Besieged by gang violence, Palestinian citizens in Israel demand more security

KAFR YASIF, Israel — Nabil Safiya had taken a break from studying for a biology exam to meet a cousin at a pizza parlor when a gunman on a motorcycle rode past and fired, killing the 15-year-old as he sat in a black Renault.

The shooting — which police later said was a case of mistaken identity — stunned his hometown of Kafr Yasif, long besieged, like many Palestinian towns in Israel, by a wave of gang violence and family feuds.

''There is no set time for the gunfire anymore,'' said Nabil's father, Ashraf Safiya. ''They can kill you in school, they can kill you in the street, they can kill you in the football stadium.''

The violence plaguing Israel's Arab minority has become an inescapable part of daily life. Activists have long accused authorities of failing to address the issue and say that sense has deepened under Israel's current far-right government.

One out of every five citizens in Israel is Palestinian. The rate of crime-related killings among them is more than 22 times higher than that for Jewish Israelis, while arrest and indictment rates for those crimes are far lower. Critics cite the disparities as evidence of entrenched discrimination and neglect.

A growing number of demonstrations are sweeping Israel. Thousands marched in Tel Aviv late Saturday to demand action, while Arab communities have gone on strike, closing shops and schools.

In November, after Nabil was gunned down, residents marched through the streets, students boycotted their classes and the Safiya family turned their home into a shrine with pictures and posters of Nabil.

''There's a law for the Jewish society and a different law for Palestinian society,'' Ghassan Munayyer, a political activist from Lod, a mixed city with a large Palestinian population, said at a recent protest.

An epidemic of violence

Some Palestinian citizens have reached the highest echelons of business and politics in Israel. Yet many feel forsaken by authorities, with their communities marked by underinvestment and high unemployment that fuels frustration and distrust toward the state.

Nabil was one of a record 252 Palestinian citizens to be killed in Israel last year, according to data from Abraham Initiatives, an Israeli nongovernmental organization that promotes coexistence and safer communities. The toll continues to climb, with at least 26 additional crime-related killings in January.

Walid Haddad, a criminologist who teaches at Ono Academic College and who previously worked in Israel's national security ministry, said that organized crime thrives off weapons trafficking and loan‑sharking in places where people lack access to credit. Gangs also extort residents and business owners for ''protection,'' he said.

"If they fire at homes or people once or twice a month, they can buy cars, go on trips. It's easy money,'' Haddad said, noting a widespread sense of impunity.

The violence has stifled the rhythm of life in many Palestinian communities. In Kafr Yasif, a northern Israel town of 10,000, streets empty by nightfall, and it's not uncommon for those trying to sleep to hear gunshots ringing through their neighborhoods.

Prosecutions lag

Last year, only 8% of killings of Palestinian citizens led to charges filed against suspects, compared with 55% in Jewish communities, according to Abraham Initiatives.

Lama Yassin, the Abraham Initiatives' director of shared cities and regions, said strained relations with police long discouraged Palestinian citizens from calling for new police stations or more police officers in their communities.

''In recent years, because people are so depressed and feel like they're not able to practice day-to-day life ... Arabs are saying, ‘Do whatever it takes, even if it means more police in our towns,''' Yassin said.

The killings have become a rallying cry for Palestinian-led political parties after successive governments pledged to curb the bloodshed with little results. Politicians and activists see the spate of violence as a reflection of selective enforcement and police apathy.

"We've been talking about this for 10 years," said Knesset member Aida Touma-Suleiman.

She labeled policing in Palestinian communities ''collective punishment,'' noting that when Jews are victims of violence, police often set up roadblocks in neighboring Palestinian towns, flood areas with officers and arrest suspects en masse.

''The only side that can be able to smash a mafia is the state and the state is doing nothing except letting (organized crime) understand that they are free to do whatever they want,'' Touma-Suleiman said.

Israeli police reject allegations of skewed priorities, saying that killings in these communities are a top priority. Police also have said investigations are challenging because witnesses don't always cooperate.

''Investigative decisions are guided by evidence, operational considerations, and due process, not by indifference or lack of prioritization,'' police said in a statement.

Unanswered demands

In Kafr Yasif, Ashraf Safiya vowed his son wouldn't become just another statistic.

He had just gotten home from his work as a dentist and off the phone with Nabil when he learned about the shooting. He raced to the scene to find the car window shattered as Nabil was being rushed to the hospital. Doctors there pronounced him dead.

Authorities said last month they were preparing to file an indictment against a 23-year-old arrested in a neighboring town in connection with the shooting. They said the intended target was a relative, referring to the cousin with Nabil that night.

And they described Nabil as a victim of what they called "blood feuds within Arab society.''

At a late January demonstration in Kafr Yasif, marchers carried portraits of Nabil and Nidal Mosaedah, another local boy killed in the violence. Police broke up the protest, saying it lasted longer than authorized, and arrested its leaders, including the former head of the town council.

The show of force, residents said, may have quashed one protest, but did nothing to halt the killings.