Israeli police neglect crimes against Palestinians in Israel: report

Israeli authorities have failed to address crime within Palestinian communities the same way they do within Jewish communities in Israel, a report by Israeli daily Haaretz said on Sunday.

Police have only solved 23 percent of murders in Palestinian communities in Israel this year, compared to 71 percent of solved cases in Jewish communities, Haaretz said, citing senior police official.

At least 64 Palestinians living in Israel have been murdered so far this year - including 10 from East Jerusalem - compared with 51 last year, a report by the Israeli daily said.

In Israel's Jewish community, the number has fallen - 21 murders in 2021, compared with 26 from last year, according to numbers collected by Haaretz, as Israeli police refuse to release data on solved cases.

According to the data, in the Palestinian community last year only one-third of murder cases of Palestinians resulted in indictments, while in the Jewish community two-thirds of the killings were solved.

This week, Tel Aviv budgeted over 1 billion shekels ($310 million) for a public security ministry plan to fight crime in Palestinian communities in Israel, which are often impoverished and neglected.

Both the state prosecution and the police admit they have been struggling.

"We have to tell the truth: For now we're not coping with the crime in the Arab community; we're not accomplishing what we wanted to accomplish," a senior prosecutor was quoted as saying in a closed meeting, referring to Palestinian communities in Israel.

"The law enforcement system is failing here and we have to act constantly to improve."

The police attribute the increase to the Palestinian community's high unemployment among young people, while rights groups say bigger issues, such as state discrimination against Palestinian communities, remains at play.

"A person with no future who can’t find employment in what he studied goes out to make a living in the world of crime," a senior police official told Haaretz.

"We have to encourage employment opportunities for young people in the Arab community; this is the main goal that the country must have."

Rights groups have accused Israel of pursuing policies of apartheid and persecution against Palestinians in Israel, in a bid to push them to leave the country.

In a report released in April, Human Rights Watch said Israel  discriminated against Palestinians, who make up roughly one in five of the Israeli population, systematically denying them basic rights granted to Jews.

"Across Israel and the (Palestinian territories), Israeli authorities have pursued an intent to maintain domination over Palestinians by exercising control over land and demographics for the benefit of Jewish Israelis," New York-based rights group said.

"On this basis, the report concludes that Israeli officials have committed the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution," as defined under the 1973 Apartheid Convention and the 1998 Rome Statute.

HRW argued that Israel has "demonstrated an intent to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians" in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, coupled with "systematic oppression" and "inhumane acts".

The report cited a range of policies it said are aimed at ensuring a Jewish majority in Israel and lands it intends to keep, while largely confining Palestinians to scattered enclaves under overarching Israeli control, with policies that encourage Palestinians to leave.