Occupied Jerusalem: A Palestinian of the 1948 areas was shot dead by Israeli police allegedly afer he rammed his vehicle into a group of police officers on Wednesday, killing one of them, during clashes in the south over a court-ordered operation to demolish Palestinian homes, regime police said.
Regime police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a local man sped toward the forces deployed to the Umm Al Hiran village. He said further clashes ensued in which several policemen were wounded. Local residents said police used excessive force to remove protesters, including live fire, and Amnesty International called for a probe into reports of police brutality.
Rosenfeld identified the slain policeman as 34-year-old Erez Levi. The Palestinian was later identified as Yaakub Abu Al Qiyan. It was not immediately clear how old he was. His brother, Ahmad, said he was “murdered in cold blood”.
Lawmaker Ayman Odeh, head of the Arab Joint List in the Israeli parliament, was wounded in the clashes, along with several others. Odeh was evacuated to a hospital with blood streaming down his forehead.
In a shaky voice, he told Israel’s Army Radio that he was shot by overzealous officers who were deployed after extensive negotiations to delay the demolition broke down.
“This is a direct order from [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu who wants to enflame the area,” he said. “This is a disgrace.”
Palestinians in 1948 areas make up a fifth of Israel’s population. They are natives of the land who chose not to leave their homeland when the Israeli regime was established in 1948 but they frequently face unfair treatment when it comes to jobs and housing.
The Israeli government recently vowed to crack down harder on Palestinian construction it did not authorise following criticism from Jewish West Bank colonists, who face a court-ordered evacuation of an illegally built outpost and who demanded the law be enforced equally.
Last week, occupation authorities demolished 11 homes in the central city of Kalansua, sparking a general strike among Palestinians in 1948 areas, who say the problem stems from long-standing barriers to acquiring proper permits put in place by the occupation.
Wednesday’s evacuation involves a long-running dispute between the Israeli regime and the formerly nomadic bedouins of the Umm Al Hiran village. Israel moved part of a bedouin clan to the occupied areas 60 years ago, but now wishes to relocate residents to a regime-designated bedouin township. An adjacent part of the village slated for future demolition is zoned for a new development catering to religious Jewish families with ties to the West Bank colonist movement.
Israeli Jews have long viewed the Palestinian community in the 1948 areas with suspicion, as it identifies with Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Public security minister Gilad Erdan accused Odeh of stirring up the conflict by lying about what actually happened. He said he hoped the incident would not spark further divisions between Jews and Arabs in Israel, but that if that were to happen, lawmakers like Odeh bore responsibility.
“He was there to inflame tensions and incite to violence,” Erdan told Army Radio. “He contributed to a very serious event that may also have criminal implications for him.”
