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Israeli President Reuven Rivlin made a historic visit to the Israeli Arab village of Kfar Qasim on Sunday and condemned a 1956 massacre conducted by Israeli security forces, which left 49 Arabs dead.
This is the first time an Israeli president attended a memorial ceremony commemorating the massacre that occurred targeted the Arab town in central Israel. Rivlin termed the massacre a " terrible crime" adding it "weighed heavily on Israel's collective conscience," according to a statement from his office.
"I come here today as the son of the Jewish people and the President of Israel to you, the victims, to share your pain of memory of the crime that was committed here," Rivlin said.
"The criminal killing that took place in your village is an irregular and dark chapter in the history of the relationship between Arabs and Jews living here," Rivlin said on Sunday, "a serious crime was committed and needs to be repaired," he added. " We must look directly at what happened and teach the future generations about it."
The massacre took place on Oct. 29, 1956, following the Suez crisis in Sinai when Israel imposed martial law over the Arab residents in Israel. The military imposed a curfew citing a security threat, though the message did not reach all of the citizens.
Enforcing the curfew, border police officers opened fire at the residents and killed 49 of the village's residents, including men, women and children plus an unborn baby as they were making their way home from work, unaware of the newly imposed curfew.
An Israeli court found the order to open fire illegal and eight officers were sentenced to prison terms but were pardoned before serving their full penalties.
Rivlin also addressed the difficulties Arab citizens in Israel are facing and urged the government to operate and end "years of discrimination," advocating for increased budgets for education, infrastructure and welfare, as well as initiatives that work to fight the Jewish racism against Arabs, who constitute 20 percent of Israel's population, and called upon both sides to strive to live peacefully together.
Rivlin addressed the heated tensions and clashes in east Jerusalem (home to more than 300,000 Arab Israelis), where, on Thursday, an Israeli infant was killed and seven others injured when an Arab Israeli from east Jerusalem ran them over in an apparent militant attack.
"This murderous attack is another stain in the history of the tragedy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, through which Jews and Arabs have struggled through for the past 150 years," he said, condemning the attack.
"I came here not in spite of what is happening in Jerusalem, but rather in light of the terror and violence rampaging through Jerusalem. I've come to reach out to you in the belief that your hand will be extended back to me and the Jewish community," he concluded. Enditem
