Adalah Submits Petition to the Supreme Court Demanding that the Commander of the Northern District, Alik Ron, be Removed from his Post

 

On 25 March, Adalah filed a motion for an injunction and a petition to the Supreme Court on behalf of 35 mayors of Arab towns and villages against the Minister Internal Security; The Chief of Police; and the Commander of the Northern District, Alik Ron. Adalah requested an injunction suspending Ron until the Or Commission completes its investigation and issues its recommendations.  The petition demands Ron’s permanent removal from his post. 

Adalah demanded that Alik Ron be prevented from commanding police forces for Land Day (30 March), for fear that the October events could be repeated if he remained in charge of police forces.  Adalah’s petition includes abundant evidence of Ron’s abuses of power.  Evidence cited in the petition includes:

·         Rons shooting of an Arab motorist for not stopping his car when ordered to do so; 

·         The 1998 events in al-Roha when under Ron’s command police used rubber bullets and tear gas against demonstrators and students and teachers in a high school resulting in the injury of 400 people; 

·         Ron’s statement to the media in 1999 in which he called all Arab MKs inciters;

·         The events during Land Day 2000, when lethal force was used against demonstrators resulting in the death of one woman and the injury of tens of others

·         Ron’s statement to the press that he had arrested members of a “terror cell” in Umm al-Fahem, when later reports confirmed that he had arrested individuals for criminal and not security offenses;

·         The events of October 2000, when under his command, 13 Palestinian citizens of Israel were shot dead, and hundreds more injured.

 

The petition called for Ron to be removed from his post on the grounds that public confidence had been breached, and that he had abused his duty as a public servant.  Adalah also maintained that the Supreme Court must intervene to ensure the safety of Palestinian citizens of Israel.

The Supreme Court refused to issue an injunction suspending Ron from his command.  The Court ordered the respondents to reply to the other issues raised in the petition within 20 days.