations. The Or Commission could order the Justice Ministry's Police Investigations Department (PID) to open investigations, but it was powerless to make these investigations end in indictments. Yet it was also too strong, because it could subpoena witnesses - but their testimonies could not then be used in a criminal proceeding. Thus the suspects were already well rehearsed by the time their criminal investigations began. And without evidence from either the scene of the crime or an autopsy, it is hard to turn question marks into exclamation points.

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