Israeli Arab Rights Center Calls For Ban On Talk Of Transfer

By Yair Ettinger,

Haaretz Correspondent

Thousands of Israeli Arab citizens are suffering from
increasing racism, xenophobia, incitement and violence,
according to the annual Racism in Israel 2004 report
released Tuesday by the Mossawa Advocacy Center for
Arab Citizens in Israel. The report’s authors accused
authorities, primarily the police and legal system, for
being responsible for the climate of violence and
racism against Arab citizens. This responsibility
ranges from direct actions such as illegal and
unjustified police shootings of Arab citizens to a
tendency for the police and courts to relate
forgivingly to displays of racism against Arabs by
private citizens and public figures, the report says.

At a Jerusalem press conference, Mossawa leaders called
for enforcement of existing laws against racism,
incitement and violence.

Against the background of increasingly frequent calls
from political figures to transfer Arab citizens from
Israel - notably Transportation Minister Avigdor
Lieberman’s plan for "separation of the nations" -
Mossawa called for new legislation making public
discussions on transfer illegal.

Mossawa said the report is based on the Israeli law
against racism and incitement, and is modeled on the
recent report on anti-Semitism released by European
human rights organizations.

A significant portion of the Mossawa report deals with
statements by public figures against Arab citizens,
including Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
contention that Israel’s Arab citizens constitute a
"demographic problem."

Other comments cited in the report included Public
Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi’s call for Jewish
residents of the Negev region to "take up clubs" and
expel Bedouin squatters, and Deputy Defense Minister
Ze’ev Boim’s statement early in the year that the
connection between Arabs and terrorism is a "genetic or
cultural flaw."

According to the report, Israel has not learned from
the October 2000 riots, in which 13 Israeli Arabs were
killed by police gunfire in the north. Mossawa calls
for the implementation of the Or Commission’s findings
on the riots, which was published last September.

Tuesday’s report reveals that 16 more Arab citizens
have been killed by gunfire from police and security
forces since October 2000.

However, an investigation conducted by Haaretz revealed
that at least one of the deaths was of a criminal who
was not killed "by security forces’ gunfire," as was
written in the report. The individual was actually
killed in a motorcycle accident while being chased by
police.

The circumstances of some of the other deaths cited in
the report were unclear.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/434087.html