Rally commemorating October events: Nothing has changed

Over 1000 protestors attend rally in memory of 13 victims of bloody October 2000 riots. MK Sarsur says: 'We are losing what was left of our hope. If the country doesn't wake up soon, a catastrophe is imminent'

Sharon Roffe-Ofir |Published: 09.30.06 , 18:46

Some 1,500 people attended Saturday afternoon the annual rally at the cemetery of the Arab town of Sakhnin to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the October 2000 events in which 13 Arabs (12 Israeli citizens and one Palestinian) were killed.

The protestors, who seem to be diminishing in numbers from one year to the next, warned that the Israeli Arabs' deep sense of despair regarding the country's disregard for their situation, may lead to another cycle of violence. Nothing has changed in the six years that have passed since the riots, they stated.

"Six years have passed and nothing changed," Knesset Member Ibrahim Sarsur said. "We are losing whatever hope we had left, and if the State of Israel doesn't wake up soon, a catastrophe is imminent," he added.

Knesset Member Talab al-Sana told Ynet: "At the end of the months we will mark 50 years since the Kfar Qassem massacre. Unfortunately, nothing has changed since. The only thing that changes is the people in the positions of power."

The demonstrators pointed an accusing finger at the Israeli government, whom they say is responsible for the incidents of 2000. "The crime of October, in which 13 youths were killed, is a black stain on the Israeli governments," said Chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee Shawki Khatib.

'Thousand hugs to the shahids'

Dr. Muhammad Yazbek, whose nephew Wissam from Nazareth was killed during the riots, said: "In these days of atonement I would expect the Israeli public in Israel to stand up and speak out against the government's policy. Unfortunately the Israel police did not internalize the conclusions of the Or commission of inquiry. Nothing has changed. Only lately did we witness the use of the appalling term 'Arabushim' to refer to Israeli Arabs."

During the rally, Sakhnin Deputy Mayor Khaled Khalayla said: "We will accept nothing short of full equality for the Arab population. The government's policy will not sabotage our legitimate struggle." The last to speak was Khatam Ibrahim Siam from Um al-Fahm, whose son Ahmed was killed in the riots. "We will not forget our shahids (martyrs)," Siam proclaimed, adding that "I send a thousand hugs, a thousand flowers and a thousand words of respect to them and to the shahids in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq."

Prior to the rally, the protesters rode in a convoy through the communities where the 13 youths were killed.

On October 1, 2000, Israel's Arabs joined in the stormy demonstrations that were held that weekend across the territories. In the course of the eights days that followed, 13 Arab protesters were killed by police gunfire and one Jewish driver was killed after protesters hurled stones at him. The violent incidents dealt a severe blow to the delicate tapestry of coexistence between Arabs and Jews in the country.