Rising violence in the Arab sector—five murders in four days
Starting last Tuesday, five people from the Arab sector are murdered in Jaffa, Kafr Qasim and Nazareth; all the schools in Kafr Qasim have been shut down; a demonstration is planned to protest the violence.
Last week, from Tuesday until Friday, five people were murdered amongst the Arab sector.
The string of murders began with Nadi Fares, 33, from Ramla and a woman, 37, a resident of a predominantly Arab area, who were shot to death in Jaffa. On Thursday, Qassem Muhammad Amer, 35, and Fadi Sarsour, 36, were killed when they were in a vehicle near Kafr Qasim's city center. On Friday, Nazareth resident Amar Alaa Aladdin, 23, was murdered during a mass brawl in the city.
As a result of the murders, schools in Kafr Qasim were on strike on Sunday, announced by the city's municipality. A protest tent was also set up in front of the police station in the city and after the Ramadan fast, a demonstration will be held in protest against crime and violence.
A relative of Fadi Sarsour said after his murder "Sfaa, the wife of the murdered woman, is in a very difficult mental state, crying all the time and saying, 'I lost my husband, I do not know how I can cope without him. To tell our little girl Fatma that her father will not come back again ... The murderers took her father's embrace ... The hardest pain is when I hear her call her father and look for him to kiss her and play with her, but there is no answer. They murdered a wonderful husband and father, we will always miss him. They destroyed our lives.'"
Nur Aladdin Sarsour, a cousin of Fadi who was murdered in Kafr Qasim, said that "Fadi was a religious person, dignified and modest, who was not in conflict with anyone, and the same is true of the other victim, Muhammad Amer. On the day he was murdered I met him, talked and laughed, and Muhammad told me that he had bought a truck for work and was still worried about his family's future."
The last murder took place in Nazareth when Amar Alaa Aladdin was killed during a fight. Witnesses said that "dozens of people attacked him and he was stabbed to death." A resident of the city who was present at the brawl said that "the dispute is between two families, and the background is a dispute about parking, and last month they struck a truce and promised to maintain a good and quiet atmosphere. Yesterday I saw people quarreling and a lot of people beat the victim and caused his death. It was very frightening; we could not keep them away or calm things down. "
Aladdin's relative added, "We were all in good relations with him. It's a shame that it happened; they could have ended the conflict in the best possible way without harming a soul. It was very difficult for us to receive the news of his death. I hope that such events will not repeat themselves; we do not want problems but a quiet and good life. Anyone who uses violence should be in jail."
The police said, "The investigations into the murder are continuing under a gag order."
(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
