Sun Jan 27, 2008 1:51pm EST

JERUSALEM, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Israel's attorney general said on Sunday he would not indict police officers involved the killing of 13 Israeli Arab protesters in 2000, prompting accusations of discrimination from Arab citizens.

Meni Mazuz's decision, consistent with the findings of past Israeli inquiries, effectively closed the case against police over the protesters' deaths soon after the eruption of a Palestinian uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"There is insufficient evidence in the investigative material to indict any of the suspects," Mazuz's decision said.

Police used live ammunition to disperse Israeli Arabs who threw stones and Molotov cocktails at police and passersby in October 2000 during demonstrations in northern Israel in support of the Palestinian uprising.

A Jewish motorist was killed by a rock that went through his car windscreen, and several police were injured. None of the protestors was found to have used guns. "Mazuz's decision doesn't reflect Israel relating to Arabs as citizens but as enemies," said Suhad Bishara, a lawyer with the advocacy group Adalah, which represents the families of those killed in 2000.

Some Arabs became Israeli citizens after the Jewish state was created in 1948 in part of British-ruled Palestine. Hundreds of thousands of other Palestinian Arabs fled or were driven from their homes during fighting at the time.

Israeli Arabs now make up about a fifth of the country's population and often complain of institutional discrimination. The government rejects this. (Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)



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