A decade has elapsed since the Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa uprising, and yet the killers remain free and at large. Perhaps some of us thought, naively, that the killers would receive due retribution. Such naivety was reflected in the actions of many of our people on October 1st, 2000. They took to the streets to demonstrate and protest, and called a general strike against Sharon’s violation of the sanctity of the Haram Al-Sharif and his defiance and disdain for the sentiments of Arabs and Muslims (or his deliberate attempt at provocation aimed at bringing a decisive end to the peace process, which was in its death throes at the time).
Many Palestinian citizens in Israel had believed that their “citizenship” and “blue ID cards” afforded them the right to practice basic rights in a “democratic state.” But no sooner did the first dawn rise in that October than the picture became patently clear and extremely shocking; they discovered, once again, that their blue ID cards in fact offered them no protection. The police, army and secret service poured onto the streets of their towns and villages. And something that no one, not even the pessimists, had anticipated occurred: they saw the rifles of “snipers” hiding on the roofs of houses and shops and firing live rounds at citizens regarded as enemies, worthy of no mercy. The blue ID cards could not protect these “citizens.”
Within eight days, the state security forces had slain thirteen Palestinian citizens in Israel, injured thousands and detained hundreds of others. In this situation, the Green Line ceased to have any real existence or import, as well as any of the other lines that had until then had demarcated some Palestinians as laying outside and others as falling inside of them. Israeli society as a whole, with the exception of a small few, looked upon all Palestinians as enemies.
Given that the dead and wounded were seen as enemies, the Israeli authorities did not instigate the regular procedures for initiating an immediate investigation. They did not gather evidence in order to identify the killers and those ultimately responsible for the killings, or even try to determine how the shots were fired, who fired them, and who gave the orders to open fire. On the contrary, no prompt investigation was launched and the scenes of the crimes were left open to allow all traces of the deaths and crimes to be erased. Worse yet, the leadership of the security forces had no hesitation about charging the dead themselves with culpability, alleging that some of the dead had been killed by bullets they had fired at the police, which had then ricocheted back at their own throats.
None of us were able to demonstrate the plain truth: the dead had been killed in cold blood by the Israeli security forces, killed without committing any offense, executed without trial. They were executed for merely being Palestinians. If the matter had been left at that, the killings would have assumed two narratives: our narrative and theirs; that of the killed and that of the killer, as has occurred at several historical junctures involving us and them.
Despite the eradication of evidence at the scene of the crime, there was no alternative available other than to establish an official Israeli commission of inquiry to investigate the crime, as was called for by the martyrs’ families and the majority of Palestinians in Israel. Although the crime had been committed by the state security forces, and at the order of the government, the families had no option but to resort to the state authorities in their search for the truth. Through several civil society organizations, particularly Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel- the Palestinian citizen victims, for the first time since receiving their blue “citizen” ID cards were able to furnish evidence to an official commission of inquiry (Or Commission) in order to prove that a crime had been perpetrated against them. However, although the Or Commision deemed there to be numerous pieces of evidence against specific Israeli police officers accused of involvement in unlawful killings, the Israeli legal establishment was unwilling to bring any of the accused to trial, or even to subject them to serious legal accountability.
The State Prosecution and the Attorney General were both involved in deliberate negligence in closing the files of the martyrs, the injured and those accused of committing the crime, as if no such crime had taken place. Such a situation would not have come to pass had the dead been Jewish. This conviction of ours demonstrates once more that the Israeli legal system continues to be tarnished by loathsome racism. I firmly believe that this racism was – and still is – the main motive behind the closure of the investigations into the circumstances of the killings and the failure to charge the killers with responsibility.
Neither Israeli society nor the State of Israel will be able to exonerate itself from the crime of murder simply by closing investigatory files. The families of the martyrs are continuing to challenge the relevant state authorities to reopen the files and bring them before judicial forums, since only there can the truth come to light.
Ten years after the Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa uprising, and despite the recommendations of the Or Commission, Israeli policy towards Palestinian citizens remains unchanged, and has even further degenerated. The policy of oppressing them in their places of residence remains intact and has been stepped up. The policy of accusing them of treachery and regarding them as a fifth column continues to preoccupy politicians and much of the security apparatus. The budgetary allowances allocated to them – both individually and collectively – remain far lower than those allocated to other citizens. The policy of demolishing their homes continues to be applied, indeed increasingly so. Large gaps remain between the infrastructure of Palestinian and Jewish towns and villages. Employment in the civil service remains largely closed off to them.
In light of the aforementioned, the circumstances of the Palestinian community inside Israel have continued to worsen over the last ten years. Furthermore, free channels of communication between them and other members of their people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been severed, and the stranglehold on their lives has tightened. In sum, between October 2000 and October 2010 the living conditions of the Palestinian community inside Israel have deteriorated and become more stifling. And in addition, the criminals remain free and at large.
Dr. Mahmoud Yazbak is senior lecturer at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Haifa University. This article originally appeared in Mada Al-Carmel’s October, 2010 issue of Jadal, a bimonthly online publication that gives voice to the major political and social concerns of the Palestinians in Israel.
