uruknet.info
  اوروكنت.إنفو
     
    informazione dal medio oriente
    information from middle east
    المعلومات من الشرق الأوسط

[ home page] | [ tutte le notizie/all news ] | [ download banner] | [ ultimo aggiornamento/last update 01/01/1970 01:00 ] 110119


english italiano

  [ Subscribe our newsletter!   -   Iscriviti alla nostra newsletter! ]  



Israel police brutality remains unchecked 14 years after massacre of Palestinian citizens


October 7, 2014 - Jameela Asleh, better known as Um Aseel, witnessed the killing of her eldest son Aseel one October fourteen years ago when Israeli police opened fire on unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in Israel. "I witnessed his execution with my own eyes," the 62-year-old mother told The Electronic Intifada. Just seventeen years old at the time, her son was among the thirteen Palestinian citizens of Israel killed during demonstrations that spread throughout present-day Israel in early October 2000....

[110119]



Uruknet on Alexa


End Gaza Siege
End Gaza Siege

>

:: Segnala Uruknet agli amici. Clicka qui.
:: Invite your friends to Uruknet. Click here.




:: Segnalaci un articolo
:: Tell us of an article






Israel police brutality remains unchecked 14 years after massacre of Palestinian citizens

Patrick O. Strickland

77activestills1406023631i6fuu.jpg

Israeli police arrest a protestor during a demonstration by Palestinian citizens of Israel in the northern city of Nazareth, against the summer assault on Gaza, 21 July. (Faiz Abu Rmeleh / ActiveStills)

October 7, 2014

Jameela Asleh, better known as Um Aseel, witnessed the killing of her eldest son Aseel one October fourteen years ago when Israeli police opened fire on unarmed Palestinian demonstrators in Israel.

"I witnessed his execution with my own eyes," the 62-year-old mother told The Electronic Intifada.

Just seventeen years old at the time, her son was among the thirteen Palestinian citizens of Israel killed during demonstrations that spread throughout present-day Israel in early October 2000.

Taking place in the Galilee towns of Nazareth, Sakhnin and Arrabeh, the protests were a response to Israel’s extreme military violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, particularly the killing of twelve-year-old Muhammad al-Dura in Gaza a few days earlier.

"My son was part of the protests that exploded suddenly due to the shock of Muhammad al-Dura’s murder and [also] when [then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon stormed al-Aqsa mosque [in Jerusalem]," Um Aseel said, referring to the two events often cited as the triggers for the second Palestinian intifada at the end of September 2000.

Violent attitude

An estimated 1.7 million Palestinians carry Israeli citizenship and live in Palestinian areas of cities, towns and villages across the country. They face dozens of discriminatory laws that limit their access to state resources and muzzle political expression, says Adalah, a Haifa-based legal center.

Worse still, Palestinian activists and human rights groups say police brutality has continued unabated.

"During protests in the '48 territories [present-day Israel], especially recently, the violent attitude of police forces is clear from the start," Farah Bayadsy, a Jerusalem-based lawyer and activist, told The Electronic Intifada.

"They always start with racist talk or pushing, but then it turns into harsh grabbing or hitting," explained Bayadsy, who is originally from Baqa al-Gharbiyya, a Palestinian town in the Triangle region of present-day Israel.

"It doesn’t matter if you’re a male or female, elderly or a student — the police violate the law and basic human rights by taking advantage of their power given to them by their blue suits," Bayadsy added.

Um Aseel said her son was passionate about "finding reconciliation" between Israelis and Palestinians.

In 1997, Aseel became active in Seeds of Peace. That group, which organizes summer camps for young Palestinians and Jewish Israelis, has been criticized by many Palestinians for promoting "normalization" of the injustices they face.

"He participated in many programs," his mother recalled. "He went to Switzerland and Jordan for coexistence programs. He had been very active for the five years leading up to [his death]."

"He was a quiet, calm and smart child," she said. "He had never been in a fight before because he got along with everybody. Though he participated in the Israeli-led Seeds of Peace delegations, he always asserted his Palestinian identity."

When a bullet fired by an Israeli police officer struck Aseel in the neck during the October 2000 demonstration, he was wearing a Seeds of Peace t-shirt.

No justice in Israeli courts

As police began attacking the protests in Arrabeh, Um Aseel felt uneasy and rushed out of the house to bring her son home. "I saw him and yelled for him to come home," she said. "I saw a police officer hit him on the head with a rifle, and then he shot Aseel at point-blank range."

When asked what motivated her son to join the protests that day, Um Aseel said: "What are we supposed to do? Sit in the house and say this is the will of God? Our protests and efforts to resist are the way we refuse accepting this oppression."

The Israeli government subsequently appointed a panel to investigate the killings of the thirteen Palestinian citizens of Israel, as well as a Jewish Israeli woman and a Palestinian from Gaza during the nationwide protests.

That panel, the Or Commission, failed to arrive at a conclusion about who was responsible for Aseel’s death. Though it "reprimanded" the police for a lack of preparation and Palestinian political leaders in Israel for alleged incitement, no indictments were ever issued for the killings.

Um Aseel said "there is no justice whatsoever" for her son or "Palestinians anywhere, especially not in Israeli courts."

"There is no such thing as Israeli justice," she added.

Coinciding with the fourteenth anniversary of the October 2000 massacre, Adalah released an alarming new report. Between 2011 and 2013, 93 percent of 11,282 "complaints filed against the police were closed by Mahash with or without investigation," according to the report, referring to the police investigation unit that works under the auspices of Israel’s justice ministry.

Adalah’s report paints an image of the Mahash police investigation unit as incapable of seeking justice for the country’s Palestinian minority.

More than 72 percent "of the files were closed without an investigation based on one of three reasons afforded by [Israeli] law: lack of public interest, lack of guilt, and lack of evidence," the report states.

The report also notes that Mahash, supposedly designed to ensure police accountability, repeatedly closed cases when the excessive use of force was evident, "undermining the primary purpose for which it is created."

Police "willing to be brutal"

Salah Mohsen, a spokesperson for Adalah, said these statistics send a clear message to anyone who dissents in Israel. "The sheer number of complaints alone says that police are willing to be very brutal," he told The Electronic Intifada.

In numerous cases when Adalah filed complaints to Mahash with "clear evidence, such as photos, videos and testimony," the files were closed without investigation, he said.

"Many people don’t bother filing complaints anymore," Mohsen concluded, adding that there is a "huge need for restricting Mahash as a body if the goal is genuinely to end police brutality."

During Israel’s 51-day attack on the besieged Gaza Strip this summer, hundreds of Palestinians in present-day Israel were subjected to police violence and arrested in demonstrations in cities such as Haifa, Akka (Acre), Jaffa and Nazareth.

But the ever-present threat of police violence didn’t stop Palestinians from assembling in Sakhnin on Wednesday last week to commemorate the fourteenth anniversary of the October 2000 massacre.

Jamal Zahalka, leader of the Balad political party, said it was important for Palestinians in Israel to continue marking the anniversary each year because the slayings "are part of Israeli policy, showing that in a time of crisis we [Palestinians in Israel] are enemies and not citizens."

The Israeli authorities have "failed to provide any results in serving justice by pursuing the police responsible for the killings or the decision to kill," Zahalka told The Electronic Intifada. "Many questions are left unanswered until today. The investigation was used to cover up for the criminals responsible."

Israel’s former attorney general Menachem Mazuz closed the investigation into the 2000 killings in 2008 without issuing indictments to any police officers or commanders involved. He was recently appointed a judge in Israel’s high court.

Meanwhile, back in her Arrabeh home, Um Aseel said she will never forgive Israel for taking her son’s life.

"Aseel’s martyrdom wasn’t just aggression against him or the other twelve people who died that day," she said. "It was an attack on all Palestinians. Israel tried to kill our humanity and make us [Palestinians in Israel] forget we are part of the Palestinian people."

Patrick O. Strickland is an independent journalist and regular contributor to The Electronic Intifada. His website is www.postrickland.com. Follow him on Twitter @P_Strickland_.



Source


:: Article nr. 110119 sent on 21-nov-2014 01:04 ECT

www.uruknet.info?p=110119



:: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

The section for the comments of our readers has been closed, because of many out-of-topics.
Now you can post your own comments into our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/uruknet





       
[ Printable version ] | [ Send it to a friend ]


[ Contatto/Contact ] | [ Home Page ] | [Tutte le notizie/All news ]







Uruknet on Twitter




:: RSS updated to 2.0

:: English
:: Italiano



:: Uruknet for your mobile phone:
www.uruknet.mobi


Uruknet on Facebook






:: Motore di ricerca / Search Engine


uruknet
the web



:: Immagini / Pictures


Initial
Middle




The newsletter archive




L'Impero si è fermato a Bahgdad, by Valeria Poletti


Modulo per ordini




subscribe

:: Newsletter

:: Comments


Haq Agency
Haq Agency - English

Haq Agency - Arabic


AMSI
AMSI - Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq - English

AMSI - Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq - Arabic




Font size
Carattere
1 2 3





:: All events








     

[ home page] | [ tutte le notizie/all news ] | [ download banner] | [ ultimo aggiornamento/last update 01/01/1970 01:00 ]




Uruknet receives daily many hacking attempts. To prevent this, we have 10 websites on 6 servers in different places. So, if the website is slow or it does not answer, you can recall one of the other web sites: www.uruknet.info www.uruknet.de www.uruknet.biz www.uruknet.org.uk www.uruknet.com www.uruknet.org - www.uruknet.it www.uruknet.eu www.uruknet.net www.uruknet.web.at.it




:: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more info go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
::  We always mention the author and link the original site and page of every article.
uruknet, uruklink, iraq, uruqlink, iraq, irak, irakeno, iraqui, uruk, uruqlink, saddam hussein, baghdad, mesopotamia, babilonia, uday, qusay, udai, qusai,hussein, feddayn, fedayn saddam, mujaheddin, mojahidin, tarek aziz, chalabi, iraqui, baath, ba'ht, Aljazira, aljazeera, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, Palestina, Sharon, Israele, Nasser, ahram, hayat, sharq awsat, iraqwar,irakwar All pictures

 

I nostri partner - Our Partners:


TEV S.r.l.

TEV S.r.l.: hosting

www.tev.it

Progetto Niz

niz: news management

www.niz.it

Digitbrand

digitbrand: ".it" domains

www.digitbrand.com

Worlwide Mirror Web-Sites:
www.uruknet.info (Main)
www.uruknet.com
www.uruknet.net
www.uruknet.org
www.uruknet.us (USA)
www.uruknet.su (Soviet Union)
www.uruknet.ru (Russia)
www.uruknet.it (Association)
www.uruknet.web.at.it
www.uruknet.biz
www.uruknet.mobi (For Mobile Phones)
www.uruknet.org.uk (UK)
www.uruknet.de (Germany)
www.uruknet.ir (Iran)
www.uruknet.eu (Europe)
wap.uruknet.info (For Mobile Phones)
rss.uruknet.info (For Rss Feeds)
www.uruknet.tel

Vat Number: IT-97475012153