"Palestinians in Israel are reaching breaking point in the face of endemic crime and government neglect. Weighing up his options on a Monday morning in January, Ali Zbeedat, a longtime shopkeeper from Sakhnin, a small Palestinian-majority town in Israel's north, decided he had had enough. Earlier that day, the widespread and organised criminality that plagues Sakhnin and countless other Palestinian towns and villages across Israel had come to his door."
"What began as protests in Sakhnin quickly galvanised public opinion against criminal gangs to levels described by commentators as historic, with tens of thousands of people, both Palestinian and Jewish Israeli, taking to the streets of Tel Aviv and choking traffic in Jerusalem over the weekend to demonstrate against the organised crime that has been allowed to leach the lifeblood out of Israel's remaining Palestinian communities."
Widespread organised criminality and perceived government neglect are driving Palestinian citizens in Israel to a breaking point. Repeated armed attacks and death threats forced longtime shopkeeper Ali Zbeedat in Sakhnin to close his businesses, triggering further closures in protest. The local actions sparked mass demonstrations across the country, with tens of thousands of Palestinians and Jewish Israelis joining street protests in major cities. Violence has had a heavy toll, with 252 Palestinians murdered in Israel in 2025. The dynamic has highlighted deep insecurity in Palestinian towns and sparked rare, broad public outcry against criminal gangs.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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