Barak sorry for Arab deaths in 2000

OCCUPIED AL-QUDS: Israeli election contender and ex-premier Ehud Barak apologised on Tuesday for the killing of Israeli Arabs in bloody 2000 protests, after an Arab lawmaker slammed him in a newspaper editorial.

Barak, who hopes to topple incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, held the post himself in 2000 when security forces killed 13 people when protests marking the annual "Land Day" turned violent.

Israeli Arab lawmaker Esawi Frej wrote in the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper on Tuesday that Barak must apologise and take responsibility for the deaths.

Earlier this month Frej, of the opposition Meretz party, ruled out an alliance with Barak’s Israel Democratic Party in the September general election because of the 2000 killings.