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Last update - 12:11 28/01/2008 Arab rights group to seek UN invervention on October 2000 riots case By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Adalah, Israeli Arabs  The Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights said it would turn to the United Nations after Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced Sunday he would not seek the indictments of police officers involved in the deaths of 13 Arab civilians during the riots of October, 2000. Mazuz released an official legal opinion Sunday, reaffirming the Justice Ministry's Police Investigations Department (PID) decision from September, 2005 to terminate the investigation into the officers' actions. The Arab citizens were rioting in solidarity with the Palestinian intifada which had just begun in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the riots, which lasted some 10 days, 12 Israeli Arabs and one Palestinian resident of the Gaza Strip were shot and killed by Israeli police and security forces during violent demonstrations at the entrance to Umm al-Fahm. Advertisement "We have exhausted the proceedings in Israel," Adalah director Hassan Jabareen said. "We will seek the involvement of the United Nations as well as foreign nations which have the authority to rule on universal matters." Adalah held a press conference after Mazuz's report was released, with the families of the 13 casualties and the head of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, Shuweiki Hatib. The organization announced that they have no intention of petitioning the High Court of Justice over this matter, but announced their plan to seek international legal mediation. In his official declaration, Mazuz said that in addition to many evidentiary problems that stem from the long period of time that has passed since the incident, "we had to take into consideration the fact that the incident involved on-the-spot judgment in an emergency situation, under circumstances that don't justify the casting of criminal blame." He nonetheless added that this "should not be taken to mean that [involvement in] the incidents should not affect the officers' careers." He appended to the document which he released a report written by the state prosecution team, headed by assistant state prosecutor Shai Nitzan, which describes in over 500 pages the evidence gathered in the case and the difficulties that arose during the course of the investigation. The team, which included five attorneys, dedicated thousands of hours to the examination of evidence and reports compiled by the Or Commission, which was appointed to investigate the riots. Dozens of meetings were held, some attended by the attorney general. Some investigations of the actions of certain officers during the riots are still pending. In his announcement, Mazuz said that two incidents could still result in indictments against officers "since there is still a certain potential for completing this probe." The attorney general noted that exploring that "potential" would entail exhuming bodies of some of the casualties. The bodies, he explained, may contain bullets that could be cross-checked with weapons the officers had used. Legal sources told Haaretz that exhuming the bodies does not guarantee indictments, "but there is a certain chance it will bring about that result." The families of the casualties, however, have thus far refused to allow the authorities to exhume the bodies. "This refusal carries a price when it comes to conducting this investigation," the legal sources said. The release of the official ruling on the proceedings in the case was delayed by approximately one year, after Adalah, which is a complainant in the affair, submitted a report in late 2006 to the State Prosecutor's Office, in which it claimed that PID ignored the recommendations of the Or Commission by failing to investigate the deaths fully. The report called for the immediate prosecution of the officers involved. Mazuz said Sunday that the official document he wrote includes specific responses to the claims raised by Adalah in the 2006 report. "The end result, which was the killing of 13 people, is troubling and disturbing," Mazuz wrote in conclusion. "Yet we have only one legal system, and the law is very clear when it comes to criminal culpability and the rules for prosecution. Therefore, and in the absence of sufficient evidence for determining the culpability of the people involved in these events, there was no choice but to close the case." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Officer convicted A military court convicts an IDF officer who led troops in a West Bank rampage. A different Anne Frank A Dutch Jewish condemns the distribution of a postcard of Anne Frank wearing kaffiyeh.

Today Online Bradley Burston: What if the Hillary haters were right all along? Responses: 13 Source: Jerusalem issue to be left for last in peace talks Responses: 38 IAF wounds 4 Hamas men in strike on armored car in Gaza Responses: 24 Officials: Israel won't let Gaza breach threaten security Responses: 53 Haaretz TV: Lavish Israeli Bat Mitzvahs - when excess is best Responses: 10 Arab rights group to seek UN intervention in Oct. 2000 riots case Send response Rosner's Domain Two days before the Florida primary, Rudy seeks solace in football The best Jewish date (What To Read) McCain using support for Israel to court Jews - and Christians Poll: How important is Israel in the 2008 election? More Headlines 07:38 Source: J'lem will be last topic on peace agenda 08:07 Officials: Israel won't let Gaza border breach threaten security 12:10 Reservists freeze campaign against PM ahead of war report 23:48 Report: Barak met secretly with Pakistan's Musharraf last week 09:48 Zionism in the Holocaust: Lodz Ghetto Jew dreams of statehood 09:41 Report: Egypt arrests dozens of armed Palestinians in Sinai 10:07 Tel Aviv homeless man becomes 6th victim of recent cold spell 11:15 Iran says it is close to resuming ties with Egypt cut in 1979 11:23 German Green Party uses cat that looks like Hitler to slam rightists 11:33 Israel said planning to apologize to ex-Beatles for '65 concert ban 05:06 EU foreign ministers to meet Monday to revamp Palestinian aid plan 10:02 Arab FMs nix Syrian bid to strengthen Hezbollah as 8 killed in Lebanon 09:39 In unprecedented ruling, court jails employer for underpaying staff Previous Editions Select Day 27 jan 25 jan 24 jan 23 jan 22 jan 21 jan 20 jan 18 jan 17 jan 16 jan 15 jan 14 jan

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