The police internal investigations unit launched a probe Thursday into the circumstances surrounding the wounding of an Israeli Arab by Border Police gunfire in Kafr Kassem, north of Rosh Ha'ayin, earlier in the day. The man, a resident of the village, was moderately to seriously hurt.
According to Border Police, they opened fire after village residents began throwing stones at them in protest of an arrest of a Palestinian suspected of staying in Israel illegally.
The policemen said they were patrolling the village market, searching for people who were staying in Israel illegally, and questioned the Israeli man, a garage owner, and one of his employees, who they suspected was a Palestinian staying in the country without a permit. Local residents said, however, that the police arrested the garage owner's son and not a Palestinian man.
After they interrogated the garage owner and his employee, some 100 residents began hurling stones at the police vehicle, breaking its windshield. The policemen called for reinforcements and then proceeded to fire live rounds.
The policemen claimed they fired in the air, yet witnesses reported that the garage was riddled with bullets. Three local residents and four border policemen were lightly injured in the clashes.
