Jerusalem, Sept 14: Palestine Cabinet today voted in favour of adopting the recommendations contained in the report issued by the ORR Commission of inquiry into the October 2000 riots in which police killed 12 Israeli Arabs and a Palestinian during clashes in the north of the country, local media reported. The Cabinet also voted to accept personal sanctions recommended by the ORR Commission report. The Commission suggested that Shlomo Ben-Ami, who was minister of public security at the time of the unrest, not be allowed to serve again in the same post.
It also recommended that two senior officers be dismissed from their posts and that then national police chief, Yehuda Wilk, and the man who headed the police northern command at the time, Alek Ron, not be allowed to serve in sensitive state security posts again.
The Cabinet also decided to set up a ministerial committee to study ways to implement the findings of the report. The committee has 60 days to submit its recommendations.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Cabinet that Israeli Arabs were still far from achieving full equality, and that the lessons of the ORR report would be learned with regard to the actions of the police.
"Israeli-Arabs have a right to equality that is theirs by law and not by grace - a situation we are still far from achieving. The government I head has placed this issue very high up on its list of priorities," Ha'aretz quoted Sharon as telling to ministers. Bureau Report