Arab rioters block northern highway
Riots break out in northern Israel after police officers kill suspect; later, police disperse rioters. Cousin of man shot to death slams police in talk with Ynet
Riots in northern Israel: Highway 65 in the north of the country was blocked for a short while Thursday afternoon after Arabs in the area began rioting in response to the killing of a local resident by police officers.
Policemen were eventually able to disperse the rioters, who were stoning police and security forces.
Later, senior police met with Arab village heads in the Wadi Ara area in order to try and bring calm to the region following the shooting and subsequent riots.
Interior Security Minister Gideon Ezra also participated in the meeting. The officials met with the family the man shot dead by the police. Ezra asked leaders of the villages to prevent stone throwing incidents at police, and to help maintain the peace. He added that the police won't treat stone throwing or road blockages lightly.
An initial investigation showed police detectives were attempting to search a suspect's home. The officers said the suspect aimed a gun at them, prompting them to fire at him in self defense.
The man was taken to hospital for treatment but shortly thereafter succumbed to his wounds. The riots on the highway broke out about an hour after the incident.
Police officials said an intelligence tip prompted them to raid the suspect's home on suspicion of drug dealing. According to the information, the man also possessed a large quantity of weapons in his home.
According to police, the suspect emerged from the house armed after detectives knocked on his door. The officers reportedly asked the man to hand over his weapon but he refused, and cocked it instead, prompting the officers to fire at him.
However, the man's relatives said the suspect was sleeping when police arrived and was shot after he woke up even though he was not armed.
A senior commander said that during the incident, "the detectives, accompanied by Border Police officers, entered the home of the suspect, who was a known felon. During a search of the suspect, the suspect cocked his gun and began to escape. Police chased him and called out for him to stop in Hebrew and in Arabic, and fired in the air. Only when the suspect turned around with a drawn weapon and aimed it at officers, did police feel their lives were in danger. They fired and hit his chest," he said.
Hundreds of police officers were dispatched to the scene of the riots and senior security officials also arrived in the area.
Cousin slams police
The cousin of the man shot dead by police, Milham Milham, who ran in the Labor party primaries youth list, told Ynet: "The police uses force against Arab residents without any sensitivity or compassion."
"We are now a few months after the disengagement and in the peak of the Hebron incidents, and one can see the difference in how the police treat Jewish citizens and how it treats Arab citizens. My cousin is a martyr. To my regret they are trying to frame him and turn him into a drug dealer. This is shameful," he added.
Milham said that he met with Gideon Ezra on Thursday evening. "I told him that if the police investigation into the affair was not exhaustive, we would demand another investigation to find out what caused the trigger to be pulled, what instructions the policeman was under, and what his commanders told him. It's clear that the problem of illegal arms is ongoing, and my cousin may have possessed a weapon at home, but the distance from that to the shooting is far, and the police will have to account for it."
Speaking after the incident, Knesset Member Mohammad Barakeh, who arrived at the scene, said:" "The police once again showed that they have a light trigger finger when it comes to the Arab public. They still, unfortunately, treat the Arab public as a hostile public," he said.
Barakeh claimed that despite the October 2000 riots and the report published afterwards, the police continue to act recklessly.
"This is the twentieth victim since the October events and we need a thorough investigation into the incident," he said.
