NAZARETH, January 23, 2017 (WAFA) – A convoy of vehicles set out on Monday from the town of Qalansowa, in the center of Israel, to Jerusalem to protest the practice of home demolitions by the Israeli authorities against Arab towns.

The protest was called for after the Israeli authorities demolished homes in the Arab town of Qalansowa and later used violence to evict Arab residents of an Umm al-Hiran area in the Naqab in the south of Israel that resulted in police shooting dead of a local resident.

The convoy headed toward the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in West Jerusalem as protesters raised black flags as a sign of mourning.

Mohammad Baraka, chairman of the Higher Arab Follow-up Committee, said the convoy is a message to the Israeli leaders that the Palestinian community in Israel will not stand still as crimes, based on instructions by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his minsters are perpetrated against them.

Meanwhile, Arab in the Naqab are planning another protest on Tuesday against Israeli holding of the corpse of Yacoub Abu al-Qeean, the 50-year-old Umm al-Hiran math teacher and father of five, who was shot dead by the police after they claimed he ran them over with his car killing one member.

The family said police opened fire at Abu al-Qeean, hitting him in the foot which causing him to lose control over his car after he stepped on the gas pedal and hit the officer.

M.N./M.K.