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Introduction and Overview
The vast majority of studies on terrorism
closely link the issue of terrorism with matters related to national
security. According to these studies, terrorism is conceived as a threat,
whether apparent or real, to the security of a specific state and to its
citizens. Unfortunately, what the current discussion on terrorism lacks is
a clear human rights dimension. From a human rights perspective,
all acts of political violence committed
against unarmed civilians by a state, group, or individual are considered
assaults on the most fundamental human right of all – the right to
personal security. As both Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights proclaim, everyone has the right to security of person.1
That right derives from the inherent dignity of the human person.
Over the course of the 100 year-old conflict between Zionism and
Arab/Palestinian nationalism in Palestine/Israel, members of both parties
at one time or other, and under varied circumstances, have resorted to
terrorism in order to achieve concrete political objectives. Violent
attacks against innocent civilians, both Jewish and Palestinian, have been
carried out. It is imperative that human rights organizations condemn each
and every act of terrorism, no matter its form, perpetrator, or putative
justification.
While considerable attention
has been given to acts of political violence carried out by militant
Palestinians against Israeli Jews, serious discussion of terrorist attacks
perpetrated by militant Jews against Palestinian civilians has been
virtually non-existent, especially in the West. Indeed, as Edward Said has
pointed out, “no serious attention has been paid to the full human reality
of the Palestinian Arab as a citizen with human rights.”2
This has been the case even though anti-Arab political violence has always
been part of the conflict between Zionism and Arab/Palestinian
nationalism. For instance, in April 1948 – the year in which the State of
Israel was established – as many as 250 Palestinian civilians lost their
lives in the infamous
Deir Yassin massacre.3
In October 1956, on the eve of the 1956 war, Israeli soldiers shot and
killed 49 Palestinian residents of the Arab village of Kafr Qassim.4
In June 1980, two Palestinian mayors of West Bank towns were maimed – one
of them seriously – in car bombings executed by militant Jews.5
More recently, in February 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a resident of the West
Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, killed 29 Palestinian Arabs as they were
worshipping at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.
Despite the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians, terrorist
attacks against Palestinian civilians have continued. This report focuses
on attacks carried out by militant Jews against Palestinian civilians in
Jerusalem over the last two years. Between October 1997 and March
1999, Palestinians in Jerusalem have increasingly become the victims of
terrorist attacks at an alarming rate. Although violent attacks against
Palestinians residing in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and
Gaza Strip occur with frequency,6
for reasons of practicality the report has been limited to the city of
Jerusalem, which both Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs claim as their
rightful national capital.
It should be emphasized that this report does not intend to minimize the
extent to which all victims of terrorism have suffered in the conflict
over Palestine/Israel. Nor does the report intend to implicate all Israeli
Jews in the terrorist attacks discussed in the report. In fact, the PHRMG
has decided to use the term “militant Jew” in order to differentiate those
Jews responsible for such attacks from other Israeli Jews. The term is
perhaps synonymous with “Jewish extremist” or “Jewish terrorist.” However,
we have decided against using either one of those terms in order to
dissociate potentially religious meaning from acts of political violence.
Generally speaking, the report has three primary goals in mind.
The first goal of the report is
to draw attention to Palestinian victims of terrorist attacks car
received the attention it deserves as
a critical human rights issue, even though innocent Palestinian civilians
have been stabbed to death on the streets of Jerusalem and despite the
fact that the residence of three Palestinian women has been the target of
terrorist attacks.
The second goal of the report is to raise awareness regarding the
systematic failure of the Israeli police and intelligence authorities to
apprehend militant Jews who carry out terrorist attacks against
Palestinian civilians. Indeed, virtually every Palestinian victim
interviewed in this report emphasized that the Israeli authorities
normally capture Palestinians who have attacked Israeli Jews within one or
two days; whereas, even with some attacks against Palestinian civilians
carried out more than two years ago, the Israeli authorities still have
not apprehended or prosecuted any suspects.
The third goal of the report is to address Israel’s discriminatory
policies in compensating victims of terrorism. Until very recently,
only victims of terrorist attacks directed against the State of Israel
were entitled to compensation from the Israeli government. Thus,
Palestinian victims of attacks carried out by militant Jews have not been
able to receive compensation since the attacks themselves have not been
seen as hostile to Israel. There have been encouraging signs that Israel
will begin to compensate at least some Palestinian victims of terrorism.
However, many Palestinian terror victims may continue to face considerable
difficulty in gaining compensation from the Israeli government.
Structure of the
Report
The data presented here are largely based on
first-hand accounts of Palestinian terror victims. The PHRMG collected
these accounts in extensive personal interviews with the victims during
the summer of 1999. Other sources on which the report relies include
interviews with lawyers of the victims as well as already published
sources, such as newspaper articles in both the Hebrew and Arabic press.
The report also utilizes correspondence with Israeli government officials,
who have been involved in the issue of terrorism against Palestinian
civilians.
Three case studies, along with
a legal analysis of Israel’s compensation laws, make up the core of the
report. In each of the three case studies,
Palestinians were victims of terrorism for no reason other than their
nationality.
Section II of the report examines the
case of three Palestinian citizens of Israel – Manal Diab, Sonia Khouri,
and Wafa’ Khouri – whose apartment was the target of three politically
motivated bombings carried out by militant Jews. The aim of the attacks
was to force these women out of an apartment they had rented in a
predominantly Jewish neighborhood in West Jerusalem.
Section III documents the cases of 10 Palestinian civilians in
Jerusalem who have been the victims of stabbing attacks perpetrated out of
racist-nationalist motives. In some of the cases, the victims were stabbed
to death. In other cases, the victims were either moderately or seriously
injured, often to such an extent that they lost time and money because of
their inability to work. In virtually all of these cases, the Israeli
authorities have yet to prosecute or even to charge anyone.
Section IV reports the results of our investigation into the murder of
Dr. Naela Kara’in, a prominent member of the local Palestinian community
in Jerusalem. On the morning of February 11, 1999, she was found stabbed
to death in West Jerusalem. As with other cases involving Palestinian
victims of stabbing attacks, the Israeli police authorities have not
handled this case responsibly. However, the particular case of Dr. Kara’in
does not follow the same pattern as the other stabbing attacks. In fact,
unlike the other cases involving stabbing attacks, her case raises many
more questions than answers. Those questions need to be addressed by the
Israeli authorities, if justice is ever to be done.
Section V of the report
traces recent legal developments with respect to Israel’s policy of
compensating victims of terrorism. As already mentioned, until very
recently, Israel has compensated only victims of terrorist attacks against
the State of Israel. In practice, this has meant compensating only Jewish
terror victims, since attacks directed against Palestinians have not been
seen as hostile to Israel. Indeed, Israel’s discriminatory compensation
policies have effectively excluded Palestinian victims of terrorist
attacks carried out by militant Jews, even if the Palestinian victims have
been Israeli citizens. However, there have been some positive legal
developments on this front. In July 1999, following a lawsuit filed on
behalf of the three Palestinian women whose apartment was attacked, the
Israeli government decided to establish a special governmental committee
charged with reviewing petitions for compensation filed by Palestinian
terror victims. While the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group
(PHRMG) applauds the establishment of such a committee, Section V
carefully examines potential barriers that Palestinian terror victims may
continue to face in gaining compensation from the Israeli government.
In Section VI, the PHRMG
urges the Israeli government to take immediate action to guarantee equal
protection of the laws for all its residents
both Jewish and Palestinian alike. Such
action must include providing personal security for all Palestinian
civilians under Israeli rule. Furthermore, the PHRMG calls on the Israeli
government to thoroughly revise its compensation laws in order to cover
claims filed by Palestinian victims terrorized by militant Jews.
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