MIDDLE EAST: A judicial inquiry into clashes between the Israeli police and Israeli Arabs in October 2000 determined yesterday that police used excessive force in putting down the riots and that Israel's Arab citizens have been discriminated against by successive governments.
The Israeli government-appointed Or Commission released its report yesterday - only the fifth of its kind in the state's 55-year history.
The three-member Supreme Court panel of inquiry was set up after police killed 13 Arabs during clashes in the north of the country, when Israeli Arabs took to the streets in support of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Thousands threw rocks at police, destroyed property and blocked main roads. One Jew was killed during the riots when his car was hit by a rock.
The panel criticised then prime minister Mr Ehud Barak, saying he was not sufficiently aware of the growing anger among the country's over one million Arabs (out of a population of 6.6 million), who have become increasingly alienated from the state as a result of years of inequality.
The report, however, did not recommend sanctions against Mr Barak, meaning he can run again for prime minister. The former Labour Party leader has intimated that he plans a political comeback at some point. The panel was less forgiving of Mr Shlomo Ben-Ami, police minister at the time of the clashes, saying he had failed in his job and could not fill the post again.
The report was particularly harsh on the police, slamming officers for using live ammunition and rubber-coated bullets in a bid to douse the violence. It also said police snipers had been used and that the political echelon had not been made aware of this decision.
"It is important that it be pointed out in a completely non-ambiguous way that the use of live fire, including by snipers, is not a means of dispersing large crowds by police," it said.
The panel recommended that two serving officers be dismissed. It also said police often related to Israel's Arabs as an enemy element, and that they, in turn, were "viewed in the Arab sector ... as a hostile group that serves a hostile regime".
While the recommendations of the commission are not legally binding, they carry significant weight in the public arena. The panel also criticised a number of Arab leaders, saying they had inflamed the atmosphere on the streets, but it did not recommend sanctions against them.
Mr Barak, under pressure from the Arab community, which formed part of his electoral base, ordered the inquiry in November 2000.
But Israeli Arab leaders yesterday dismissed the report, saying it was politically tainted. They demanded that the political leaders at the time of the clashes be indicted. The political leadership "must be put on trial", said Ms Nardin Asli, sister of Asil Asli, a teenager killed in the clashes.
The panel also emphasised what it said were years of discrimination against Israeli Arabs when it came to the distribution of state resources.