Alik Ron, who was Northern District Police Commissioner during the Israeli-Arab riots of last October in which 13 Arabs were killed, said that the violence could have been foreseen \"if people had listened to what I was saying for years before.\" Ron testified today before the Orr Commission, which convenes in the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem. It is charged with finding the cause of the riots and deciding whether the police over-reacted to the violence. Ron began his testimony with a short historical overview of the Arab struggle against Jewish land purchases.
Regarding the October riots, Ron said that they basically began three years earlier during a violent demonstration in the Israeli-Arab town of Shfaram against the destruction of an illegal structure. \"The country\'s leaders, including President Ezer Weizman, appeased the rioters at the time and thus legitimized their complaints,\" Ron said. He also added that Israeli-Arab leaders \"poisonously incited their people for years against the State and blocked all attempts at dialogue.\"
He continued by saying that the extent of the Arab riots could have been predicted \"if they had listened to what I said over the years,\" and that in the event, last autumn\'s riots turned out to be \"a total surprise to all.\" In answer to a question by one of the Orr Commission members, he rejected any attempt to lay the blame for the breakout of violence on his outspoken stand against the Arab threat: \"I turned into a public enemy only because I stood in the breach and wanted to keep to the law.\" He reminded the committee that he had once been considered an enemy of the Yesha settlers because he had ordered their leaders\' arrests in Hevron.
Two groups demonstrated simultaneously outside the Supreme Court building, separated by police. One group shouted that Ron is a racist, and held pictures of the Arabs killed in the riots, while the other chanted that the Arabs in Israel are a ticking time bomb. One man said,
\"I have come here [from Holon, near Tel Aviv] to support Alik Ron, whom I believe deserves our great thanks. I think he is one of our national heroes of today. He warned a long time ago, well before today\'s terrorism, of the dangers of the Arab incitement, and of what was about to happen. People didn\'t listen to him, they said he was just looking for trouble, but the fact is that he knew exactly what he was talking about.\"
Regarding the October riots, Ron said that they basically began three years earlier during a violent demonstration in the Israeli-Arab town of Shfaram against the destruction of an illegal structure. \"The country\'s leaders, including President Ezer Weizman, appeased the rioters at the time and thus legitimized their complaints,\" Ron said. He also added that Israeli-Arab leaders \"poisonously incited their people for years against the State and blocked all attempts at dialogue.\"
He continued by saying that the extent of the Arab riots could have been predicted \"if they had listened to what I said over the years,\" and that in the event, last autumn\'s riots turned out to be \"a total surprise to all.\" In answer to a question by one of the Orr Commission members, he rejected any attempt to lay the blame for the breakout of violence on his outspoken stand against the Arab threat: \"I turned into a public enemy only because I stood in the breach and wanted to keep to the law.\" He reminded the committee that he had once been considered an enemy of the Yesha settlers because he had ordered their leaders\' arrests in Hevron.
Two groups demonstrated simultaneously outside the Supreme Court building, separated by police. One group shouted that Ron is a racist, and held pictures of the Arabs killed in the riots, while the other chanted that the Arabs in Israel are a ticking time bomb. One man said,
\"I have come here [from Holon, near Tel Aviv] to support Alik Ron, whom I believe deserves our great thanks. I think he is one of our national heroes of today. He warned a long time ago, well before today\'s terrorism, of the dangers of the Arab incitement, and of what was about to happen. People didn\'t listen to him, they said he was just looking for trouble, but the fact is that he knew exactly what he was talking about.\"