Are police trigger happy when it comes to Israeli Arabs?

Haaretz

After Nadim Melhem was shot and killed during a police search of his home in the village of Arara last Thursday, his family and a few Arab Knesset members demanded that a commission of inquiry be set up to investigate why Israeli policemen are so trigger-happy when it comes to Arab citizens. This demand seems justified in light of the fact that in recent years, since October 2000, 14 Arab civilians have been shot and killed by policemen and another five have been killed by Israel Defense Forces soldiers. This high number has escaped public attention, and it is doubtful that it would have been accepted with similar equanimity if the victims had been Jews. It must be stressed that this number does not include the 12 Israeli Arabs killed in the events of October 2000.

Melhem, 28, was suspected of keeping weapons in his house. The search on Thursday morning was carried out by detectives from the Iron police and by Border policemen. Whenever a civilian is shot and killed by a police officer there is an immediate investigation by the Police Investigations Division (PID). This is being done. However, there is not always a positive correlation between the announcement of the investigation and an examination of the scene.

The PID detectives did not go to Arara immediately after the shooting, or even the following day, to collect evidence. The delay in the investigation is significant; in similar cases the courts have reprimanded PID investigators for delays and for the obstruction of justice.

In light of the large number of Arab citizens killed by soldiers and police officers and the small number of indictments, it is no wonder that the Arab community does not have great faith in PID investigations.

Mossawa, the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel has been documenting police violence against Arab civilians. According to the head of the organization, Jafar Farah, Israeli Arabs are also unaware of the large number of members of their own community who have been killed by police, because most of the victims are drug or weapons dealers, with whom the public does not sympathize, rather than innocent citizens.

The police, however, are prohibited from making such a distinction. There is no justification for an itchy trigger finger whether the target is a Jewish criminal or an Arab one. The police are not supposed to kill suspected criminals. The situation is considerably more serious when those killed are from a single sector of society. Even if the police can adequately explain every single case, the overall number is unacceptable.

After the Or Commission submitted its findings on the events of October 2000, the police seemed to be demonstrating more sensitivity toward Arabs; according to Mossawa, however, in the years since those events more Arab citizens have been killed than in the years leading up to October 2000. This phenomenon, like the ever-increasing distrust of the PID, obligates the public security minister to establish a commission of inquiry headed by a retired judge. This commission must reinvestigate each of the 19 killings of Israeli Arabs by security forces as well as the behavior of the PID after each incident. The large number of killings cannot be met with silence and inaction.