In November 2000, the Israeli government announced the establishment of a commission of inquiry into the October events, to be headed by Judge Theodore Or. The mandate of the Commission was to investigate the clashes between the security forces and Arab and Jewish citizens, culminating in the death and injury of Israeli citizens. The commission released its findings on September 2, 2003.
The recommendations that came out of the Or Commission acknowledged the complexity of the relationship between the Palestinian citizens and the state of Israel. The findings discussed the historical background, the years of discrimination, the disenfranchising of the Palestinian citizens by the state. The commission chastised the behavior of the inciters, organizers and participants in the events from all sectors, and the security forces.
However, regarding accountability for the twelve Palestinian citizens who were killed, the Or Commission stated that they did not have enough information to indict. The Commission recommended that the police hold its own internal investigation of the police officers involved.
The Police Investigation Unit did nothing for a year. Then, as a starting point in their investigation, they demanded that the families of the bereaved exhume their sons and have autopsies performed, four years after the killings, long after there would be any forensic value to such autopsies. The families refused. On September 18, 2005, the Ministry of Justice’s Police Investigation Unit published their recommendations—to close all inquiries, citing lack of evidence and lack of cooperation from the families.
Initially, Israel’s Attorney General Menachem Mazuz backed the Police Investigation Unit’s recommendations, but, after intense political pressure from the Palestinian leadership inside Israel, including the families of the victims, he agreed to re-examine the findings.
On Januray 27, 2008, Mazuz announced at a press conference that he was supporting the the Police Investigation Unit’s decision of 2005, and closed the cases.
An inquiry commission headed by Theodore Or, was formed to further investigate the October 2000 events. Although the Or Commission’s conclusions reprimanded the police for excessive use of force as well as discrimination against Israel’s Palestinian citizens, none of those individually responsible for the killings of the Palestinian victims were tried by the Israeli justice system and all cases were eventually closed.