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Barak sure police followed orders to show restraint Former prime minister Ehud Barak said yesterday that even though he heard that up to nine Israeli Arabs had been killed by the evening of October 2, 2000, he was certain police had followed his orders to show restraint. He said he thought the casualties were caused because the police had been forced to open fire because their lives were threatened. Barak testified yesterday before the Or Judicial Com-mission of Inquiry into the riots during which 13 Israeli Arabs were shot to death by police. The commission, comprised of Supreme Court Justice Theodore Or, Tel Aviv University Prof. Shimon Shamir, and Nazareth District Court Judge Hashem Khatib, is due to reconvene today to conclude Barak's testimony. Barak rejected the allegations raised by the commission in the letter it sent to him on February 27. It warned Barak that he could be harmed if it came to the conclusion that he had not been sufficiently aware of developments; that he ordered the Wadi Ara road (Route 65) to be opened at all costs; that he did not give sufficient thought to the riots; that he did not ask for substantive reports from the police on the fatal incidents; or that he did not keep a proper record of his meetings to assess the situation on September 30 and October 1. Barak, who spoke forcefully and at length, maintained that he was well aware of the situation in the Arab community, but that neither he nor anyone else had predicted the outbreak of 'riots on a widespread scale that constituted an earthquake.' He repeated this statement several times, apparently trying to define the riots according to a formula that would sink into the consciousness of the commission members. Barak explained that the elements of the 'earthquake' included 'a high level of violence, nationalist energy, threats to the lives of policemen, dragging Jewish motorists out of their cars, setting fire to cars, and threatening to attack Jewish settlements.' 'Those who claim to have foreseen these developments are lying,' he added. Barak also denied that he had given orders to open Route 65 at all costs. He said that during a meeting to assess the situation at his house on the evening of October 1, he had said that the supreme goal is to calm the situation and that he had called for restraint on the part of police. He said that on the advice of then inspector-general Yehuda Wilk, he had ordered police to open the blocked intersection and the access road to Umm el-Fahm during the night, when the rioters were asleep. But he added that it was understood that if there was a danger of clashes and casualties the following day, police should close it again. In fact, police fought with rioters at the intersection the following day, and snipers from the anti-terrorist unit shot and killed two youths. Barak said the decision whether or not to open the road was a delicate one: Had he agreed to leave the road closed, he might have encouraged the rioters to continue with their violence and close more roads. Barak was asked about statements he made to Israel Radio early in the morning of October 2 and, two hours later, to the cabinet. In the interview, he said he had given police 'the green light' to keep the road open. He told the cabinet, 'We must find the way to keep the roads open.' He maintained that in making these statements, he was trying to calm the public. 'There were many citizens whose sense of security had been undermined,' he said. 'I am sure this was the right message for the prime minister to convey to them.' Asked whether he had given 'sufficient thought' to the events in the Israeli Arab community, Barak explained that he was forced to deal with many crucial issues at the same time. These included violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, intelligence reports that Hizbullah planned to kidnap soldiers, and the failing peace talks. Barak added that he also received reports about developments on October 1, but he still hoped that the riots could be contained. It was only after the events of October 2 that it became obvious that Israel was facing an entirely new situation in the Israeli Arab community. Barak was asked why he did not investigate why there were so many casualties. Had he done so, he might have realized that the police were shooting rubber bullets too freely or making use of snipers. He replied that he assumed that if the police used rubber bullets, it was because their lives were threatened. 'On October 1, there were 40-50 incidents and dozens of people were wounded by rubber bullets,' Or said. 'These facts were placed on your desk. Should you not have asked questions?' Barak replied: 'It was not my job and not my responsibility.'
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