A general and comprehensive strike prevails in the city of Umm al-Fahm in northern occupied Palestine, the second largest Arab city within the Green Line, in protest against the continuing widespread crime and murder, and the failure of the Israeli police to pursue criminal gangs and arrest those involved.
The strike included shops, public and private institutions, as well as all schools, including private and vocational education, and even distance learning.
The municipality of Umm al-Fahm declared 3 days of mourning after a young man was shot dead two days ago near his home, the fourth of the same family to be killed within a year and a half.
The municipality called for the strike to succeed "so that we can deliver our message to the official institutions, and form a means of pressure on them to take action in order to preserve the lives of our children and the safety and security of our youth."
The heads of the municipalities of Umm al-Fahm and Arara, and a number of municipal council members in Wadi Ara, announced their resignation for a month, to pressure the Israeli government to adopt a comprehensive plan to combat violence.
The people of the city demonstrated several times in the past weeks to protest the widespread crime, which prompted the Israeli police to arrest 4 Palestinians.
The demonstrators accuse the Israeli police of partnering with those gangs and covering them up, as the number of victims of these gangs in Arab towns within the Green Line reached 113 dead during the past year.