TEL AVIV, October 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Speaking at a memorial service in Umm al-Fahm Tuesday, October 1, to mark the second anniversary of the killing of 12 Israeli Arab and one Palestinian youths at the hands of Israeli forces, the chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, Shawqi Khatib, said that the Palestinian nation was "one and united."

Khatib blamed the "forces of occupation" for the deaths of the 13 young people, the Israeli daily newspaper, Haaretz, reported.

The 13 Arabs were killed by Israeli forces during demonstrations of solidarity with the Palestinians that exploded into violent clashes in the north of Israel after the outbreak of the current Al-Aqsa Intifada against Israeli occupation.

The Tuesday ceremony was attended by just 100 people, among them MKs Issam Makhoul (Hadash) and Hashem Mahameed (United Arab List) and the head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, Raad Salah, Haaretz reported.

The Umm al-Fahm ceremony was one of a number of events set for Tuesday, including services in Nazareth, Kafr Kana, Jat, Arabeh, Sakhnin and Kfar Manda, the hometowns of the 12 who were killed.

Israeli police said that dozens of young Arab volunteers from the Civil Guard will be on duty during the memorial services. Over the weekend, police steered clear of a memorial rally in Kfar Manda, attended by thousands, and the event passed without incident.

A governmental commission of enquiry into the October 2000 killings accused former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak of giving an order which led to the deaths the of 13 Israeli Arabs.

The Israeli panel, headed by high court judge Theodore Or, accused Barak of taking inappropriate measures when the protests erupted.

Speaking to the commission, Barak denied he ordered police to open a number of roads, blocked by rioters, "by any means," despite the risk to human life.

He also denied knowing the police were using snipers during the protests.

"There was no guidance. The Prime Minister does not deal with the question of what means the police use to deal with these situations ... whether they use truncheons or gas or whatever," he said.

The former Prime Minister also rejected the panel's accusations he had not anticipated the protests, saying he expected disturbances but not on the violent scale of those seen in October 2000.

"Riots that we have seen before on Land Day, I definitely expected," he said, referring to the annual protests marking the 1976 killing of six Israeli Arabs by Israeli troops during protests over confiscation of Arab lands.

Barak placed the blame for the outbreak of demonstrations squarely on "Arab separatist groups with a nationalist political agenda."

Among others, Barak explicitly blamed the National Democratic Alliance, headed by MK Azmi Bishara, the Bnei Kfar movement, and the Islamic Movement.

In response to charges he was ignorant of the situation in Arab society, Barak said he was aware of "deep gaps between Jews and Arabs in the Israeli society."