Ahead of Nakba Day

Demonstrations commemorating the Palestinian Nakba of 1948 started in Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank yesterday, and are supposed to spread to Israel itself tomorrow. One Palestinian teenager has been killed, and that will add to what has already been predicted to be an especially angry and violent Nakba Day.

The police says it will allow peaceful protests, and I hope it will stand by its word. However, it should not allow protesters within Israel to take over and block highways and main roads. If anything like that is attempted, or if demonstrations turn into violent riots, the police should use non-lethal means to disperse the demonstations. Live ammo must not be used unless the lives of civilians and police officers are in danger. We don't want October 2000 all over again, but neither do we want an internal Israeli-Arab Intifadah to start.