By Yoav Stern,
Haaretz Correspondent
Last update - 20:32 12/10/2008
Courtesy Of Haaretz Newspaper Online
Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday said that Israel's Arab population has long faced discrimination and urged an improvement in relations between all the country's citizens.
"There is no doubt that for many years there has been discrimination against the Arab population that stemmed from various reasons," Olmert told a group of Israeli Arab leaders.
Olmert met on Sunday with Israeli Arab representatives, including Higher Arab Monitoring Committee Chairman Shawki Khatib and MKs from various Arab parties.
They presented Olmert with a petition signed by more than 250,000 citizens demanding that an independent inquiry committee be established to re-examine the attorney general's decision not to indict any officers involved in the events of October 2000, during which 13 Israeli Arabs were shot dead by police.
Olmert told the group that it is not within his power to change or appeal the attorney general's decision regarding the events of October 2000, but that there is room for discussion on ways to improve relations between Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens.
President Shimon Peres also met with the group of Israeli Arab leaders on Sunday.
After both meetings, Khatib said that the participants were aware of the outgoing prime minister and president's limitations with regard to the attorney general decision. However, he added that Olmert and Peres's comments led to the conclusion that both knew justice had not been done in the case.
As for the recent Acre riots, Khatib said that had the findings of the Or Commission, which was established to investigate the 2000 conflict, been implemented, the Acre clashes could have been avoided.
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