October 2000 events
Encyclopedia
The October 2000 events were a series of protests in Arab villages in northern Israel
in October 2000 that turned violent, escalating into clashes between Israeli Arabs
and the Israel Police
and ending in the deaths of demonstrators.The Or Commission
was established to investigate the police response to the rioting. Israeli media outlets refer to the episode as אירועי אוקטובר 2000 - the "October 2000 events" while Arab community refers to it as (هبة أكتوبر) the "October ignition."
MK Mohammad Barakeh
for inciting violence against police. At a meeting of the High Follow-up Committee for Arab citizens in Israel the next day in Kafar Manda, United Arab List
's MK Abdulmalik Dehamshe
declared: "We will beat or forcefully attack any policeman and we will break his hands if he comes to demolish an Arab house … we are on the verge of an Intifada among Israel’s Arabs following Alik Ron’s incitement."
On September 14, Nazareth declared a general strike protesting "police incompetence in handling violence and crime" after the murder of a local resident, Nabieh Nussier, 52. On September 30, the High Follow-up Committee called on the Arab community to mount a general strike to protest the killings of five Palestinians by Israeli security forces in the Jerusalem clashes of the previous day, which many consider the first day of the al-Aqsa Intifada
.
Demonstrations in Arab towns in northern Israel began to spread after repeated airings of news footage showing the alleged shooting death of 12 year-old Muhammad al-Durrah
, who was said to have been caught in the crossfire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militia.
In a number of areas police came under gunfire, and demonstrators threw Molotov cocktail
s. An Egged
bus was torched at Umm al-Fahm
. During clashes in Umm al-Fahm, Muhammad Ahmad 'Eiq Al-Jabarin was fatally shot in the abdomen. Street battles subsequently broke out with police, during which 19-year old Ibrahim Sayyam Al-Jabarin was shot in the head and died in hospital the following day. Umm al-Fahm mayor Raed Salah
was also wounded.
In Baqa-Jatt, Rami Khatem Gharra was shot in the eye by Border Policeman Rashed Murshid, and later died of his injuries. Murshid was firing rubber bullet
s at 15 metres towards the upper body, in contravention to that weapon's non-lethal operation directive to be used at longer range towards the lower body. Many others were wounded.
, 17, was shot at close range by Israeli police with live ammunition in Arraba
. His father said he was sitting under an olive tree watching the demonstrations when police chased, surrounded and shot him. Alaa Nassar, 18, was also shot in the chest in Arraba, and died the same day.
Misleh Hussein Abu Jarad from Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip
was killed and seven others were injured in Umm al-Fahm when police snipers fired live ammunition at stone-throwers in contravention with Police procedure.
Walid Abdul-Menem Abu Saleh, 21, and Emad Farraj Ghanaym, 25, were killed in an industrial area in the Sakhnin
area/Misgav Regional Council
when police fired live ammunition to disperse stone-throwers. Walid was shot in the head and Emad in the heart.http://www.gcmhp.net/File_files/PalestiniansMurdered.html
Demonstrators in Nazareth threw stones, burned tires, looted and burned shops. Iyad Lawabni, 26, was shot in the heart http://www.gcmhp.net/File_files/PalestiniansMurdered.html and died the same day after a confrontation there with police. Approximately 100 others were hurt, including one woman who was seriously injured. Dozens of residents of Mashhad approaching a Jewish neighbourhood of Upper Nazareth smashed house and car windows.
Traffic was blocked with burning tires on Route 65, a main artery connecting northern and central Israel. A Jewish man was attacked and pulled from his car by local youth, which they then torched. Three banks in Baqa al-Gharbiyye
were set on fire.
. Mohammed Khameisi, 19, from Kafar Kanna
http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/sep05-s/confrence.pdf was wounded in the leg and died the following day, though the nature and cause of his wound is debated. The funerals of those killed in previous days became focal points of renewed clashes.
Extensive forest fires which Israel Police believed were the result of Arab arsonists caused the evacuations of some residents.
burned tires, threw rocks, and beat some reporters.
On 6 October mourners in Kafar Kanna
at a funeral of one of those killed in clashes stoned and moderately injured a Jewish motorist from Tiberias. The next day, hundreds of Jewish youth in Tiberias burned tires, attacked a mosque, and attempted to assault Arabs. Dozens of haredi youth stoned Arab traffic in Jerusalem and attacked Palestinian
labourers, who were subsequently rescued by police.
A Jewish citizen, Bachor Jann, from Rishon LeZion, was killed after being hit by a stone thought to have been thrown by those taking part in the protests in Jisr az-Zarqa
while driving on the Haifa-Tel Aviv freeway
. A scuffle at an Or Aqiva
shopping mall between Jewish and Arab citizens resulted in an attack on the responding police and the throwing of a Molotov cocktail.
attacked Arab civilians in Nazareth. Police dispersed the riots with tear gas and live ammunition.Wissam Yazbak, 24, and Omar Mohammad Akkawi, 52, were killed, and at least five others were wounded, after Commander of the Valleys region, Moshe Waldman, ordered police to use live ammunition at the Canyon Junction between the Arab and Jewish neighbourhoods of Nazareth. Three Arab-owned apartments were torched in a neighbourhood of Tel-Aviv and hundreds clashed with police. Demonstrators chased two Arab employees out of a restaurant and set fire to it which damaged two Arab-owned cars parked in front.
was attacked when he tried to calm Jewish citizens there. Arab property in Bat Yam and Petah Tikva
was damaged.A Muslim shrine in the old city of Acre
was vandalized.
The newspaper Al-Ittihad
reported that four men stabbed an Arab worker on his way to work at a supermarket in Rosh HaAyin
. Two Arabs were stabbed "in a fight with Jewish rioters in a Tel Aviv suburb." In Jaffa
, a mosque was torched and attempts were made to burn Jewish apartments and two synagogues. In Ramle, a synagogue was torched and traffic was stoned and firebombed. In Lod
, a Jewish citizen was shot, a school was burned down, and attempts were made to torch a police station.
In Nazareth, a crowd of mourners from Yazbak and Akkawi's funeral approached the police station and threw rocks and firebombs at it, despite the police's decision to keep all officers inside and out of sight until quiet set in. The police responded with tear-gas; when the stone-throwing continued, the assistant-mayor and two Arab Knesset members on the scene guaranteed a cessation in exchange for a police retreat, which they did. Arab youths also vandalised traffic signals at the Canyon Junction.
Several hundred youth from Umm-al-Fahm stoned dozens of passing vehicles on Highway 65
and vandalised utility poles. The assistant mayor unsuccessfully attempted to stop the youths per agreements with police to avoid their involvement. The police still decided to keep distance, and the Umm-al-Fahm municipality finally cleared debris from the road allowing it to be reopened.
The Arab Association for Human Rights, Adalah, Mossawa, I'lam, and other Arab NGOs in Israel cited “deep rooted frustration [of Arabs] at their own status as second class Israeli citizens,” as an underlying factor. The Arab youth organization Baladna was formed partially in response to the events of October 2000. According to Marwan Dwairy, the events of October 2000 are "an important landmark in the narrative of the Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel."
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
in October 2000 that turned violent, escalating into clashes between Israeli Arabs
Arab citizens of Israel
Arab citizens of Israel refers to citizens of Israel who are not Jewish, and whose cultural and linguistic heritage or ethnic identity is Arab....
and the Israel Police
Israel Police
The Israel Police is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fighting, traffic control, maintaining public safety, and counter-terrorism...
and ending in the deaths of demonstrators.The Or Commission
Or Commission
The Or Commission was a panel of inquiry appointed by the Israeli government to investigate the events of October 2000 at the beginning of the Second Intifada in which 12 Arab citizens of Israel and one Palestinian were killed by Israeli police amidst several demonstrations...
was established to investigate the police response to the rioting. Israeli media outlets refer to the episode as אירועי אוקטובר 2000 - the "October 2000 events" while Arab community refers to it as (هبة أكتوبر) the "October ignition."
Background
In September 2000, tensions between the police and Israel's Arab citizens rose. On September 12, Israel Police Northern District Commander Alik Ron requested an investigation of HadashHadash
Hadash is a Jewish and Arab socialist front of organizations that runs for the Israeli parliament. It currently has four members in the 120-seat Knesset.-Background:...
MK Mohammad Barakeh
Mohammad Barakeh
Mohammad Barakeh is an Israeli Arab politician and member of the Knesset for Hadash, of which he is the General Secretary.-Biography:Born in Shefa-'Amr, Barakeh studied mathematics at Tel Aviv University. He first became politically involved whilst at university in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
for inciting violence against police. At a meeting of the High Follow-up Committee for Arab citizens in Israel the next day in Kafar Manda, United Arab List
United Arab List
The United Arab List , commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Ra'am , is a political party representing and supported by Israeli Arabs...
's MK Abdulmalik Dehamshe
Abdulmalik Dehamshe
Abdulmalik Dehamshe is a former Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the United Arab List between 1996 and 2006. He was also leader of the party.-Biography:...
declared: "We will beat or forcefully attack any policeman and we will break his hands if he comes to demolish an Arab house … we are on the verge of an Intifada among Israel’s Arabs following Alik Ron’s incitement."
On September 14, Nazareth declared a general strike protesting "police incompetence in handling violence and crime" after the murder of a local resident, Nabieh Nussier, 52. On September 30, the High Follow-up Committee called on the Arab community to mount a general strike to protest the killings of five Palestinians by Israeli security forces in the Jerusalem clashes of the previous day, which many consider the first day of the al-Aqsa Intifada
Al-Aqsa Intifada
The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
.
Demonstrations in Arab towns in northern Israel began to spread after repeated airings of news footage showing the alleged shooting death of 12 year-old Muhammad al-Durrah
Muhammad al-Durrah
The Muhammad al-Durrah incident took place in the Gaza Strip on September 30, 2000, on the second day of the Second Intifada, amid widespread rioting throughout the Palestinian territories...
, who was said to have been caught in the crossfire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militia.
1 October
Arab demonstrations and acts of civil-disobedience in solidarity with the Palestinians turned violent following the proclamation of a general strike by the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee to protest the deaths of Arab rioters in Jerusalem the previous day. Arab rioting took place throughout northern Israel.In a number of areas police came under gunfire, and demonstrators threw Molotov cocktail
Molotov cocktail
The Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
s. An Egged
Egged Bus Cooperative
Egged Israel Transport Cooperative Society Ltd , a cooperative owned by its members is the largest transit bus company in Israel. It provides about 55 % of public transport services throughout the country, employs 6,227 workers and has 2,861 buses for more than 928 service routes and 3,103...
bus was torched at Umm al-Fahm
Umm al-Fahm
Umm al-Fahm is a city in the Haifa District of Israel with a population of 43,300, nearly all of whom are Arab citizens of Israel. The city is situated on the Umm al-Fahm mountain ridge, the highest point of which is Mt. Iskander , overlooking Wadi Ara...
. During clashes in Umm al-Fahm, Muhammad Ahmad 'Eiq Al-Jabarin was fatally shot in the abdomen. Street battles subsequently broke out with police, during which 19-year old Ibrahim Sayyam Al-Jabarin was shot in the head and died in hospital the following day. Umm al-Fahm mayor Raed Salah
Raed Salah
Raed Salah is the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. He was born in Umm al-Fahm - an Israeli-Arab city bordering the Green Line - and was elected as the mayor of that city three times; in 1989, 1993 and 1997. He has eight children and is a former poetSalah was banned...
was also wounded.
In Baqa-Jatt, Rami Khatem Gharra was shot in the eye by Border Policeman Rashed Murshid, and later died of his injuries. Murshid was firing rubber bullet
Rubber bullet
Rubber bullets are rubber or rubber-coated projectiles that can be fired from either standard firearms or dedicated riot guns. They are intended to be a non-lethal alternative to metal projectiles...
s at 15 metres towards the upper body, in contravention to that weapon's non-lethal operation directive to be used at longer range towards the lower body. Many others were wounded.
2 October
Asel AslehAsel Asleh
The death of Asel Asleh occurred on 2 October 2000 when an Arab citizen of Israel and peace activist was killed at the onset of the Second Intifada by the Israel security forces. Asleh was 17 years old at the time of his death.-Background:...
, 17, was shot at close range by Israeli police with live ammunition in Arraba
Arraba
Arraba is Israel's fourth largest local council and largest Israeli Arab local council. It is located in the Lower Galilee in the North District, to the north of Nazareth and adjacent to Sakhnin and Deir Hanna...
. His father said he was sitting under an olive tree watching the demonstrations when police chased, surrounded and shot him. Alaa Nassar, 18, was also shot in the chest in Arraba, and died the same day.
Misleh Hussein Abu Jarad from Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
was killed and seven others were injured in Umm al-Fahm when police snipers fired live ammunition at stone-throwers in contravention with Police procedure.
Walid Abdul-Menem Abu Saleh, 21, and Emad Farraj Ghanaym, 25, were killed in an industrial area in the Sakhnin
Sakhnin
Sakhnin is a city in Israel's North District. It is located in the Lower Galilee, about east of Acre. Sakhnin was declared a city in 1995. Its population of 25,100 is Arab, mostly Muslim with a sizable Christian minority. It is located on the site of the ancient Jewish town Sikhnin, which...
area/Misgav Regional Council
Misgav Regional Council
The Misgav Regional Council is a regional council in the Galilee region in northern Israel. The regional council is home to 22,000 people, and comprises 35 small towns, mostly community settlements but also several Kibbutzim and Moshavim. The population of 29 of these is primarily Jewish, and 6...
when police fired live ammunition to disperse stone-throwers. Walid was shot in the head and Emad in the heart.http://www.gcmhp.net/File_files/PalestiniansMurdered.html
Demonstrators in Nazareth threw stones, burned tires, looted and burned shops. Iyad Lawabni, 26, was shot in the heart http://www.gcmhp.net/File_files/PalestiniansMurdered.html and died the same day after a confrontation there with police. Approximately 100 others were hurt, including one woman who was seriously injured. Dozens of residents of Mashhad approaching a Jewish neighbourhood of Upper Nazareth smashed house and car windows.
Traffic was blocked with burning tires on Route 65, a main artery connecting northern and central Israel. A Jewish man was attacked and pulled from his car by local youth, which they then torched. Three banks in Baqa al-Gharbiyye
Baqa al-Gharbiyye
Baqa al-Gharbiyye is a predominantly Arab city in the Haifa District in Israel, located near the Green Line. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2001 the city had a total population of 19,200...
were set on fire.
3 October
Ramez Bushnak, 24, from Kafar Manda, was shot in the head and died the same day during a confrontation with police, who explicitly denied claims that he was shot from close range. Dozens of residents clashed with police blocking the way to Jewish neighbourhoods in MisgavMisgav Regional Council
The Misgav Regional Council is a regional council in the Galilee region in northern Israel. The regional council is home to 22,000 people, and comprises 35 small towns, mostly community settlements but also several Kibbutzim and Moshavim. The population of 29 of these is primarily Jewish, and 6...
. Mohammed Khameisi, 19, from Kafar Kanna
Kafar Kanna
Kafr Kanna is an Arab town in the Galilee region of Israel that is associated with the New Testament village of Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine.-History:...
http://www.adalah.org/newsletter/eng/sep05-s/confrence.pdf was wounded in the leg and died the following day, though the nature and cause of his wound is debated. The funerals of those killed in previous days became focal points of renewed clashes.
Extensive forest fires which Israel Police believed were the result of Arab arsonists caused the evacuations of some residents.
4–6 October
Following the meeting between Barak and the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, a general calm reigned with only minimal violence, including on 6 October, on which a "Palestinian day of rage" had been announced. On 5 October, hundreds of Arab residents of JaffaJaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
burned tires, threw rocks, and beat some reporters.
On 6 October mourners in Kafar Kanna
Kafar Kanna
Kafr Kanna is an Arab town in the Galilee region of Israel that is associated with the New Testament village of Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine.-History:...
at a funeral of one of those killed in clashes stoned and moderately injured a Jewish motorist from Tiberias. The next day, hundreds of Jewish youth in Tiberias burned tires, attacked a mosque, and attempted to assault Arabs. Dozens of haredi youth stoned Arab traffic in Jerusalem and attacked Palestinian
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
labourers, who were subsequently rescued by police.
7 October
Jewish and Arab youth threw rocks at each other near a shopping mall on the border between Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods in Nazareth. Arab traffic in Upper Nazareth was stoned.A Jewish citizen, Bachor Jann, from Rishon LeZion, was killed after being hit by a stone thought to have been thrown by those taking part in the protests in Jisr az-Zarqa
Jisr az-Zarqa
Jisr az-Zarqa is an Israeli Arab local council on Israel's northern Mediterranean coastal plain. Located just north of Caesarea within the Haifa District, it achieved local council status in 1963. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics the town had a population of 11,100 residents at the...
while driving on the Haifa-Tel Aviv freeway
Highway 2 (Israel)
Highway 2 is an Israeli highway located on the coastal plain of the Mediterranean Sea. It stretches from Tel Aviv to Haifa. The highway is also called The Coastal Highway or The New Haifa - Tel Aviv Highway ....
. A scuffle at an Or Aqiva
Or Aqiva
Or Akiva is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, on the country's Coastal Plain. It is located just inland from the ancient port city of Caesarea and the Mediterranean Sea, and to the north of the city of Hadera. It is 30 miles south of Haifa and 24 miles north of Tel Aviv...
shopping mall between Jewish and Arab citizens resulted in an attack on the responding police and the throwing of a Molotov cocktail.
8 October
Jewish civilians from Upper NazarethNazareth Illit
Nazareth Illit is a city in the North District of Israel. At the end of 2007 it had a population of 40,800.Nazareth Illit was founded in the 1950s. Foundations were laid in 1954 and first residents moved in two years later...
attacked Arab civilians in Nazareth. Police dispersed the riots with tear gas and live ammunition.Wissam Yazbak, 24, and Omar Mohammad Akkawi, 52, were killed, and at least five others were wounded, after Commander of the Valleys region, Moshe Waldman, ordered police to use live ammunition at the Canyon Junction between the Arab and Jewish neighbourhoods of Nazareth. Three Arab-owned apartments were torched in a neighbourhood of Tel-Aviv and hundreds clashed with police. Demonstrators chased two Arab employees out of a restaurant and set fire to it which damaged two Arab-owned cars parked in front.
9 October
Hundreds of Jews broke windows in a Nazareth shopping mall and set fire to two cars. The mayor of KarmielKarmiel
Karmiel is a city in northern Israel. Established in 1964 as a development town, Karmiel is located in the Beit HaKerem Valley which divides upper and lower Galilee. The city is located south of the Acre-Safed road, from Safed and from Acre...
was attacked when he tried to calm Jewish citizens there. Arab property in Bat Yam and Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva
Petah Tikva known as Em HaMoshavot , is a city in the Center District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv.According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2009, the city's population stood at 209,600. The population density is approximately...
was damaged.A Muslim shrine in the old city of Acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
was vandalized.
The newspaper Al-Ittihad
Al-Ittihad (newspaper)
Al-Ittihad is an Arabic language newspaper published daily in the United Arab Emirates....
reported that four men stabbed an Arab worker on his way to work at a supermarket in Rosh HaAyin
Rosh HaAyin
Rosh HaAyin is a city in the Center District of Israel. To the west of Rosh HaAyin is the fortress of Antipatris and the source of the Yarkon River. To the southeast is the fortress of Migdal Afek...
. Two Arabs were stabbed "in a fight with Jewish rioters in a Tel Aviv suburb." In Jaffa
Jaffa
Jaffa is an ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. Jaffa was incorporated with Tel Aviv creating the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel. Jaffa is famous for its association with the biblical story of the prophet Jonah.-Etymology:...
, a mosque was torched and attempts were made to burn Jewish apartments and two synagogues. In Ramle, a synagogue was torched and traffic was stoned and firebombed. In Lod
Lod
Lod is a city located on the Sharon Plain southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2010, it had a population of 70,000, roughly 75 percent Jewish and 25 percent Arab.The name is derived from the Biblical city of Lod...
, a Jewish citizen was shot, a school was burned down, and attempts were made to torch a police station.
In Nazareth, a crowd of mourners from Yazbak and Akkawi's funeral approached the police station and threw rocks and firebombs at it, despite the police's decision to keep all officers inside and out of sight until quiet set in. The police responded with tear-gas; when the stone-throwing continued, the assistant-mayor and two Arab Knesset members on the scene guaranteed a cessation in exchange for a police retreat, which they did. Arab youths also vandalised traffic signals at the Canyon Junction.
Several hundred youth from Umm-al-Fahm stoned dozens of passing vehicles on Highway 65
Highway 65 (Israel)
Highway 65 is a major highway in northern Israel. It connects Hadera with the Galilee.This road is the shortest and simplest way to connect these two major regions. Historically, people traveled on or near this route for thousands of years from the coastal plain to reach the Galilee, and beyond...
and vandalised utility poles. The assistant mayor unsuccessfully attempted to stop the youths per agreements with police to avoid their involvement. The police still decided to keep distance, and the Umm-al-Fahm municipality finally cleared debris from the road allowing it to be reopened.
Reactions
The Arab media organization I'lam found that media coverage of the events of October 2000 created an atmosphere of war inside Israel, painting Arab citizens as violent rioters displaying their disloyalty to the State through riots; I'lam and other Arab organizations say that overall Arab citizens engaged in peaceful protest during October 2000, and that the entire population was treated in blanket fashion as a rioting 'fifth column.'The Arab Association for Human Rights, Adalah, Mossawa, I'lam, and other Arab NGOs in Israel cited “deep rooted frustration [of Arabs] at their own status as second class Israeli citizens,” as an underlying factor. The Arab youth organization Baladna was formed partially in response to the events of October 2000. According to Marwan Dwairy, the events of October 2000 are "an important landmark in the narrative of the Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel."
See also
- Land DayLand DayLand Day , March 30, is an annual day of commemoration for Palestinians of the events of that date in 1976. In response to the Israeli government's announcement of a plan to expropriate thousands of dunams of land for "security and settlement purposes", a general strike and marches were organized...
- Second Intifada
- Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 2000Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 2000The year 2000 in Israel-Palestine marked the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada leading to a number of Palestinian and Israeli deaths. For information about violence against Palestinian's in relation to home demolitions during this period refer to house demolition in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict...