Reliving Bloody October.(Orr Commission examines Israeli police behavior)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Inside the crowded hearing room at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, emotions were stretched taut. As an inquiry began last Monday into the shooting deaths of 13 Arab Israelis in October, policeman Alexander Shvatzinsky was testifying about his role in quelling riots in the village of Jatt in northern Israel. Suddenly, the sister of an Arab killed there, 21-year-old Rami Ghara, jumped from her first-row seat. "Liar!" she screamed, hurling a pair of headphones at the policeman's head. Minutes later Druze policeman Morshad Rashad stepped into the witness box. "Criminal, criminal," Ghara's mother shrieked, "God should take you, you murdered my son." Her husband, sitting a few feet from the witness stand, then leapt on the cop and pummeled him in the back. As family members joined the assault, the shaken presiding judge, Theodor Orr, ordered the courtroom cleared.

And that was only the first day of testimony. Last week's melee set the tone for what could be one of Israel's most devastating self- examinations in years. In the coming weeks, the Orr Commission intends to shine a light on the tactics employed by Israeli police in squelching protests by Arab citizens across northern Israel after Ariel Sharon's incendiary visit to the Temple Mount on Sept. 29. In addition to the 13 people killed, more than 800 were injured, placing the clashes among the worst episodes of government-sponsored violence committed against Arab Israelis since independence. Israeli's media have covered the hearings closely, and interest among the country's Jewish population, while slack at first, appears to be growing. The testimony has not flattered the authorities. In four days of hearings, Israeli police admitted for the first time that they used live ammunition against rock-throwing demonstrators. They also revealed that they'd been equipped with neither tear gas nor water cannons, and that they had a muddled understanding of the rules of engagement. "The government treated the protesters as if they were enemies," said Ahmed Tibi, an Arab member of the Knesset who observed the proceedings.

The hearings did not come easily. Prime Minister Ehud Barak initially praised the performance of the police in northern Israel and resisted calls for an official inquiry. But growing pressure from Arab leaders, human-rights groups and liberal members of the Knesset finally forced him to relent. Last November a three-member panel was ...