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The '''October 2000 events''' is a term used to describe several days of protests in northern ] that soon escalated into clashes between ] and ].
{{Short description|Civil unrest among Israeli Arabs}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
]
{{Campaignbox Second Intifada}}
The '''October 2000 protests''', also known as '''October 2000 events''', were a series of protests in Arab villages in northern ] in October 2000 that turned violent, escalating into rioting by ], which led to counter-rioting by ] and clashes with the ] and ending in the deaths of 13 Arab demonstrators and 1 Israeli Jew.<ref>{{cite web|title=Extremism isn't Growing, but Fear is|author=Yair Ettinger|publisher=Ha'aretz|accessdate=20 February 2006|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=431598&contrassID=2&subContrassID=20&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y}}</ref><ref name="Rabinowitz" >Dan Rabinowitz, ] 19 October 2004</ref>


The ] was established to investigate the police response to the rioting. Israeli media outlets refer to the episode as ''אירועי אוקטובר 2000'' - the "October 2000 events"<ref>{{cite news|title=Families of October 2000 victims reject compensation|author=Sharon Roffe-Ofir|newspaper=Ynetnews |publisher=]|date= 20 November 2006|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3330476,00.html}}</ref> while the Arab community refers to it as the "October ignition" ({{Langx|ar|هبة أكتوبر|hibba ʾUktūbir}}).
Thirteen people, 12 Arab citizens of Israel and one Palestinian from the ], were shot and killed by the Israeli police,<ref>{{cite web|title=Extermism isn't Growing, but Fear is|author=Yair Ettinger|publisher=Ha'aretz|accessdate=02.20.06|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=431598&contrassID=2&subContrassID=20&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y}}</ref> and one Jewish citizen was killed by a rock thought to originate from Arab citizens. The disturbances began after Palestinians in ], the ] and the ] began what is now known as the ].


Israeli media outlets refer to the events as "The October 2000 Riots" or "October 2000 Events" (אירועי אוקטובר 2000). <ref>{{cite web|title=Families of October 2000 victims reject compensation|author=Sharon Roffe-Ofir|publisher=Ynet News|date=11.20.06|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3330476,00.html}}</ref> ] sometimes refer to it as "The October Ignition" (هبة أكتوبر). <ref>{{cite web|title=احداث هبة أكتوبر 2000: "المؤسسة الاسرائيلية تغطي على المجرم ومن حقنا التوجه للعالم"|publisher=Arabs48.com|date=9.15.2005|url=http://www.arabs48.com/display.x?cid=6&sid=5&id=31333}}</ref>

The ] was established to investigate the root causes for the events of October 2000, and specifically, the police response to these events.
==Background== ==Background==
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 ] MK ] for inciting violence against police. At a meeting of the ] the next day in ], ]'s MK ] 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."<ref name=HaaretzTimeline>{{cite news| title=The Or Inquiry - Summary of Events| url=http://www.haaretz.com/the-or-inquiry-summary-of-events-1.291940| publisher=]}}</ref>
{{main|Al-Aqsa Intifada#Prior events}}

The relationship of Arab citizens to the Israeli state has been fraught with tension. <ref>{{cite web|title=The Limit's of Israel's Democracy in the Shadow of Security|author=Abraham Ben Zvi|publisher=Taiwan Journal of Democracy|date=Volume 1 , No. 2:23|url=http://www.tfd.org.tw/docs/dj0102/001-024.pdf}}</ref> Since Israel's establishment in 1948, over the course of numerous protests that have taken place, "the only protestors to be killed by the police have been Arabs" <ref>{{cite web|title=The Concept of Protest and its Representation by the OR Commission|author=Dr. Ahmed Sa'adi|publisher=Adalah's Newsletter|date=October 2004, Volume 6|url=http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/oct04/sadi.pdf}}</ref>

In September 2000, tensions between the police and the community were approaching a breaking point. Israel Police Northern District Commander Alik Ron's ] had requested an investigation of ] MK ] for inciting violence against police. At a meeting of the Supreme Follow-up Committee of Israeli Arabs the next day in ], ]'s MK ] declared that “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.”<ref name=HaaretzTimeline></ref>

On ], a total strike was held in Nazareth following following the murder of Nabieh Nussier, 52, with the stated aim of protesting the "police’s incompetence in handling violence and crime."<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


On 30 September, the Supreme Follow-up Committee of Israeli Arabs -called for the Arab community to mount a general strike to protest the killings of five Palestinians by Israeli security forces in the Jerusalem clashes of the previous day, which many consider the first day of the ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Uprising Wipes Off Green Line|author=Graham Usher|publisher=al-Ahram Weekly|date=12 - 18 October 2000|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/503/re6.htm}}</ref> On 14 September, ] declared a general strike protesting "police incompetence in handling violence and crime" after the murder of a local resident, Nabieh Nussier, 52.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/> On 30 September, the High Follow-up Committee called on the Arab community to mount a general strike to protest the killings of five Palestinians by Israeli police in the ] clashes of the previous day, which many consider the first day of the ].<ref name=Usher>{{cite web|title=Uprising Wipes Off Green Line|author=Graham Usher|publisher=al-Ahram Weekly|date=12–18 October 2000|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/503/re6.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070319005442/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/503/re6.htm|archive-date=19 March 2007}}</ref>


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 ], who was said to have been caught in the crossfire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militia.<ref> by ], ]</ref><ref name="threeb">"Three Bullets and a Dead Child" by Esther Schapira (German TV)</ref><ref name=Carvajal>, '']'', Monday, 7 February 2005.<br>- "The footage of the father and son under attack lasts several minutes but does not clearly show the child's death."</ref>
Demonstrations from among the Arab communities throughout northern Israel followed, becoming more widespread after television viewers watched the death of 12-year-old ], shot at Netzarim Junction on 30 September in the ].<ref>{{cite web|title=Uprising Wipes Off Green Line|author=Graham Usher|publisher=al-Ahram Weekly|date=12 - 18 October 2000|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/503/re6.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Israel and the Occupied Territories:Mass Arrests and Police Brutality|publisher=Amnesty International|date=November 10, 2000|url=http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE150582000?open&of=ENG-ISR}}</ref>


==Timeline== ==Timeline==


=== 1 October === === 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 ] the previous day.<ref name=Usher/> Arab rioting took place throughout northern Israel.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/> Violence occurred in ], ], ], ], and villages throughout the Galilee. In a number of areas police came under gunfire, and demonstrators threw ]s. An ] bus was torched in Umm al-Fahm.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


Israel Police officers and Border Police gendarmes responded with live ammunition, tear gas, and rubber bullets. At the entrance to Umm al-Fahm, police used ] rifles to prevent the ] road from being blocked. Israeli-Arabs Muhammad Ahmad 'Eiq Al-Jabarin and Ibrahim Sayyam Al-Jabarin and Gaza resident Misleh Abu Jarad were killed. About 75 people, including Umm al-Fahm mayor ], were wounded.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>
Arab-Israeli protests and civil-disobedience in solidarity with the Palestinians began to show signs of violence following the proclamation of a general strike by the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee to protest the deaths of rioters in Jerusalem the previous day.<ref>{{cite web|title=Uprising Wipes Off Green Line|author=Graham Usher|publisher=al-Ahram Weekly|date=12 - 18 October 2000|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/503/re6.htm}}</ref> Although there were clashes throughout northern Israel, the most intense violence occurred in ] where two were killed, and in ], in which one person was killed.

In a number of areas police came under gunfire, and demonstrators threw ]s. An ] bus was torched at Umm al-Fahm.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/> Muhammad Ahmad 'Eiq Al-Jabarin was fatally shot in the abdomen. In street battles that followed with police, 19-year old Ibrahim Sayyam Al-Jabarin sustained critical head injuries and died in the hospital the next day.<ref>{{cite web|title=Weekly Review of the Arab Press in Israel|publisher=Arab Human Rights Association|date=Tuesday 26 September - Monday 2 October 2000|url=http://www.arabhra.org/publications/wrap/2000/wrap05.htm}}</ref>

In ], Rami Khatem Gharra was shot in the eye by Border Policeman Rashed Murshid, and later died of his injuries. Murshid was firing ]s at 15 metres towards the upper body, in contravention to that weapon's ] operation directive to be used at longer range towards the lower body. Many others were wounded.<ref name=Adalah>{{cite web|title=October 2000: Briefing on Criminal Responsibility|publisher=Adalah|date=September 18, 2005|url=http://72.14.221.104/search?q=cache:w1otGcopHYgJ:www.adalah.org/features/mahashpressconf/intro-en.doc}}</ref>


=== 2 October === === 2 October ===
Police dispersed an Arab demonstration in ] with tear gas and live ammunition. Alaa Nassar, 18, and ], 17, were killed.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/15/world/police-killings-of-israeli-arabs-being-questioned-by-inquiry.html | work=The New York Times | first=Joel | last=Greenberg | title=Police Killings of Israeli Arabs Being Questioned by Inquiry | date=15 June 2001}}</ref>


Demonstrators in Nazareth ], burned tires, looted and burned shops.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/> 100 demonstrators were hurt, including one woman who was seriously injured. Dozens of residents of ] approaching a Jewish neighbourhood of Nazareth Illit and smashed house and car windows.
The deadliest day of the events with six people killed in various incidents.
Asil Asala, 17, was killed after being shot at close range by Israeli police with live ammunition in ]. His father reported that he was sitting under an olive tree watching the demonstrations when police chased, surrounded and shot him.<ref>{{cite web|title="They're Killing Us All Over Again"|author=Aaron Tahauko|publisher=Arabs Against Discrimination|date=September 15, 2005|url=http://www.aad-online.org/2005/english/12-December/24-31/24-12/aad4/3.htm}}</ref> Alaa Nassar, 18, was also shot in the chest in Arrabe, and died the same day.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>

Misleh Hussein Abu Jarad from ] in the ] was killed and at least seven others were injured in Umm al-Fahm, after Commander of the Northern District, Alik Ron, gave orders to snipers to open fire with live-ammunition on stone-throwers in contravention with Police procedure.<ref name=Adalah/>

Walid Abdul-Menem Abu Saleh, 21, and Emad Farraj Ghanaym, 25, were killed in an industrial area in the ] area/], when police fired live ammunition to disperse stone-throwers.<ref name=Adalah/> Walid was shot in the head and Emad in the chest.{{cn}}

Demonstrators in Nazareth threw stones, burned tyres, looted and burned shops.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/> Iyad Lawabni, 26, was shot in the chest and died the same day{{cn}} after a confrontation there with Police. Approximately 100 others were hurt, including one woman who was seriously injured after getting shot. Dozens of residents of the Arab suburb of ] approaching a Jewish neighbourhood of Upper Nazareth smashed house and car windows and were ultimately driven away by police.


Traffic was blocked with burning tyres on ], a main artery connecting northern and central Israel. A Jewish man was attacked and pulled from his car by local youth, which they then torched. Three banks in ] were set on fire.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/> Traffic was blocked with ] on ], a main artery connecting northern and central Israel. A Jewish man was attacked and pulled from his car by local youth, which they then torched. Three banks in ] were set on fire.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


=== 3 October === === 3 October ===
Ramez Bushnak, 24, from ], was shot in the head and died the same day during a confrontation with police, who explicitly denied claims that he was shot from close range. Dozens of residents clashed with police blocking the way to Jewish neighbourhoods in ]. The funerals of those killed in previous days became focal points of renewed clashes.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


Extensive forest fires which Israel Police believed were the result of Arab arsonists caused the evacuations of some residents.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>
Ramez Bushnak, 24, from ], was shot in the head and died the same day during a confrontation with police, who explicitly denied claims that he was shot from close range. Dozens of residents clashed with police blocking the way to Jewish neighbourhoods in ]. Mohammed Khameisi, from ] was wounded in the leg and died the following day, though the nature and cause of his wound is debated.{{cn}} The funerals of those killed in previous days became focal points of renewed clashes.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


=== 4–6 October ===
Extensive forest fires which Israel Police believed were the result of Arab Israeli arsonists caused the evacuations of some residents.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>
Following the meeting between Barak and the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, a general calm reigned with only minimal violence, including on 6 October, on which a "Palestinian day of rage" had been announced by Hamas. {{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} On 4 October, hundreds of Arab residents of ] burned tires, threw rocks, and beat some reporters.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


On 6 October mourners in ] at a funeral of one of those killed in clashes stoned and moderately injured a Jewish motorist from ]. The next day, hundreds of Jewish youth in Tiberias burned tires, attacked a mosque, and attempted to assault Arabs.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/> Dozens of ] youth stoned Arab traffic in Jerusalem and attacked ] labourers, who were subsequently rescued by police.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>
=== 4-6 October ===
Following the meeting between Barak and the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, a general calm reigned with only minimal violence, including on ], on which a "Palestinian day of rage" had been announced. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}

On ], hundreds of Arab residents of ] burned tires, threw rocks, and beat some reporters.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>

On ] mourners in ] at a funeral of one of those killed in clashes stoned and moderately injured a Jewish motorist from ]. The next day, hundreds of Jewish youth in Tiberias burned tyres, attacked a mosque, and attempted to assault Arabs.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/> Dozens of ] youth stoned Arab traffic in Jerusalem and attacked ] labourers, who were subsequently rescued by police.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


=== 7 October === === 7 October ===
Jewish and Arab youth threw rocks at each other near a shopping mall on the border between Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods in Nazareth. Arab traffic in Nazareth Illit was stoned.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/> In Tiberias, mosques, Arab passersby businesses all suffered damages, and the attacks were repeated two days later. A gas station at the Golani Junction was torched, and police attempting to stop the attacks there on Arabs were themselves attacked.<ref name="Rabinowitz" />


A Jewish citizen, Bachor Jann, from ], was killed after being hit by a stone thought to have been thrown by those taking part in the protests in ] while driving on the ].<ref> by ] on ]</ref> A scuffle at an ] shopping mall between Jewish and Arab citizens resulted in an attack on the responding police and the throwing of a Molotov cocktail.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>
Although a mostly calm day, clashes broke out following the ] by Hezbollah fighters, including for the first time clashes between Arab and Jewish civilians,{{Fact|date=February 2007}} and the first Jewish citizen killed.


=== 8 October ===
Jewish and Arab youth threw rocks at each other near a shopping mall on the border between Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods in Nazareth. Arab traffic in Upper Nazareth was stoned.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>
Jews from ], including apparently many Russian-speakers,<ref name="RabKhaw" >Dan Rabinowitz, Khawla Abu-Baker. University of California Press, 2005 p.105.</ref> attacked Arabs and their homes and businesses in Nazareth on the eve of ]. 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.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/> Two Arabs, Omar Akawi and Wissam Yazbek, were shot dead, the latter by a gunshot wound to the head, fired by a policeman from behind him.<ref name="RabKhaw" /> The shooters were never identified.<ref name="Rabinowitz" />


Three Arab-owned apartments were torched in ], and hundreds clashed with police. Demonstrators chased two Arab employees out of a restaurant and set fire to it which damaged two Arab-owned cars parked in front.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>
A Jewish citizen, Bachor Jann from ], was killed after being hit by a stone thought to have been thrown by those taking part in the protests in ] while driving on the ].<ref> </ref><ref></ref> A scuffle at an ] shopping mall between Jewish and Arab citizens resulted in an attack on the responding police and the throwing of a Molotov cocktail.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


=== 8 October === === 9 October ===
Hundreds of Jews rioted in ], breaking windows in a shopping mall and torching two cars. The mayor of ] was attacked when he tried to calm Jewish citizens there. Arab property in ] and ] was vandalized.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


A large police force was required to thwart hundreds of demonstrators in Tel Aviv's ] Quarter and in ] from attacking Jaffa.<ref name="Rabinowitz" />
Thousands of Jewish citizens participated in violent acts against Arabs. <!--About 1,000<ref></ref> this radio transcript of someone in Ramallah who heard radio reports to that effect is not an RS for this, though it is an RS for the existence of Palestinian solidarity rallies-->Jewish civilians from ] head down the hill to ] where they attacked Arab civilians. Police used tear gas and live ammunition against Arab citizens.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>
In ], roughly 700 Jewish demonstrators blocked Route 65 with boulders, and assaulted a policeman. 100 of the protestors broke off and tried to enter the Arab village of ], until police thwarted them.<ref name="Rabinowitz" />


In ], hundreds of Jewish rioters vandalized Arab shops and cars owned by Arabs.<ref name="Rabinowitz" />
Wissam Yazbak, 24, and Omar Mohammad Akkawi, 52, were killed, and at least five others were wounded, after Commander of the Valleys region, Moshe Waldman, ordered Israel Police to use live ammunition at the Canyon Junction in Nazareth.<ref name=Adalah/> Wissam, 25, sustained a fatal head wound.<ref>{{cite web|title="They're Killing Us All Over Again"|author=Aaron Tahauko|publisher=Arabs Against Discrmination|date=September 15, 2005|url=http://www.aad-online.org/2005/english/12-December/24-31/24-12/aad4/3.htm}}</ref>


The newspaper ] reported that four men stabbed an Arab worker on his way to work at a supermarket in ]. In ], a mosque was torched as police looked on.<ref name="Rabinowitz" /> Attempts were made to burn Jewish apartments and two synagogues. In ], a synagogue was torched and traffic was stoned and firebombed. In ], a Jewish citizen was shot, a school was burned down, and attempts were made to torch a police station.<ref name=OrOfficial> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522125823/http://elyon1.court.gov.il/heb/veadot/or/inside2.htm#e |date=22 May 2008 }} {{in lang|he}}</ref>
Three Arab owned apartments were torched in a ] neighbourhood of ], and hundreds of residents clashed with police. Demonstrators forced two Arab employees out of a restaurant and burned it, as well as two Arab owned cars parked in front of it.<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


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.<ref name=OrOfficial/>
=== 9 October ===


In ], 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.<ref name="Rabinowitz" />
Events focused around Jewish civilian disorder, though Arab civilians had not yet ceased their actions. Attempts at achieving calm by and large did not succeed.<!--http://elyon1.court.gov.il/heb/veadot/or/inside2.htm#e in He however--> Hundreds of Jews broke windows in a Nazareth shopping mall and set fire to two cars. The mayor of ] was attacked when he tried to calm a thousand rampaging Jewish citizens there. Jewish citizens damaged Arab property in ] and ].<ref name=HaaretzTimeline/>


Several hundred youth from ] stoned dozens of passing vehicles on ] 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.<ref name=OrOfficial/>
A group of young Jews stormed and desecrated a Muslim sanctuary in the heart of the Arab old city of Acre.<ref>{{cite web|title=Weekly Review of the Arab Press in Israel|publisher Arab Human Rights Association|date=Tuesday 10 - Monday 16 October 2000|url=http://www.arabhra.org/publications/wrap/2000/wrap06.htm}}</ref>

The newspaper ] reported that in the Jewish town of ], four men stabbed an Arab worker on his way to his employment in a local supermarket. Two other Arabs were stabbed "in a fight with Jewish rioters in a Tel Aviv suburb."<ref>{{cite web|title=Weekly Review of the Arab Press in Israel|publisher Arab Human Rights Association|date=Tuesday 10 - Monday 16 October 2000|url=http://www.arabhra.org/publications/wrap/2000/wrap06.htm}}</ref>


=== 10 October === === 10 October ===
11 Arab businesses inside Acre's historic old quarter were vandalized.<ref name="Rabinowitz" />

Calm finally held, with a sharp reduction in violent clashes.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}


== Reactions == == 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.'<ref>"The Or Commission: A Media Report", I'lam, August 2003 (Hebrew and Arabic)</ref>


The ''Arab Association for Human Rights,'' ''],''<ref>Dr. Marwan Dwairy.; Adalah's Newsletter, Volume 19, October 2005</ref> ''Mossawa'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mossawacenter.org/default.php?lng=3&dp=2&fl=27&pg=4 |title=Mossawa on the 41st killing |access-date=31 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080419005741/http://www.mossawacenter.org/default.php?lng=3&dp=2&fl=27&pg=4 |archive-date=19 April 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''I'lam,'' and other Arab NGOs in Israel cited "deep rooted frustration at their own status as second class Israeli citizens", as an underlying factor.<ref>{{cite web|title=Delusions of Coexistence in the Galilee: The aftermath of the events of October among the Arab community in Israel|author=Discrimination Diary|publisher=Arab Human Rights Association|date=25 October 2000|url=http://www.arabhra.org/publications/shortreports/shortreports001025.htm|access-date=19 February 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927214215/http://www.arabhra.org/publications/shortreports/shortreports001025.htm|archive-date=27 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Arab youth organization ''Baladna'' was formed partially in response to the events of October 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.momken.org/baladna/en/aboutus_en.php |title=About Baladna |access-date=31 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620073428/http://www.momken.org/baladna/en/aboutus_en.php |archive-date=20 June 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to Marwan Dwairy, the events of October 2000 are "an important landmark in the narrative of the Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel."<ref>{{cite web|title=Introductory Remarks|author=Dr. Marwan Dwairy|publisher=Adalah's Newsletter|date=October 2004|volume=6|url=http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/oct04/marwan.pdf}}</ref>
The Arab Human Rights Association, and other Arab-Israeli NGOs have cited the “deep rooted frustration at their own status as second class Israeli citizens,” as an underlying factor accounting for the widespread involvement of ] in the protests.<ref>{{cite web|title=Delusions of Coexistence in the Galilee: The aftermath of the events of October among the Arab community in Israel|author=Discrimination Diary|publisher=Arab Human Rights Association|date=October 25, 2000|url=http://www.arabhra.org/publications/shortreports/shortreports001025.htm}}</ref>


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."<ref name=OCNYT>{{cite news|last=Bennet|first=James|title=Police Used Excessive Force on Israeli Arabs, Panel Says|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/02/world/police-used-excessive-force-on-israeli-arabs-panel-says.html?src=pm|access-date=22 May 2012|newspaper=New York Times|date=2 September 2003}}</ref>
== References ==
<references/>


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 ] 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3499341,00.html|title=Mazuz will not indict police officers involved in October 2000 riots|work=ynet|date=27 January 2008 |access-date=19 December 2014|last1=Zino |first1=Aviram }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3148867,00.html|title=October Riots case reexamined|work=ynet|date=28 September 2005 |access-date=19 December 2014|last1=Nahmias |first1=Roee }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3143845,00.html|title=Case closed: Police 'relieved, frustrated'|work=ynet|date=18 September 2005 |access-date=19 December 2014|last1=Raved |first1=Ahiya }}</ref>
== External links ==
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==See also==
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== References ==
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== External links ==
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{{Israeli-Palestinian conflict |Timeline |state=expanded}}
{{Protests in Israel}}


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Latest revision as of 19:58, 25 October 2024

Civil unrest among Israeli Arabs

Monument to Israeli Arab casualties in October 2000 riots, Nazareth
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The October 2000 protests, also known as October 2000 events, were a series of protests in Arab villages in northern Israel in October 2000 that turned violent, escalating into rioting by Israeli Arabs, which led to counter-rioting by Israeli Jews and clashes with the Israel Police and ending in the deaths of 13 Arab demonstrators and 1 Israeli Jew.

The Or Commission was established to investigate the police response to the rioting. Israeli media outlets refer to the episode as אירועי אוקטובר 2000 - the "October 2000 events" while the Arab community refers to it as the "October ignition" (Arabic: هبة أكتوبر, romanized: hibba ʾUktūbir).

Background

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. On 30 September, the High Follow-up Committee called on the Arab community to mount a general strike to protest the killings of five Palestinians by Israeli police in the Jerusalem clashes of the previous day, which many consider the first day of the Second Intifada.

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. Arab rioting took place throughout northern Israel. Violence occurred in Umm al-Fahm, Nazareth, Acre, Fureidis, and villages throughout the Galilee. In a number of areas police came under gunfire, and demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails. An Egged bus was torched in Umm al-Fahm.

Israel Police officers and Border Police gendarmes responded with live ammunition, tear gas, and rubber bullets. At the entrance to Umm al-Fahm, police used sniper rifles to prevent the Wadi Ara road from being blocked. Israeli-Arabs Muhammad Ahmad 'Eiq Al-Jabarin and Ibrahim Sayyam Al-Jabarin and Gaza resident Misleh Abu Jarad were killed. About 75 people, including Umm al-Fahm mayor Raed Salah, were wounded.

2 October

Police dispersed an Arab demonstration in Arraba with tear gas and live ammunition. Alaa Nassar, 18, and Asel Asleh, 17, were killed.

Demonstrators in Nazareth threw stones, burned tires, looted and burned shops. 100 demonstrators were hurt, including one woman who was seriously injured. Dozens of residents of Mashhad approaching a Jewish neighbourhood of Nazareth Illit and smashed house and car windows.

Traffic was blocked with burning tires on Route 65, a main artery connecting northern and central Israel. A Jewish man was attacked and pulled from his car by local youth, which they then torched. Three banks in Baqa al-Gharbiyye were set on fire.

3 October

Ramez Bushnak, 24, from Kafr Manda, was shot in the head and died the same day during a confrontation with police, who explicitly denied claims that he was shot from close range. Dozens of residents clashed with police blocking the way to Jewish neighbourhoods in Misgav. The funerals of those killed in previous days became focal points of renewed clashes.

Extensive forest fires which Israel Police believed were the result of Arab arsonists caused the evacuations of some residents.

4–6 October

Following the meeting between Barak and the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, a general calm reigned with only minimal violence, including on 6 October, on which a "Palestinian day of rage" had been announced by Hamas. On 4 October, hundreds of Arab residents of Jaffa burned tires, threw rocks, and beat some reporters.

On 6 October mourners in Kafr Kanna at a funeral of one of those killed in clashes stoned and moderately injured a Jewish motorist from Tiberias. The next day, hundreds of Jewish youth in Tiberias burned tires, attacked a mosque, and attempted to assault Arabs. Dozens of haredi youth stoned Arab traffic in Jerusalem and attacked Palestinian labourers, who were subsequently rescued by police.

7 October

Jewish and Arab youth threw rocks at each other near a shopping mall on the border between Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods in Nazareth. Arab traffic in Nazareth Illit was stoned. In Tiberias, mosques, Arab passersby businesses all suffered damages, and the attacks were repeated two days later. A gas station at the Golani Junction was torched, and police attempting to stop the attacks there on Arabs were themselves attacked.

A Jewish citizen, Bachor Jann, from Rishon LeZion, was killed after being hit by a stone thought to have been thrown by those taking part in the protests in Jisr az-Zarqa while driving on the Haifa-Tel Aviv freeway. 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.

8 October

Jews from Nazareth Illit, including apparently many Russian-speakers, 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. Two Arabs, Omar Akawi and Wissam Yazbek, were shot dead, the latter by a gunshot wound to the head, fired by a policeman from behind him. The shooters were never identified.

Three Arab-owned apartments were torched in Tel Aviv, and hundreds clashed with police. Demonstrators chased two Arab employees out of a restaurant and set fire to it which damaged two Arab-owned cars parked in front.

9 October

Hundreds of Jews rioted in Nazareth, breaking windows in a shopping mall and torching two cars. The mayor of Karmiel was attacked when he tried to calm Jewish citizens there. Arab property in Bat Yam and Petah Tikva was vandalized.

A large police force was required to thwart hundreds of demonstrators in Tel Aviv's Hatikva Quarter and in Bat Yam from attacking Jaffa.

In Afula, roughly 700 Jewish demonstrators blocked Route 65 with boulders, and assaulted a policeman. 100 of the protestors broke off and tried to enter the Arab village of Nein, until police thwarted them.

In Acre, hundreds of Jewish rioters vandalized Arab shops and cars owned by Arabs.

The newspaper Al-Ittihad reported that four men stabbed an Arab worker on his way to work at a supermarket in Rosh HaAyin. In Jaffa, a mosque was torched as police looked on. Attempts were made to burn Jewish apartments and two synagogues. In Ramla, a synagogue was torched and traffic was stoned and firebombed. In Lod, a Jewish citizen was shot, a school was burned down, and attempts were made to torch a police station.

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

Israeli soldiers confronting Palestinian rioters in Hebron, October 2000

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 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

References

  1. Yair Ettinger. "Extremism isn't Growing, but Fear is". Ha'aretz. Retrieved 20 February 2006.
  2. ^ Dan Rabinowitz, 'October 2000, revisited,' Haaretz 19 October 2004
  3. Sharon Roffe-Ofir (20 November 2006). "Families of October 2000 victims reject compensation". Ynetnews. YNet.
  4. ^ "The Or Inquiry - Summary of Events". Haaretz.
  5. ^ Graham Usher (12–18 October 2000). "Uprising Wipes Off Green Line". al-Ahram Weekly. Archived from the original on 19 March 2007.
  6. 'Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura?' by James Fallows, The Atlantic Monthly
  7. "Three Bullets and a Dead Child" by Esther Schapira (German TV)
  8. 'The mysteries and passions of an iconic video frame' by Doreen Carvajal, International Herald Tribune, Monday, 7 February 2005.
    - "The footage of the father and son under attack lasts several minutes but does not clearly show the child's death."
  9. Greenberg, Joel (15 June 2001). "Police Killings of Israeli Arabs Being Questioned by Inquiry". The New York Times.
  10. The Other Victims by Vered Levy-Barzilai on Haaretz
  11. ^ Dan Rabinowitz, Khawla Abu-Baker. Coffins on Our Shoulders: The Experience of the Palestinian Citizens of Israel, University of California Press, 2005 p.105.
  12. ^ Official Or Report Timeline Archived 22 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine (in Hebrew)
  13. "The Or Commission: A Media Report", I'lam, August 2003 (Hebrew and Arabic)
  14. Dr. Marwan Dwairy."October 2000: Defined Goals and New Mechanisms"; Adalah's Newsletter, Volume 19, October 2005
  15. "Mossawa on the 41st killing". Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
  16. Discrimination Diary (25 October 2000). "Delusions of Coexistence in the Galilee: The aftermath of the events of October among the Arab community in Israel". Arab Human Rights Association. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2007.
  17. "About Baladna". Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
  18. Dr. Marwan Dwairy (October 2004). "Introductory Remarks" (PDF). Adalah's Newsletter.
  19. Bennet, James (2 September 2003). "Police Used Excessive Force on Israeli Arabs, Panel Says". New York Times. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  20. Zino, Aviram (27 January 2008). "Mazuz will not indict police officers involved in October 2000 riots". ynet. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  21. Nahmias, Roee (28 September 2005). "October Riots case reexamined". ynet. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  22. Raved, Ahiya (18 September 2005). "Case closed: Police 'relieved, frustrated'". ynet. Retrieved 19 December 2014.

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