Chairman Ayman Odeh of the Joint List of predominantly Arab parties has responded to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's Sunday-evening statement that the leadership of the Israeli Arab population should cooperate with the authorities to combat the violence in Arab society.
Odeh said, "The test of the declarations - a government decision for a systematic program to combat violence, and begin to implement it immediately. It's unthinkable that 20 percent of the population must break the rules and block roads in order for the government to address the problem that has been taking innocent lives for many years." He added, "I urge the police to treat the demonstrators as civilians and not enemies. We will do what is needed to live in a weapons-free society."