General strike in Palestine goes ahead despite Israeli threats

Palestinians in villages and towns within the Green Line, including al-Jalil, al-Mothalath and al-Naqab, went on a general strike Sunday following a decision by the Higher Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel. The decision came after the murder of Khair Hamdan by the Israeli police on Saturday night. Hamdan had attacked a police car, but was running away when shot at close range in the back, according to footage from a surveilance video.

Instead of calling an ambulance and providing treatment, the police could be seen dragging a still living Hamdan along the ground before throwing him in the police car.

Thousands of Israel’s Arab citizens took part in a mass funeral for Hamdan in his hometown of Kafr Kanna, while angry protesters demonstrated in the town and other areas. Clashes with Israeli police followed, and three Palestinians from the town were arrested.

Arab citizens of Israel are organising more protests for Monday. Meanwhile, according to Israeli police chief Yohanan Danino, the police are on high alert, deploying thousands of officers in Arab towns and villages to prevent protests under the pretext of “combating riots”.

Though a video of the incident shows Hamdan was shot in the back, the Israeli police chief announced his full support for the patrol officers who killed Hamdan.

The Israeli police chief announced his full support for the patrol officers who killed Hamdan.

In addition, the Israeli government stepped up measures to prevent protests. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu announced the government would not tolerate “riots” and would block all main roads in the area of the riots. He added he had ordered the Ministry of Interior to consider the possibility of withdrawing citizenship from anyone “calling for the annihilation of Israel”.

Israeli ministers rushed to justify the police killing. The Minister of Internal Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch announced the police acted the way they were expected to, while the minister of economy and head of the Jewish Home party Naftali Bennett claimed Hamdan was “a crazed Arab terrorist [who] attacked a police car that our officers were in, in an attempt to murder them”. Construction Minister Uri Ariel said “whoever believes in containment in Jerusalem will, in the end, have to deal with terrorism in Kafr Kana”.

In contrast, the Higher Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel called the Israeli government to “investigate the circumstances surrounding the murder of Khair Hamdan”, blaming the police for the crime.

The Committee also called for those responsible to be prosecuted. Palestinians across Israel called for the dismissal of the Israeli Chief of Police Yohanan Danino and Minister of Internal Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch.

Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, stated “there is a direct link between Aharonovitch calling for the killing of anyone who attempts to execute an operation and the police officers killing martyr Khair Hamdan on Saturday night, even after he stepped away from the police car and was no longer a threat to the officers”.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.