An Israeli Arab rammed his vehicle into a group of police officers on Wednesday, killing one of them before he was shot dead during clashes in southern Israel over a court-ordered operation to demolish illegally built homes, police said. He said further clashes ensued in which several policemen were wounded. The Israeli Arab was later identified as Yaakub Abu al-Qiyan. His brother, Ahmad, said he was “murdered in cold blood.”Lawmaker Ayman Odeh, head of the Arab Joint List in the Israeli parliament, was wounded in the clashes, along with several others. The Israeli government recently vowed to crack down harder on illegal Arab construction following criticism from Jewish West Bank settlers, who face a court-ordered evacuation of an illegally built outpost and who demanded the law be enforced equally.

Source: Hindustan Times January 18, 2017 09:15 UTC