Israeli settler violence

Swedish volunteer Tove Johannson (pictured) suffered a broken cheekbone from a hit in the face with a bottle by an Israeli settler in Hebron on November 18, 2006. She and other European members of the International Solidarity Movement sought to escort Palestinian children from home from school.[1][2]

Israeli settler violence refers to acts of violence committed by Jewish Israeli settlers and their supporters against Palestinians and Israeli security forces, predominantly in the West Bank. Although the majority of settlers do not engage in violence,[3] there has been a rise in violent acts by extremists against Palestinians, non-Jews, Israel Police and IDF troops in the early twenty-first century.[4] In 2007 Israeli prosecutors determined that of 515 criminal suits relating to violent activity committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and Israeli security forces, 502 were related to right wing Jewish settlers in the Occupied Territories.[5][6] In 2008, the senior Israeli commander in the West Bank said that a hard core of a few hundred activists were involved in violence against the Palestinians and Israeli soldiers.[7]

Some prominent Jewish religious figures living in the occupied territories, as well as Israeli government officials, have condemned and expressed outrage over such behavior,[8] while religious justifications for settler killings have also been given.[9] While Israeli media claims the defense establishment began taking a harder line against unruly settlers starting in 2008,[4] an EU heads of mission report found that settler violence had more than tripled in the three years up to 2011.[10] United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) figures state that the annual rate of settler attacks (2,100 attacks in 8 years) has almost quadrupled between 2006 and 2014.[11]

Palestinian police are forbidden from reacting to acts of violence by Israeli settlers, a fact which diminishes their credibility among Palestinians.[12] UN figures from 2011 showed that 90% of complaints filed against settlers by Palestinians with the Israeli police never led to indictment.[3]

Israel's settlement policy

Settlements (darker pink) and areas of the West Bank (lighter pink) where access by Palestinians was closed or restricted at the time. Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, January 2006.

Israel has justified its civilian settlements by stating the territories in question are not occupied but disputed[13] and that a temporary use of land and buildings for various purposes appears permissible under a plea of military necessity and that the settlements fulfilled security needs.[14] The United Nations affirmed the principle of international law that the continuation of colonialism in all its forms and manifestations is a crime and that colonial peoples have the inherent right to struggle by all necessary means at their disposal against colonial Powers and alien domination in exercise of their right of self-determination.[15] National liberation struggles are categorized as international armed conflicts by Article 1(4) of the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 to which the majority of states (including the Western states) are parties.[16][17] The International Court of Justice concluded that Israel had breached its obligations under international law by establishing settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and that Israel cannot rely on a right of self-defence or on a state of necessity in order to preclude the wrongfulness of imposing a régime, which is contrary to international law. The Court also concluded that the Israeli régime violates the basic human rights of the Palestinians by impeding the liberty of movement of the inhabitants of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (with the exception of Israeli citizens) and their exercise of the right to work, to health, to education and to an adequate standard of living.[18]

In Hebron, where 500-600 settlers live among 167,000 Palestinians, B'Tselem argues that there have been "grave violations" of Palestinian human rights because of the "presence of the settlers within the city." The organization cites regular incidents of "almost daily physical violence and property damage by settlers in the city", curfews and restrictions of movement that are "among the harshest in the Occupied Territories", and violence and by Israeli border policemen and the IDF against Palestinians who live in the city's H2 sector.[19][20][21]

Human Rights Watch reports on physical violence against Palestinians by settlers, including, "frequent[ly] stoning and shooting at Palestinian cars. In many cases, settlers abuse Palestinians in front of Israeli soldiers or police with little interference from the authorities."[22]

B'Tselem also says that settler actions include "blocking roadways, so as to impede Palestinian life and commerce. The settlers also shoot solar panels on roofs of buildings, torch automobiles, shatter windowpanes and windshields, destroy crops, uproot trees, abuse merchants and owners of stalls in the market. Some of these actions are intended to force Palestinians to leave their homes and farmland, and thereby enable the settlers to gain control of them."[23]

Causes of violence

Many Israeli settlers believe that their religion entitles them to the land of biblical Israel. According to a 2003 survey, nearly 40% of settlers in the West Bank "live there out of a belief in a divinely ordained mission to inhabit the land".[24]

Human rights group B'Tselem says that the violence is "a means to harass and intimidate Palestinians" and that the evacuations are a necessary part of the peace process. According to B'Tselem that when a building is evacuated by the Israeli government, settlers lash out at Palestinians because they're "easy victims" and as a means to widen the area under settler control.[25]

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who deals with the settlements issue in the northern West Bank said, These groups of settlers are organised and support each other...If there’s an outpost evacuation, they call people from Hebron to Jenin to stop the Palestinians working on their lands. Michael Sfard, a lawyer with Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group which monitors the violation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, stated that there are between a few dozen and a few hundred extremist settlers using a tactic called Price Tagging: if the Government sends police or soldiers to dismantle an outpost that is being built, the settlers make the Palestinian population pay the price. While people in the outpost are confronting the security forces, others start harassing Palestinians forcing commanders to divert men from the outpost and making them think twice about launching future operations. It’s such a big headache that many of the relevant authorities give up without trying and the outposts are quickly rebuilt once the army gives up and leaves.[26]

Criticism of violence by settler leaders

The violence by extremist settlers against Palestinians has been condemned by leading religious, political and municipal figures in the West Bank, including Rabbi Menachem Fruman of Tekoa, who said: "Targeting Palestinians and their property is a shocking thing, (...) It's an act of hurting humanity. (...) This builds a wall of fire between Jews and Arabs."[8] According to Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, "most of those extreme right wing activists" are not settlers and do not represent the settlements community.[27]

The Yesha Council and former Knesset member Hanan Porat has also condemned violence against Palestinians. "The ‘price tag’ response is immoral," Porat said. "It’s unheard of that one needs to burn the vineyards and fields of Arabs. It’s immoral…and it gives legitimacy to those who are interested in undermining the outpost issue. It’s a very grave matter."[28]

Yesha Council is the umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The council chairman Dani Dayan said that settlers must not use violence to advance their means. He said that such actions were "morally bankrupt" and only serve to "hinder the settlers' struggle."[29]

Justifications of settler violence

When an 11-year-old Palestinian girl from Nablus was killed by settlers in 1983, in their defense, the chief rabbi of the Sephardic community reportedly cited a Talmudic text justifying killing an enemy on occasions when one may see from a child’s perspective that he or she will grow up to become your enemy.[30] Rabbis have been asked by settler militants to provide rulings to justify acts that are aimed to block peace with, or the return of land to, Palestinians.[31] The theft of Palestinian olive harvests has been justified by some rabbis. Former chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu stated that:'Since the land is the inheritance of the People of Israel, planting on this land by gentiles is planting on land that does not belong to them. If someone puts a tree on my land, both the tree and the fruit it yields belongs to me.'[32] Some rabbical extremists cite the biblical edict to exterminate the Amalekites to justify both expelling Palestinians from the land and killing Arab civilians in wartime.[33]

Differing legal status and treatment of Israeli settlers and Palestinians

Unlike Palestinians, Israeli civilians living in the Palestinian Territories are not subject to military or local law, but are prosecuted according to Israeli penal law. This originates in the Emergency Regulations bill enacted in 1967 and extended since which gives extraterritorial rights to Israelis in the occupied territories. B'TSelem has said that the difference in legal status of Israelis and Palestinians in the territories has led to a double standard in which Israelis are given more legal rights and are punished more lightly than the Palestinians who are subject to military and local law. B'Tselem notes the system violates the principles of equality before the law and territoriality.[34]

Referring to settler violence during the police evacuation of the "Federman Farm" near Kiryat Arba, Haaretz has stated in an editorial "Israeli society has become accustomed to giving lawbreaking settlers special treatment", noting that no other group could similarly attack Israeli law enforcement agencies without being severely punished.[35] Haaretz has characterized settler violence on soldiers and policemen who participated in the evacuation of the "Federman Farm" as "terrorism".[35]

In response to the violence directed towards Israeli security forces, Israel declared it would no longer fund any illegal outposts from November, 2008.[36]

After the evacuation of settlers from Hebron in December 2008, a riot ensued and a Jewish settler, Ze'ev Braude, was recorded on video shooting two unarmed Palestinians after Palestinians had hurled rocks at him. The victims were shot on their own property, which Braude had entered, and later needed surgery. The Israeli State Prosecutor's Office decided to abandon the prosecution of Braude after the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that the prosecution must give the defendant access to "sensitive information". The prosecutor's office had earlier said that some of the evidence against Braude was classified for security reasons, due to "the Shin Bet's sources and methods of operation, and identifying details about its units and people." Braude had petitioned the High Court for access.[37][38]

The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict reported on rioting and violence in the West Bank in the period preceding the Israeli military operations in Gaza. The report said "Little if any action is taken by the Israeli authorities to investigate, prosecute and punish violence against Palestinians, including killings, by settlers and members of the security forces, resulting in a situation of impunity. The Mission concludes that Israel has failed to fulfil its obligations to protect the Palestinians from violence by private individuals under both international human rights law and international humanitarian law.[39]

Law enforcement action against settlers

The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict reported on rioting and violence in the West Bank in the period preceding the Israeli military operations in Gaza. The report said "Little if any action is taken by the Israeli authorities to investigate, prosecute and punish violence against Palestinians, including killings, by settlers and members of the security forces, resulting in a situation of impunity. The Mission concludes that Israel has failed to fulfil its obligations to protect the Palestinians from violence by private individuals under both international human rights law and international humanitarian law.[39] The report also stated that the International Court of Justice advisory opinion and "a number of United Nations resolutions have all affirmed that Israel’s practice of constructing settlements – in effect, the transfer by an occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies – constitutes a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention".[40]

According to Amos Harel, attempts by the security forces to bring violent right-wing zealots to justice have suffered from two main problems: investigating Israelis as opposed to Palestinians is subject to more restrictions, and courts have proved to be lenient.[41] Yesh Din has produced a report, "A Semblance of Law", which found problems with law enforcement actions against Israelis in the West Bank. According to Yesh Din's study, which was conducted in 2005, more than 90% of complaints against Israelis were closed without indictments mainly due to perpetrators not being found, 96% of trespassing cases (including sabotage of trees) against Israelis led to no indictment, 100% of vandalism and other property offences against Israelis led to no indictment and 5% of complaints against Israelis were lost and never investigated.[42]

As well as collecting statistics, Yesh Din examined 42 closed investigation files and found a number of shortcomings, including the use of Hebrew to record testimonies given in Arabic; frequent failure to check the scene where the alleged offense took place; often not taking down eye-witness testimonies; widespread lack of recourse to live identification line-ups with suspected Israeli civilians; hardly any confrontations between complainants and suspects; failure to check alibis; hasty closure of files shortly after the complaint was registered: closing of files even when evidence was sufficient to indict suspects: police refusing to register complaints, and pressure from the Civilian Administration being used to avoid filing complaints.[42]

8% of complaints resulted in indictments. The Israeli Justice Ministry responded by stating that legal authorities were closely following specific cases, but said that it was not in its authority to deal with every case.[43]

Israeli security sources have said that it has become customary for some settlers to take the law into their own hands in the wake of Palestinian terror attacks in the West Bank.[44]

In 2008–2009, the defense establishment began taking a harder line against unruly settlers.[4]

In 2012, two EU heads of mission reports stated that Israel's security operations in the occupied territories had failed to protect the Palestinian population; it accused Israel of setting up its operations to minimize the impact on settlers of an ongoing campaign of settler violence. The reports noted that "Over 90% of monitored complaints regarding settler violence filed by Palestinians with the Israeli police in recent years have been closed without indictment", and further added that, "discriminatory protections and privileges for settlers compound these abuses and create an environment in which settlers can act with apparent impunity."[10]

Administrative detention

Following an attack by settlers on an IDF army base on December 13, 2011,[45] the Israeli government authorized administrative detention and military trial for settlers who engaged in violent actions, similar to the treatment accorded Palestinian activists who engage in similar behavior. The IDF was granted the power to arrest violent settlers and plans were announced to increase security on the West Bank and restrict access by known troublemakers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu characterized the situation as a handful of extremists in a population of generally law-abiding settlers.[46] Five West Bank Israelis who are alleged to have planned and participated in the attack on the army base were indicted by the District Court of Jerusalem on January 8, 2012.[47]

Settler riots

Israeli withdrawals from Gaza (in 2005) and an eviction in Hebron (in 2008) triggered settler rioting in protest. There is also continual conflict between settlers and Palestinians over land, resources and perceived grievances. In August 2007, soldiers clashed with settlers during a raid in Hebron. Paint and eggs were thrown at the soldiers.[48]

A violent settler protest at the Palestinian village of Funduk occurred in November 2007, in which hundreds of extremist settlers converged at the entrance of the village and rampaged after 29-year-old local settler, Ido Zoldan, was shot dead in his car by Palestinian gunmen at the entrance to Funduk. The settlers smashed the windows of houses and cars. According to Funduk villagers, Israeli soldiers and police accompanied the protesters but mostly stood aside while the settlers rampaged.[49]

In December 2008 Hebron settlers angry at the eviction of settlers from a disputed house rioted, shooting three Palestinian rock-throwers and burning Palestinian homes and olive groves. Video footage of the attacks were recorded, leading to widespread condemnation in Israel. The attacks were characterized as "a pogrom" by then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who said he was ashamed "as a Jew".[50][51]

Local Palestinians claimed that once the disputed house was evicted, the IDF and the police were "indifferent" to the violence against the Palestinians, and have made no real attempt to stop the settlers from rioting.[52]

Some settlers have publicly adopted what they refer to as a "price tag" policy whereby settlers attack Palestinian villages in retaliation after settler outposts are removed by the Israeli government.[53]

In April 2009, dozens of settlers from Bat Ayin rampaged through the West Bank village of Safa, smashing car windows, damaging homes and wounding 12 Palestinians. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the violence started when Palestinians threw stones at Bat Ayin settlers praying on a nearby hill before the Jewish Passover holiday.[54]

The United Nations has warned that up to 250,000 Palestinians in 83 villages are "highly or moderately" vulnerable to settler retaliation if the unauthorized outposts in the West Bank are removed by the Israeli government. 75,900 Palestinians in 22 villages are "highly vulnerable". The report also warns that a number of roads around Palestinian villages may become dangerous for the Palestinians to travel on. The settlements Havat Gilad, Kedumim, Itamar, Yitzhar, Ma'aleh Levona, Shilo, Adei Ad, Nokdim, Bat Ayin, Negohot, Kiryat Arba, Beit Haggai, Carmel and Susya are considered as possible threats to nearby Palestinians. The report criticizes "the inadequate level of law enforcement by the Israeli authorities" and "the ambiguous message delivered by the Government of Israel and the IDF top officials to the security forces in the field regarding their authority and responsibility to enforce the law on Israeli settlers".[55]

Involvement of youths

Some settlers who attacked or harassed Palestinians are disaffected youths, referred to in the Israeli media as Hilltop Youth. In 2008, welfare minister Isaac Herzog (Labor party) labeled them a "security threat" as well as a "societal and educational danger".[56] In December 2011, following an outbreak of settler violence against IDF property and personnel the Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, said with reference to the Hilltop Youth, "there is no doubt that we are talking about terrorists."[57]

Attacks on Palestinian agriculture and property

Graffiti reading "Die Arab Sand-Niggers!" reportedly sprayed by settlers on a house in Hebron.[58]
Graffiti reading "Gas the Arabs! JDL" reportedly sprayed by settlers on the Qurtuba girls school in Hebron[59][60][61]

Olive farming is a major industry and employer in the Palestinian West Bank and olive trees are a common target of settler violence. According to OCHA roughly 10,000 Palestinian West Bank olive trees and saplings have suffered either uprooting or damage from Israeli attacks in 2013, a rise from about 8,500 trees damaged in 2012.[62] B'Tselem alleges that "olive pickers in areas near certain settlements and outposts in the West Bank have been a target of attacks by settlers, who have cut down and burned olive trees and stolen the crops" and that "security forces have not taken suitable action to prevent the violence." The IDF barred olive picking in extensive areas of land, claiming that the closures were to protect the olive pickers. The case went to the Israeli High Court in 2006 which found that, as a rule, lands are not to be closed because of settler violence, and that the IDF must enforce the law. According to B'Tselem the IDF has worked around this by saying the lands are closed to protect the settlers.[63]

Amnesty International has said that scores of Palestinian owned sheep as well as gazelles and other animals were poisoned with 2-fluoracetamide near Tuwani on 22 March 2005, depriving Palestinian farmers of their livelihood.[64]

In July 2009, a group of Israeli settlers riding horses and carrying torches raided Palestinian areas, burning 1,500-2,000 olive trees and stoning cars.[65]

In March 2011 two EU heads of mission reports detailed a tripling of violent settler attacks over three years. The report found that the attacks were especially aimed at Palestinian farmers and their livelihood in a systematic campaign of violence and intimidation which included the destruction of over 10,000 olive trees in the preceding year. The report noted that the Israeli state had "so far failed to effectively protect the Palestinian population".[10] 2013. According to a confidential IDF document for just the period from Sept. 11-October 20, 2013 the following Palestinian olive groves, near Israeli settlements near Elon Moreh, Karnei Shomron, Kedumim, Ma'on and the Ma'on Farm, Susya, Shavei Shomron, Zayit Ra'anan, the Gilad Farm, Shilo and Yitzhar and all under IDF guard, were damaged but were not reported in the media:-

According to Yesh Din 97.4% of complaints submitted to Israeli police by Palestinians who had suffered damage to their olive groves between 2005 and 2013 were closed without indictment.[67]

Claims of staged vandalism

A settler group named Tazpit Unit claimed to have documented Palestinians destroying trees with the intention of blaming settlers for the destruction. Photos taken by the group allegedly show Palestinians and left-wing activists cutting down Palestinian olive trees using an electric saw. The settlers claimed that many of the reported "price tag" operations by settlers were actually carried out by Palestinians with the aim of tarnishing the settlers' image.[68]

Israeli settlers were accused by an Arab farmer of having gathered his sheep into an area thick with brush and setting fire to the bushes, burning alive his 12 pregnant ewes.[69] The police questioned the farmer's description of religious settlers wearing skullcaps driving a car on Sabbath as most Orthodox Jews do not drive on this day.[70] Caroline Glick writing in the Jerusalem Post reported that the farmer later admitted that he lost control of a brush fire that was responsible for the damage. Israeli media network, Arutz Sheva, said this incident exposed the tactic of leftists of accepting Arab claims and falsely accusing Jews.[71][72]

In March 2012, two Arab males of Beit Zarzir confessed, after being arrested, to damaging a local school for Arab and Jewish students. They admitted responsibility for having sprayed on the wall of the school, "Death to Arabs".The school was sprayed twice in February with the slogans "price tag," "Death to Arabs, and" "Holocaust to the Arabs".[73][74]

Well contamination and water access

Main article: Well poisoning

On 13 July 2004, residents of Hirbat Atwana near Hebron found rotting chicken carcasses in their well after four Jewish settlers were seen in the village. Israeli police said they suspected militant Jews from a nearby settlement outpost called Havat Maon. Settlers blamed the action on "internal tribal fight between the Palestinians;" Israeli police spokesman Doron Ben-Amo said it was "unlikely" that the Palestinians would contaminate their own well.[75][76] On 9 December 2007, members of Christian Peacemaker Teams, an American NGO, reported to have observed a group of Israelis stop next to a cistern in Humra Valley, open the lid, and raise the bucket. The water was later found to be contaminated.[77] Oxfam, a British NGO, has reported that settlers deliberately poisoned the only well in Madama, a village near Nablus, by dumping used diapers into it; and that they shot aid workers who came to clean the well.[78][79]

A United Nations survey released in March 2012 documented the increasing use of threats, violence and intimidation to deny Palestinians access to their water resources in the West Bank. The survey stated that Israeli settlers have been acting systematically to gain control of some 56 springs most of which are located on private Palestinian land. The report noted that settler actions included "trespass, intimidation and physical assault, stealing of private property, and construction without a building permit." The report criticized the Israeli authorities for having "systematically failed to enforce the law on those responsible for these acts and to provide Palestinians with any effective remedy".[80][81][82]

Attacks on mosques

In December 2009, suspected settler extremists attacked a mosque in the northern West Bank village of Yasuf near Nablus according to Palestinian officials and Israeli police. The people forced their way into the mosque and burned about 100 holy books including Korans, Hadiths, prayer carpets as well as spray painted anti-Palestinian slogans on the floor, some of which referred to the settlers' "price tag" policy.[83]

In January 2010, Israeli security officers raided the settlement of Yitzhar, forcibly entered the settlement's synagogue and yeshiva buildings and arrested ten settlers, including the Rosh yeshiva, for alleged involvement in the mosque attack.[84] All were released by the court due to lack of evidence and the court reprimanded the police for arresting the rabbi. As of January 2010 no indictments were served. The state has appealed the ruling.[85]

In September 2011, the Al-Nurayn Mosque in Qusra became the subject of an arson attack allegedly perpetrated by militant Jewish settlers,[86] who set the mosque on fire by throwing two burning tyres through its windows.[87] Slogans in Hebrew threatening further attacks had been graffitied on the walls, reading "Muhammad is a Pig".[88] A star of David had also been graffitied alongside.[89] The attack came hours after Israeli police dismantled three structures in the nearby illegal Jewish settlement of Migron, leading newspapers to suggest that it may have been carried out by settlers in retaliation.[87]

On 12 November, the Al-Mughayyir mosque in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate was damaged extensively when it was torched, reportedly by settlers in what was believed to be a price-tag attack.[90] Israeli police say the incident does not match previous ‘price tag’ attacks, and that a full investigation was impossible because they were denied entry to the village by Palestinian authorities.[91] According to Haaretz journalist Chaim Levinson, it was the 10th such mosque subject to arson in Israel and the West Bank since June 2011, and no investigation has ever led to an indictment.[92] Settler violence has impeded Palestinians from visiting holy sites and worshipping at their mosques, and have interfered with muezzin calls for daily prayer.[93]

Attacks on churches and monasteries

The growing ascendency of the right wing in politics over the past decades has led to increasing attacks on non-Jewish religious properties, associated with price tag attacks by settlers and their sympathizers, with a rise in attacks on churches throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem, extending even to Israel.The Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine, Theophilos III has decried, "repeated" attacks on Christian and Muslim places of worship in the Palestinian territories by extremist Jewish settlers.[94] [95] [96][97][98] Christians who have suffered such abuses often charge Israeli authorities with "not doing enough" to safeguard the population and prevent further attacks by Jews.[99][100] Arab-Israeli member of the Knesset Ayman Odeh observes “Harassment and harming of places that are holy to Islam and Christianity have become almost constant, and no one is held accountable,” and directly blames the Israeli government for “leading the hatred and approving, with a wink, the continuation of the hate crimes against the Arab minority in the state.”[101]

Settler extremism

As of September 2010, many settlers desperately want to be regarded as part of the Israeli mainstream. Only a small minority among them is violent.[102] The number of settlers involved in violent activities is estimated to have grown from a few dozen individuals into a few hundreds, out of a total population of about 500,000 Jewish settlers.[7]

Extremist groups associated with the settler movement include Gush Emunim Underground that existed from 1979 to 1984 as a militant organization linked to the settler activist group Gush Emunim. They carried out attacks against Jewish students and Palestinian officials, attempted to bomb a bus and planned an attack on the Dome of the Rock.[103]

The New York Times has noted that the religious, ideological wing of the settler movement is growing more radical. It is widely suspected that a pipe-bomb attack on settler critic Zeev Sternhell was perpetrated by settler radicals, who left fliers at the scene offering 1 million shekels to anyone who "kills a member of anti-settlement group Peace Now".[104][105] Public Security Minister Avi Dichter condemned the attack, calling it a "nationalistic terror attack".[106]

Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin warned that he has "found a very high willingness among this public to use violence -- not just stones, but live weapons -- in order to prevent or halt a diplomatic process." He also called settlers' mindset "messianic" and "Satanic".[107]

IDF Major-General Gadi Shamni has warned that there has been an increase in the number of violent settlers from a few dozen to hundreds and that the increase is impairing the IDF's ability to deal with other threat.[7]

In August 2012, the United States defined settler attacks as 'terrorist incidents'.[108]

In July 2014, a day after the burial of three murdered Israeli teens. Abu Khdeir, a 16-year-old Palestinian, was forced into a car on an East Jerusalem street by 3 Israelis, two teenagers led by a 30 year old settler from the West Bank settlement of Adam.[109][110] His family immediately reported the fact to Israeli Police who located his charred body a few hours later at Givat Shaul in the Jerusalem Forest. Preliminary results from the autopsy suggested that he was beaten and burnt while still alive.[111][112][113][114] The murder suspects explained the attack as a response to the June abduction and murder of three Israeli teens.[115][116] The murders contributed to a breakout of hostilities in the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.[117] While it has become a standard operating procedure in Israel to bulldoze the homes of terrorists and their families,[118][119][120] and while the mother of the child requested their houses be demolished as are those of Palestinian terrorists,[121][122] none of the perpetrators' homes were targeted for demolition. While Palestinians are tried in military courts, West Bank settlers are tried in Israel in civil courts, and no Jewish terrorist homes have been demolished.[123] Demolition, the state has argued, does not apply to Jewish suspects of terrorism, because 'there is no need to deter potential Jewish terrorists.'[124] The European Union criticized Israel for 'failing to protect the Palestinian population'.[125] when also in July 2015, a similar incident happened where Israeli settlers did an arson attack on two Palestinian houses, one of which was empty however the other had a family that resulted in the burning of a Palestinian infant and the four other members of his family were evacuated to the hospital suffering serious injuries.[126] These two incidents received worldwide condemnation from the United States, European Union and even the IDF.[125]

International reactions

In December 2011 following a briefing to the United Nations Security Council, all of the regional and political groupings seated at the council issued statements expressing dismay at violence by settlers and right wing activists, naming the issue as an obstacle to the resumption of peace talks.[127][128]

In one of a number of statements on the issue the EU expressed "deep concern regarding settler extremism and incitement by settlers in the West Bank". The statement further added that "the EU condemns continuous settler violence and deliberate provocations against Palestinian civilians. It calls on the government of Israel to bring the perpetrators to justice and to comply with its obligations under international law."[129][130]

Statistics

Annual statistics suggests settler violence against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank is on the rise.

According to B'Tselem 49 Palestinians were killed by Israeli civilians between 2000 and 2010.[132] The majority of them is settler-related as a significant portion of the dead were killed while attempting to infiltrate settlements or attacking Israelis.[133] B'Tselem also keeps a record of incidences of settler violence.[134]

A UN report cited 222 incidents of settler violence in the first half of 2008, compared to 291 in all of 2007.[135]

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs observed 207 incidents involving settler violence against Palestinians in the period between September 2008 and March 2009. The number of settler attacks peaked on the 4th of December when the evacuation of the Beit HaShalom in Hebron took place.[136]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ "Swedish human rights worker viciously attacked by Jewish extremists in Hebron". 18 November 2006. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "Amnesty International's annual report on Israel and the Occupied Territories". 24 May 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Concerns over rising settler violence in the West Bank". BBC. 17 November 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 Anshel Pfeffer,Top IDF officer warns: Settlers' radical fringe growing, Haaretz 20 October 2009.
  5. ↑ "Violence by Extremists in the Jewish Settler Movement: A Rising Challenge". The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. November 25, 2008. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
  6. ↑ Constance B. Hilliard,Does Israel have a future?: the case for a post-Zionist state , Potomac Books, Inc., 2009 p.59.
  7. 1 2 3 "'Hundreds join' settler violence". BBC. 2008-10-02.
  8. 1 2 "Rabbi slams Jewish 'hooligans' - Israel News, Ynetnews". Ynetnews.com. 1995-06-20. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  9. ↑ Amitai Etzioni, Security First: For a Muscular, Moral Foreign Policy, Yale University Press, 2008 p.119.:'Others have justified violence against Arabs by citing the rule from the Talmud:"If a man comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first."
  10. 1 2 3 Hider, James (March 21, 2012). "Israel 'turning blind eye' to West Bank settlers' attacks on Palestinians". The Guardian (London). Retrieved March 23, 2012.
  11. ↑ Chaim Levinson, Gili Cohen and Jack Khoury , 'Palestinian mosque set on fire in suspected hate crime,' at Haaretz, 15 January 2014.'The annual totals are up from 115 in 2006 to 399 in 2013..'
  12. ↑ Daniel Byman, A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism, Oxford University Press/Saban Center, Brookings Institution,2011 p.292:‘Palestinian police are barred from responding to settler violence. This policy reduces friction between settlers and Palestinian authorities, but it decreases the overall credibility of the PA, which cannot defend its people from settler harassment and violence.’
  13. ↑ "Israeli Settlements Are Not Illegal". American Thinker.
  14. ↑ See for example Kretzmer, David "The occupation of justice: the Supreme Court of Israel and the Occupied Territories, SUNY Press, 2002, ISBN 0-7914-5337-5, ISBN 978-0-7914-5337-7, page 83
  15. ↑ See General Assembly Resolution 3103, 12 December 1973, "Basic Principles Of The Legal Status Of The Combatants Struggling Against Colonial And Alien Domination And Racist Regimes" and United Nations General Assembly Resolution 39/17, 23 November 1984, "Universal realization of the rights to self-determination"
  16. ↑ See Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977
  17. ↑ Hillier, Tim "Sourcebook on public international law", Routledge, 1998, ISBN 1-85941-050-2, ISBN 978-1-85941-050-9, page 627-628
  18. ↑ See the Judgment in "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory", para 120, 134, and 142 and PAUL J. I. M. DE WAART (2005) International Court of Justice Firmly Walled in the Law of Power in the Israeli–Palestinian Peace Process. Leiden Journal of International Law, 18, pp 467-487, doi:10.1017/S0922156505002839
  19. ↑ "Hebron, Area H-2: Settlements Cause Mass Departure of Palestinians".
  20. ↑ "Mounting Human Rights Crisis in Hebron".
  21. ↑ "Israeli human rights group slams Hebron settlers".
  22. ↑ "Israel: Palestinian Drivers Routinely Abused".
  23. ↑ "The Nature of Settler Violence". Retrieved 2008-02-15.
  24. ↑ Berg, Raffi (2003-08-18). "Israel's religious settlers". BBC News.
  25. ↑ Gee, Robert W. (2008-08-25). "Settlers Increase Attacks On Palestinians In West Bank".
  26. ↑ Hider, James (October 15, 2009). "West Bank settlers use ‘price tag’ tactic to punish Palestinians". The Times (London). Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  27. ↑ "Ya'alon: we know who are the assailants at Duma" (994). Makor Rishon. September 11, 2015. p. 8. It is necessary to know that most of those extreme right wing activists are not residents of Judea and Samaria and they definitely don't represent the settler-communities over there.
  28. ↑ Israel – Rabbi Harshly Condemns Violence by Jewish Hooligans Against Arabs, 2 June 2009
  29. ↑ Yesha Council chair Dayan condemns recent settler violence, Jerusalem Post 12/08/2009
  30. ↑ Ghada Talhani, 'The Homeless Palestinians in Israel and the Arab world,’ in Robert J. Kelly,Jess Maghan (eds.) https://books.google.it/books?id=u1Kn7P_x6_gC&pg=PA94 Hate Crime: The Global Politics of Polarization, Southern Illinois University Press, 1998 pp.83-110 p.91.
  31. ↑ Daniel Byman, A High Price: The Triumphs and Failures of Israeli Counterterrorism, Oxford University Press, 2011 p.289.
  32. ↑ Cheryl Rubenberg, The Palestinians: In Search of a Just Peace, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003 p.385.
  33. ↑ Nur Masalha,Imperial Israel and the Palestinians: The Politics of Expansion, Pluto Press, 2000 p.118.
  34. ↑ "Settler violence: The dual system of law in the Occupied Territories". B'Tselem.
  35. 1 2 "Defeat settler terror". Haaretz. 2008-10-27.
  36. ↑ "Israel cuts aid to outposts over settler violence". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2009-10-03.
  37. ↑ Nevo, Yair (2009-07-23). "When security trumps justice". Haaretz.
  38. ↑ Lis, Jonathan (2008-12-11). "After controversial release, settler who shot 2 Palestinians to be charged today". Haaretz.
  39. 1 2 See Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, A/HRC/12/48, 25 September 2009, para 85
  40. ↑ See Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, A/HRC/12/48, 25 September 2009, para 198
  41. ↑ Amos Harel, 'ANALYSIS / Why did the attack on a well-known leftist professor happen now?,' in Haaretz, 26 September 2008.
  42. 1 2 "Law Enforcement upon Israeli Civilians in the West Bank, Semblance of Law" (PDF). Yesh Din.
  43. ↑ "Yesh Din report: Only 8% of Palestinian complaints against settlers result in indictment". Haaretz. 2008-11-03.
  44. ↑ "Israel fears Jewish extremists will avenge settlement murder". Haaretz. 2009-04-04.
  45. ↑ Ethan Bronner (December 13, 2011). "Settlers Riot, Attacking Israeli Base and Post". The New York Times. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  46. ↑ Ethan Bronner (December 14, 2011). "Israel Leader Sets Curbs on Settlers for Violence". The New York Times. Retrieved December 15, 2011.
  47. ↑ Isabel Kershner (January 8, 2011). "Israel Charges 5 Settlers in West Bank Army Base Clash". The New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  48. ↑ Hider, James (2007-08-08). "Mutinous soldiers are jailed as Israeli army evicts 200 religious settlers after court order". London: The Times.
  49. ↑ Kershner, Isabel (2007-12-07). "Young Israelis Resist Challenges to Settlements". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  50. ↑ "Olmert condemns settler 'pogrom'". BBC. 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  51. ↑ Issacharoff, Avi (2008-12-07). "Hebron settler riots were out and out pogroms".
  52. ↑ Waked, Ali (2008-12-04). "Hebron burning: Settler fire injures Palestinians".
  53. ↑ Frenkel, Sheera (2009-05-21). "Israeli settlers burn olive groves in ‘price tag’ retaliation attack". London: The Times. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  54. ↑ "Jewish settlers rampage through West Bank village". Reuters. 2009-04-08.
  55. ↑ "UN warns 250,000 Palestinians 'vulnerable' to settler violence". Haaretz. 2010-01-18.
  56. ↑ Sinai, Ruth (2008-12-01). "Ministry to launch program to return alienated settler youths to mainstream fold".
  57. ↑ Sellem, Marc (2011-12-14). "Barak: Consider 'hilltop youth' a terror group".
  58. ↑ http://www.newtrendmag.org/pictures8.htm
  59. ↑ ‘Gas the Arabs’ – Settlers Vandalize Girls School in Hebron right2edu April 28, 2006
  60. ↑ Antony Loewenstein (2007). My Israel Question. Melbourne University Press. p. 61. ISBN 978-0522854183. The Christian Peacemaker Teams released a series of photographs taken in Hebron in recent years that showed the attitudes of many settlers to the Palestinians. Some of the graffiti in English included: 'Die Arab Sand Niggers'; 'Exterminate the Muslims'; 'Watch out Fatima, we will rape all Arab Women'; 'Kill All Arabs' 'White Power: Kill Niggers'; 'Gas the Arabs' and 'Arabs to the Gas Chambers'
  61. ↑ Marciniak, Katarzyna (2009). Streets of Crocodiles: Photography, Media, and Postsocialist Landscapes in Poland. Intellect Ltd., University of Chicago Press. pp. 108–109. ISBN 978-1-84150-365-3. slogans sprayed by Jewish settlers in Hebron
  62. ↑ Amira Hass, 'Germany and Britain block Palestinian bid to join international olive trade group,' at Haaretz 19 November 2013.
  63. ↑ "29 Oct. 06: B'Tselem Urges the Security Forces to Prepare for the Olive Harvest". B'Tselem. 2006-10-29.
  64. ↑ "Israeli authorities must put an immediate end to settler violence" (Press release). Amnesty International. 25 April 2005.
  65. ↑ "Israelis torch 1,500 olive trees - report". Irish Times. 2009-07-20.
  66. ↑ Amira Hass 'Israeli attacks on Palestinian olive groves kept top secret by state,' at Haaretz 28 October 2013
  67. ↑ Gideon Levy and Daniel Bar-On 'It's scorched earth season in the Palestinian olive groves,' Haaretz 2 November 2013.
  68. ↑ Yair Altman (2010-10-30). "Settlers: Arabs, leftists staged 'price tag' act Palestinians, leftwing activists documented while sawing trees in bid to accuse settlers". Ynetnews.
  69. ↑ "Farmer: Settlers burned my sheep alive". Maan News Agency. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
  70. ↑ Issacharoff, Avi. "Police question Palestinian claim settlers burned his herd of sheep". Haaretz. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  71. ↑ "Column One: Agents of influenceurl=http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=202515". The Jerusalem Post.
  72. ↑ Gedalyahu, Tzvi Ben. "Leftists Caught Red-Handed: ‘Burning Sheep’ Libel Was Faked". http://www.israelnationalnews.com. Retrieved 2010-12-26. External link in |publisher= (help)
  73. ↑ ראב"ד, אחיה. "חשד: נערים ריססו על קיר בית ספר בצפון "מוות לערבים"". Ynet News. Retrieved 2012-03-13.
  74. ↑ "Arab Youths Confessed to Spraying ‘Death to Arabs’". Jewish Press. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  75. ↑ "Settlers suspected of well attack". BBC News,. 2004-06-13.
  76. ↑ Settlers suspected of polluting wells, Maariv, 13 July 2004, retrieved from Wayback Machine on 18 August 2008.
  77. ↑ "Cistern contaminated in Humra Valley". Christian Peacemaker Teams. 2008-01-19.
  78. ↑ "Water Wars". Channel 4,. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
  79. ↑ Pearce, Fred (2006-03-01). "Running on empty". London: The Guardian.
  80. ↑ "Seizure of springs by settlers greatly limits Palestinian access to water – UN report". United Nations. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  81. ↑ "Settlers taking over Palestinian springs: UN report". AFP. Mar 19, 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  82. ↑ Spencer, Richard (19 Mar 2012). "Israeli settlers using 'acts of intimidation' to take over water supplies on Palestinian land". The Telegraph (London). Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  83. ↑ Hider, James (2009-12-11). "Settlers attack West Bank mosque and burn holy Muslim books". London: The Times. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
  84. ↑ "Police arrest 10 in raid on West Bank settlement". Haaretz. 2010-01-18.
  85. ↑ "Settler teens suspected in West Bank mosque arson freed from custody". Haaretz. 2009-02-07.
  86. ↑ Staff writers (6 September 2011). "EU's Ashton: Settler attack on West Bank mosque undermines Mideast peace". Haaretz. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  87. 1 2 Staff writers (5 September 2011). "Fire and graffiti attack on Palestinian mosque in Kasra". BBC News (British Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  88. ↑ Weiss, Mark (6 September 2011). "West Bank mosque torched in settler attack". Irish Times. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  89. ↑ Agence France-Presse (6 September 2011). "West Bank mosque torched as police dismantle outpost". Google News. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
  90. ↑ 'Protection of Civilians: 11– 17 NOVEMBER 2014,' OCHA November
  91. ↑ Police unsure of motives behind burned West Bank mosque, The Times of Israel, November 12, 2014
  92. ↑ Chaim Levinson, 'Ten torched mosques, zero indictments,' Haaretz 13 November 2014
  93. ↑ Annual Report on International Religious Freedom,2004 US Department of State/Government Printing Office 2005 p.559.
  94. ↑ 'Greek Orthodox Church decries attacks by Jewish settlers,' Middle East Monitor 26 February 2015.
  95. ↑ Ilan Ben Zion, 'Church defaced in Jerusalem in suspected ‘price tag’ hate attack,' The Times of Israel 9 May 2014 :’ the latest incident in a wave of both anti-Christian and anti-Arab graffiti and vandalism that has swept the country in recent weeks . . Mosques, churches, dovish Israeli groups and even Israeli military bases have been targeted by nationalist vandals in recent years.'
  96. ↑ Una McGahern, Palestinian Christians in Israel: State Attitudes towards non-Muslims in a Jewish State, Routledge 2012 p.137 '(Michael Dumper 2002) notes an increasing number of arson attacks and incidents of vandalism against church property conducted by 'Israeli militants and Jewish fundamentalists’. . . Even pro-establishment sources have acknowledged this growing Jewish religious antipathy towards Christians.'
  97. ↑ John L. Allen, Jr. The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution, Crown Publishing Group 2013: 'Christian churches and other sites have also become targets for “price tag” attacks in Israel, a term for assaults carried out by Israeli settlers and their sympathizers intended to exact a price on groups perceived to oppose settlement activity.'
  98. ↑ Jonathan Cook, 'Israeli attacks against churches & mosques on the rise,' The Council for the National Interest 2 May 2, 2014.
  99. ↑ https://www.rt.com/news/268255-church-arson-israel-settler/
  100. ↑ http://www.jpost.com/Christian-News/Israeli-Church-leaders-blame-anti-Christian-attacks-on-government-inaction-410508
  101. ↑ http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Jerusalem-church-vandalized-with-crude-anti-Christian-slogans-441762
  102. ↑ Yossi Klein Halevi, The New York Times, September 2, 2010
  103. ↑ Friedman, Robert L. (1992). Zealots for Zion: Inside Israel's West Bank Settler Movement. New York: Random House. pp. 25–32. ISBN 0394580532.
  104. ↑ Kershner, Isabel (2008-09-25). "Radical Settlers Take On Israel". New York Times.
  105. ↑ Kraft, Dina (2008-10-08). "Radical settlers using violence against Jews".
  106. ↑ "Dichter: Prof attack takes us back to days of Rabin assassination". Haaretz. 2008-09-26.
  107. ↑ "Shin Bet chief warns of settler violence". UPI. 2008-11-03.
  108. ↑ Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem (2012-08-19). "Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians listed as 'terrorist incidents' by US | World news". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  109. ↑ [Aron Donzis, 'Adult suspect in Abu Khdeir murder named,' The Times of Israel 20 July 2015.
  110. ↑ Peter Beaumont,'Abu Khdeir murder trial: defendant tells court he did not plan to kill teenager, The Guardian 3 June 2015.
  111. ↑ Kershner, Isabel (6 July 2014). "Suspects Arrested in Death of Palestinian Youth, Israeli Police Say". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  112. ↑ "Official: Autopsy shows Palestinian youth burnt alive". Ma'an News Agency. 5 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  113. ↑ "Palestinian teen abducted, killed in suspected revenge attack". Ma'an News Agency. 2 July 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  114. ↑ Ben Zion, Ilan; Berman, Lazar (2 July 2014). "Arab teen killed in capital; revenge attack suspected". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 2014-07-04. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  115. ↑ Assaf Sharon, "Failure in Gaza", New York Review of Books, 25 September 2014, pp. 20-24.
  116. ↑ Hoff, Mallory (3 July 2014). "Family of slain Palestinian teen lives in Sacramento". KCRA Television Sacramento. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  117. ↑ Eranger, Steven; Kershner, Isabel (8 July 2014). "Israel and Hamas Trade Attacks as Tension Rises". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  118. ↑ Herb Keinon, Yonah Jeremy Bob, 'Israel is to renew its controversial policy – discontinued in 2005 – of destroying the homes of terrorists as a deterrent measure,' Jerusalem Post 23 June 2014
  119. ↑ Daniel Landes 'Bulldoze Homes of Jewish Terrorists, Too,' The Forward 5 July 2014.
  120. ↑ Asher Schechter,'Immoral, Ineffective: Destroying Terrorists' Homes Is Nothing but Empty Revenge,' Haaretz 20 November 2014.
  121. ↑ Chaim Levinson, The Associated Press, 'Israeli Police Arrest Six Suspects in Murder of Palestinian Teen,' Haaretz 6 July 2014: "They need to treat them the way they treat us. They need to demolish their homes and round them up, the way they do it to our children," she added.
  122. ↑ Daniel Estrin, 'Mohammed Abu Khdeir murder: Mother speaks out after Israeli men arrested for 'nationalistic' killing,' The Independent 7 July 2014
  123. ↑ Amos Guiora Freedom from Religion: Rights and National Security, Oxford University Press USA, 2013 p.99.
  124. ↑ Revital Hovet, 'Israel defends Only Razing Homes of Arab Terrorist, Not Jewish Ones,' Haaretz 4 December 2014.
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  126. ↑ http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel/1.668871
  127. ↑ "Israel condemned at UN over settlements". Al jazeera. 22 Dec 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
  128. ↑ "UN groupings criticise Israeli settlement activities". BBC. 2011-12-20. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  129. ↑ "EU: Israel's policies in the West Bank endanger two-state solution". Haaretz. May 14, 2012.
  130. ↑ "EU condemns settler violence". Israel News. 2008-10-31.
  131. ↑ Amira Hass,['The anti-Semitism that goes unreported. Tens of thousands of people live in the shadow of terror.'] at Haaretz, 18 July 2012.
  132. ↑ "Statistics". B'Tselem.
  133. ↑ "Palestinians killed by Israeli civilians in the Occupied Territories, 29.9.2000 - 31.7.2010". B'Tselem.
  134. ↑ "Settler Violence". B'Tselem.
  135. ↑ Joel Greenberg, 'Militant Jews living near outposts increasing attacks on Palestinians,' in Chicago Tribune, October 4, 2008.
  136. ↑ "West Bank Movement and Access Update May 2009" (PDF). United Nations. 2009-05-25. Retrieved 2010-03-31.
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