Last update - 00:00 01/11/2007
Senior police officer: Cops didn't enter Druze prayer hall in Peki'in
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
A senior police officer told Haaretz Wednesday that contrary to the claims of residents of Peki'in, the police force that arrived to the village on Tuesday night did not enter the Hilwe, the sacred hall of the Druze community.
"We examined the complaints which alleged that policemen entered the prayer hall and concluded that this never happened," the officer said.
Police Chief David Cohen spent most of his day Tuesday in meeting with officers who took part in the clashes at Peki'in, and also with MKs and ministers who wanted to receive more information on the incident.
Wednesday, Cohen met with the policemen in a Border Police base near the northern border, and asked to learn about how they felt.
In a message sent out to all the officers who participated in the operation, he expressed his support and vowed not to allow allegations against officers who carried out their duties to go unanswered.
"In a democracy where the police provide equal services to all the citizens there cannot be a community, irrespective whether it is Druze or Jewish, in which the police cannot perform their duty," Cohen said.
"The incident at Peki'in needs to be seen not as one about an antenna but as a series of events over the past 10 days. Events unfolded in this case and it is important to remember that Saturday night a police force, 40-strong, entered Peki'in, and the residents attacked them, caused them injuries and in the end they withdrew, without carrying out their mission," the police chief said.
The police also rejected the parallels drawn in the media between the incident at Peki'in and the clashes of October 2000 in which police shot and killed 13 Arab-Israeli rioters.
"There is nothing to compare between the incident at Peki'in and the events of October," a senior officer said yesterday.
"Israel police learned the necessary lessons from the events in October [2000] and acquired the necessary equipment for dealing with such events. There is a continuous attempt to draw a parallel between the events, but Peki'in was a local incident," the officer said.
Police sources complained yesterday that the media opted to focus on the Druze population and the problems in the conduct of the police force, and not on the fact that the residents had prevented the officers from carrying out its mission, through the use of violence and weapons.
"The media failed to emphasize that this was a force that went on a legitimate police mission and which suffered injured policemen," a senior officer said.
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