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Israeli Arab leaders call on gov't to fight crime

Xinhua, March 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israeli Arab leaders Thursday called on the government to act upon the soaring internal crime within the Arab society, which claimed 416 lives over the past five years.

Leaders of Israel's Arab parties gathered in the town of Taibe, north of Tel Aviv, to sign a treaty in which they pledged to put the struggle against internal crime on top of government agenda after the upcoming March 17 elections.

The treaty calls on the police to collect illegal weapons from Arab villages and towns, and to allocate more budgets to fight against crime.

The internal crime mainly includes thefts, robberies, criminal gangs and drug trade.

Crime has been flourishing in major Arab towns, amid discrimination in budget allocations and negligence by the governments.

According to a recent statement by the Minister of Public Security Yitzhak Aharonovich, the police need additional 500 million shekels (about 125 U.S. dollar) and about 500 more policemen in order to deal with the issue.

"We demand the government to uproot the problem, and to put as much effort into eradicating killings within Arab society as it put within Israeli communities," said Ayman Odeh, Chairman of the Joint Arab List (a newly formed coalition of all Arab factions).

Kamal Ryan, head of the Aman Center for safe Arab communities, said that 1,050 Arabs were killed by Arab citizens since October 2000.

He said that during the same period, 51 Arabs were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces. According to him, this data should be seen as a warning light to Arab society.

Arab citizens compose some 20 percent of the Israeli population. Endit