Hundreds of Palestinian students rallied today in the universities of Haifa and Tel Aviv and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in protest of the ongoing crime wave across the Arab sector in Israel and the failure of the Israeli police to take serious action against this phenomenon. During the demonstration, students raised banners condemning all forms of violence and murder, including ‘Arab blood is not cheap,’ ‘Yes, we bear responsibility and we face it responsibly,’ and ‘The police are partners in crime.’ On Thursday, five Palestinian nationals of Israel, including a 15-year-old, were shot dead at a carwash in the town of Yafa an-Naseriyye, an Arab town near the city of Nazareth. Since the start of the year, 100 people have been killed in crime-related violence in Arab communities in the 1948-occupied territories, according to NGOs. Palestinians have long blamed the Israeli police for turning a blind eye to gun violence among Arab Israelis and even complicity with criminal gangs. Arabs in today’s Israel are Palestinians who stayed on their land following the establishment of the occupying state in 1948 and their descendants. They make up about 20 percent of the country’s nine million people. By law, their rights are equal to those of Jewish citizens. But in practice they suffer discrimination in employment, housing, policing and other essentials.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA