Last update - 00:00 02/11/2007
In bid to calm tensions, Jewish community heads visit Peki'in
By Jonathan Lis and Jack Khoury , Haaretz Correspondents
Officials from the mostly Druze town of Peki'in met on Friday with Jewish community leaders to emphasize the importance of good relations, following Tuesday's violent clashes between police and Druze residents.
The clashes left dozens injured, including three people who sustained injuries after police shot them using live rounds.
The clashes were sparked when a large police force entered Peki'in to arrest people suspected of setting fire to a disupted antenna installed in the town. Dozens of people were injured.
Council heads from the frontline communities - towns or cities located near Israel's northern border - met with their Druze counterparts. The leaders vowed to continue cooperation in order to preserve good relations between Jews and the Druze in the north.
To help ease tensions, the brother and father of the man on whose property the cellular antenna was installed also visited Peki'in on Friday. They met with the local council head and toured the town.
The head of the Ma'alot Tarshiha council, Shlomo Buhbut, spoke on Friday afternoon with Public Security Avi Dichter and asked him to remove checkpoints erected at the entrance to Peki'in, and to order police off the town's streets.
Police show photos of Peki'in Druze wrecking Jewish house
Police released photos Thursday showing several masked men from Peki'in destroying Jewish-owned property during the violent clashes.
Sources in the police's Northern District said the images caught by security cameras refute the claims that the police were responsible for the clashes. The Druze municipal heads forum, meanwhile, demanded the formation of a committee of inquiry headed by a judge to review the events.
Hurfeish Mayor Rakad Khir a-Din reacted to the release of the photos by saying that the public is facing "a conscious decision by the police to lie and misrepresent the facts, aimed to shield the senior officers who are responsible for this failure of an operation."
The members of the forum stated their demand in a letter they sent to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres. "This is a group of thugs who have been embittering the lives of the residents of the Peki'in Hahadasha neighborhood. The cellular antenna story was only a catalyst," a source said.
The images released by police show masked men arriving at a house belonging to one of several Jewish families living in the town after police left the village. A woman is seen hanging laundry out to dry in her backyard as the group arrives and starts destroying property.
Police Commissioner David Cohen said Wednesday he would appoint a committee of inquiry to investigate the clash. Cohen announced he would appoint the committee after Druze leaders and Arab MKs accused the police of brutality and demanded an inquiry into the police's conduct. Some 27 police officers were among the wounded.
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