The plot continues to thicken following the clashes in the Druze-Jewish village of Peki’in Tuesday. New video evidence shows that Druze Arabic-speaking residents opened fire on the Israeli police first.
Police say that they have video tape evidence showing, without a doubt, that a number of Druze residents from the village opened fire on police, leading the officers to respond with live ammunition. The video features gunfire followed by police yelling “they are shooting at us!”
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter received the video Wednesday upon his return from a visit to the United States. After speaking with Police Chief Dudi Cohen and paying a visit to the wounded police officers in the hospital, Dichter said that what happened in Peki’in was like "a pogrom and must not be allowed to become the norm.”
Dichter said the mob aimed to kill police. “Huge blocks were thrown from the roofs of homes with the intention of killing police – no less than that,” he said. He expressed his support for Cohen’s decision to establish an inquiry into the incident and also praised the police for releasing arrested rioters in return for the female border police officer held hostage during the riots.
Eyewitnesses in Peki’in say the cell phone tower erected in a nearby Jewish community, while upsetting to Druze residents, was not the reason for the riots.
“There is a growing group of anti-establishment youth here, who already on Monday [a day before the big riot] torched a police car, with the officers fleeing for their lives,” Jewish resident Aviv Ziegelman told the Yisrael HaYom newspaper. “They received word Monday night that the police were coming and prepared iron clubs, IDF-issue grenades and even handguns – it felt like a Hamas rally here with shooting in the air and everything.”
Ziegelman said that police surrounded the village and seemed to be waiting for the mob to quiet down before entering. “But when a grenade was thrown at police they had no choice but to go in.”
The findings of the inquiry are due to be presented in two weeks. Meanwhile, Machash – the Division for the Investigation of Police Officers – is also following up on several complaints lodged by local Druze residents against police.