From Jerusalem Post Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World: Sep. 19, 2005 23:27 Updated Sep. 20, 2005 0:12 By DAVID RUDGE ...
Israeli Arab leaders on Monday night decided on a series of measures to protest against the decision of the Justice Ministry's Police Investigations Unit to close all the cases against policemen and officers over the killing of 13 Arabs in the October 2000 riots.
Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) MK Muhammad Barakeh said the minority Arab community in Israel and its leadership would not rest until the report was 'thrown into the dustbin' and the decisions rescinded. 'It is totally unacceptable that people's lives were taken and nobody is being brought to justice for the killings. The lives of Arab citizens cannot be abandoned,' Barakeh told The Jerusalem Post.
He spoke after an emergency meeting of the monitoring committee of the Israeli Arab leadership that was called to decide on measures in light of the decision of the investigations unit. It was agreed ...to begin the protest ...with a mass demonstration outside the Prime Minister's office. Two days later, Israeli Arab leaders, including Knesset members, will pitch a tent in the same spot and begin an indefinite hunger strike.
... protest tents will be established in all the cities, towns and villages where the 12 Arab citizens and a Palestinian were killed in clashes with police during the riots....
... Marches and rallies are planned on October 1 in the various places where the victims were killed to mark the fifth anniversary of the events, as well as a mass parade from Kafr Manda to Sakhnin.
"We understand the significance of this report and the danger it represents to us as citizens as well as to democracy itself and we will not let it pass quietly...No normal, law-abiding society can accept such a report that notes the murder of citizens but finds no-one to blame..."
...Participants at the meeting said they would also take the case to the international courts if their efforts to get justice in Israel proved unsuccessful.
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