US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV1874

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 001874 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, IS, ISRAELI SOCIETY, GOI INTERNAL, ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS 
SUBJECT: POLICE MAY HAVE LEARNED LESSONS FROM ORR 
COMMISSION FINDINGS 
 
REF: A. 03 TEL AVIV 4989 
 
     B. 03 TEL AVIV 5283 
     C. TEL AVIV 874 
     D. TEL AVIV 1772 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Norm Olsen for reason 1.4 (b) and (d 
). 
 
1. (C) Summary: In an apparent effort to avoid a repetition 
of the October 2000 police killing of 12 Israeli-Arab 
demonstrators, chief of Israel's national police force has 
ordered his forces to refrain from using either live 
ammunition or rubber-coated bullets during the March 30 
Israeli Arab "Land Day" events if disturbances erupt. 
Embassy sources speaking to poloff noted positively the 
improved police tactics at the March 23 Nazareth 
demonstration of some 3,000 Israeli Arabs against Shaykh 
Yasin's assassination.  According to the director of the 
human rights NGO Mossawa, Israeli-Arab leaders are scheduled 
to meet with Justice Minister Tommy Lapid to discuss general 
follow-up to the recommendations of the Orr Commission, which 
investigated the October 2000 events.  End summary. 
 
--------------------- 
Police Learn from Orr 
--------------------- 
 
2.  (SBU) Police Inspector-General Shlomo Aharonishky has 
ordered police to refrain from using live ammunition or 
rubber-coated bullets, without his explicit permission, 
during March 30 "Land Day" events in Israeli-Arab 
communities, according to March 25 media reports.  "Land Day" 
is commemorated annually to mark the March 1976 police 
killing of six Israeli Arabs who were protesting land 
expropriations.  This year, the chairman of the Higher Arab 
Monitoring Committee (ref B), Shauki Khatib, has called for a 
general strike in Israeli-Arab communities to commemorate 
"Land Day."  Marches reportedly will also be held in several 
Arab localities, with a central gathering in the Galilee town 
of Arabeh.  In addition, Israeli-Arab schools will reportedly 
hold classes on GOI house demolitions and land expropriation 
in Israeli-Arab communities (ref C).  Police Chief 
Aharonishky reportedly met March 24 with Israeli-Arab leaders 
to discuss "Land Day" activities and acknowledged that the 
Arab public has a legitimate right to protest. 
 
3.  (SBU) The police chief's decision to restrict the use of 
lethal and potentially lethal munitions reflects GOI 
sensitivity about its treatment of Israeli-Arab citizens in 
light of the 2003 Orr Commission report, which criticized 
police handling of the October 2000 Israeli-Arab 
demonstrations in which police killed 12 Israeli Arabs.  The 
report criticized then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak and 
then-Minister of Internal Security Shlomo Ben-Ami for their 
handling of the situation and recommended personnel action 
and, in some cases, criminal prosecution of government and 
police officials (ref A).  The report also criticized general 
police practices, such as the use of live ammunition and 
rubber-coated bullets during these demonstrations, and noted 
the historical, societal, and governmental discrimination 
against Arab citizens. 
 
----------------------------- 
Recent Demonstration Peaceful 
----------------------------- 
 
4.  (SBU) Mohammed Zeidan, director of the Arab Association 
for Human Rights, and Jafar Farah, director of the Mossawa 
Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel, both noted to 
poloff in separate discussions that the March 23 
demonstration in Nazareth against Yasin's assassination (ref 
D), which both had attended, was quiet and without incident. 
Zeidan said that police did not enter Nazareth, but waited 
outside the city, thereby avoiding any potential altercations 
with demonstrators.  Farah lauded the immediate intervention 
of several undercover police officers apprehending youths 
who, Farah speculated, had been causing minor disruptions. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Israeli-Arab Representatives to Meet With Lapid 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
5.  (SBU) Implementation of the Orr Commission 
recommendations remains a work in progress.  On September 14, 
2003 the Government established a ministerial committee -- 
headed by Justice Minister Tommy Lapid -- to advise the 
Government within 60 days on implementation of the Orr 
Commission's recommendations (ref B).  According to Mossawa 
Director Farah, that 60-day period has been extended to the 
end of March, and he expects a further 60-day extension 
beyond that. 
 
6.  (C) Farah told poloff that Higher Arab Monitoring 
Committee Chairman Shauki Khatib, Umm al-Fahm Mayor Sheikh 
Hashem Abd al-Rahman, Adalah General Director Hassan Jabareen 
(Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights), and Mossawa 
representatives, will meet with MOJ Tommy Lapid on Sunday, 
March 28 to discuss means of implementing the Orr 
Commission's recommendations.  Farah stressed that he and the 
other meeting attendees do not wish to discuss the 
ministerial committee's work, but rather how MOJ Lapid can 
lead the Shinui Party to push for better GOI policies towards 
the Israeli-Arab community.  Farah noted that Khatib decided 
not to cooperate with the ministerial committee.  (Note: This 
committee includes two right-wing ministers who voted against 
the Orr Commission's recommendations when they were adopted 
by the government, and Khatib referred to this committee at 
the time as "a means of whitewashing" those recommendations.) 
 Farah told poloff that Mossawa's aim at the meeting was to 
"convince Lapid to lead Shinui for real change in policy 
regarding Israeli-Arabs." 
 
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