Protests persist in Arab towns as anger over killing simmers
Jewish driver attacked near Taibe, his vehicle torched by masked rioters; woman’s car firebombed on West Bank road; 29 arrested in Kafr Kanna in riots following cops’ shooting of local man
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Protests in Arab communities across the country continued Sunday evening, as fires burned at the main entrance to Kafr Kanna two days after police shot dead a 22-year-old Arab man there.
Some 30 youths burned tires in Kafr Kanna, according to police, while dozens of others set trashcans on fire, damaged traffic signs, and hurled stones at Israeli officers.
Police closed off the entrance to the town and later dispersed the demonstration. Over the day, 29 people were detained, most of the minors for stone-throwing, according to Israel’s Channel 2.
Members of a Channel 1 TV crew seeking to enter the embattled town were chased away by stone-throwers, who pummeled their car with rocks.
Rock throwing and protests were also reported in other flashpoint areas in northern Israel and elsewhere.
In the center of the country, masked rioters stopped a car on Route 444 at the entrance to the Arab city Taibe. The 40-year-old Jewish driver was attacked, and managed to escape with the help of some locals, according to reports, who transferred him to police in the area. The man’s car was burned by the demonstrators.
The news website Bokra.net also posted the following video showing masked men at the entrance to Taibe moments before the attack.
No suspects have been arrested yet in the attack.
Route 444 was closed near Tira after protesters burned tires near the road. Police arrested a 15-year-old boy, Ynet reported.
The protests first erupted Saturday after a Kafr Kanna man was shot and killed by police. A video that emerged of the incident showed the man Kheir Hamdan, attacking a police cruiser with a knife, and then being shot as he appears to back off.
The officer who fired the fatal bullet — the only shot fired in the incident — told investigators that he believed his colleagues’ lives to be in danger, and that he shot to wound but not to kill, Channel 2 reported Sunday. He was the driver of the patrol car, and had gone to Kafr Kanna with three colleagues.
All four policemen are under investigation, but none has been suspended, and all will be reassigned Monday to what the TV report called “less fraught” areas of the country.
Arab leaders called a general strike Sunday to protest the killing.
Relatives of Hamdan urged Kafr Kanna locals Sunday afternoon to rein-in their protests, saying they feared further loss of life.
In the Galilee town of Shfaram, some 150 people protested against the shooting, waving flags, but no violence was reported.
Police arrested four suspects, including three minors, for throwing rocks at vehicles on Route 65 near Umm al Fahm in Wadi Ara.
On Route 1, the main artery between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, stones were thrown Sunday evening at a bus near the Arab town of Abu Ghosh.
In the West Bank Sunday evening, a car belonging to a Jewish woman was attacked with stones and Molotov cocktails near the settlement of Ma’ale Shomron. One of the firebombs hit the front of the vehicle, shattering a window. The woman, a mother of five, was not harmed.
“What’s appalling is that it’s clear to me that those who tried to kill me this evening will not pay the price. Because in Israel, attempted murder, especially using firebombs and stones, is considered something of a joke,” said the woman, identified by Maariv as Ruth Shapira.
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Arab youths threw stones at the Jerusalem Light Rail near the Beit Hanina neighborhood Sunday evening, causing damage to one of the cars. Police were searching for the perpetrators.
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Earlier in the day, Arab Israeli university students launched protests against the killing of Kheir Hamdan and called for a Third Intifada.
Dozens of students rallied outside Tel Aviv University against what they termed “the desecration of the holy sites,” in reference to recent tensions at the Temple Mount, according to Israel Radio. Protesters held aloft Palestinian flags, and signs reading “Israel, state of terror,” and “Shahid, rest in peace” — using the Arabic word for “martyr” for the slain Hamdan, who was shot to death by police Friday after approaching a patrol car with a knife and then running away.
Over at Haifa University, some 120 demonstrators held a similar protest, during which they called for a Third Intifada. There was a demonstration, too, by Arab students at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba.
Additional protests were held throughout the day in Arab Israeli areas, including at Umm al-Fahm, Kafr Qasim, and Nazareth.
A scheduled Premier League soccer match Monday near Nazareth between Israeli Arab team Bnei Sakhnin and Maccabi Petah Tikva was called off by police fearing unrest.
Nazareth Mayor Ali Salem called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to launch an investigation into the killing of Hamdan.
Anticipating the violence in the aftermath of the Kafr Kanna incident, the Israel Police had raised its security alert to the second-highest level nationwide.
Overnight Saturday-Sunday, Israeli Arabs removed an Israeli flag from a police station near Misgav in the north, Army Radio reported, replacing it with a Palestinian flag. Police officers removed the Palestinian banner and raised the Israeli flag over the station a short while later and launched an investigation into the incident.
Riots near the northern Arab town of Taibe forced the closure of Route 444 on Sunday morning until police arrived to disperse the crowds.
Protesters burned tires and police arrested an 18-year-old suspected of involvement in the disturbances as police officers brought the riot to an end. The road was reopened a short while later.
In a separate incident, a Nazi swastika symbol was spray-painted Sunday morning on a bus stop at a junction in the northern Arab town of Fureidis, near Haifa.
Thousands of Arab protesters massed Saturday afternoon and evening along the main street of Kafr Kanna, protesting Hamdan’s death. The town mayor called the incident “murder in cold blood.”
In line with the strike, many Arab schools and colleges were shuttered. Businesses closed en masse in Sakhnin, Shfaram, Majd al-Krum, Tamra and Arabe. Partial closures were also evident in other towns. In the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Acre, most Arab businesses were open as usual.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.