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CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE?
SETTLER VIOLENCE AND STATE INACTION DURING
THE AL-AQSA INTIFADA
A PHRMG Report
Volume 5, Issue # 2, March 2001
'The settlers of Yesha are facing a battle that was forced on them, and they
are doing so calmly and bravely, and are setting an example. I salute them…'
-
Israeli Minister of Defence, Benyamin Ben-Eliezer (Haaretz 13/03/2001)
Researched and Written by: Alon Carmel
Field research: Alon Carmel, Ann Kristin Brunborg, Roula Haddad, Rustom
Khalayleh, Bassem Eid, Ghassan Khader and Abdel Rahman Ahmar
Edited by: Ann
Kristin Brunborg, Mireille Widmer, Eric Schwimmer, Adam Reynolds and Walid Hady
Table of Contents
Introduction
-
Chapter 1: Settlers, Settlements and Violence
- Who are the Settlers?
- Israeli Settlement Policy
-
The Settlement
Movement and Jewish Fundamentalism
- Settlers, Extremism and Violence
- An Alternative Jewish View
- Chapter 2 : The Law
- The Legal Context
-
Differences in Legal Rights of Palestinians and Israelis
- Arrest
-
Detention Without Seeing A Judge
- Access To Lawyer
-
Arrest By Judge Before Indictment Is Filed
-
Custody Until End Of Proceedings
- Sentencing
- Compensation
- Chapter 3: Law Enforcement
- General
- The Israeli Army
- A Soldier's Story
- The Israel Police Department
- The Judiciary
- The State Attorney's Office
- The Courts
-
Chapter 4: Settler Violence During the
Al-Aqsa Intifada - Testtimonies and Analysis
- Types of Attacks
- Killings
- Shootings
- Beatings
- Stoning
- Damage to Property and Theft
-
Palestinian victims of Settler Violence Since
29/9/2000
- Analysis
-
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations
- Conclusions
- Recommendations
-
To the Israeli Government and Law Enforcement Agencies
- To the International Community
- To the Palestinian Public
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Introduction
Since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifada on 28/09/2000, the PHRMG has evidence
that settlers have killed at least 7 Palestinians.1 At least 39 Palestinians have
been shot and injured by settlers. At least 11 have been beaten, there have been
at least 48 reports of stoning attacks and another 48 attacks against property,
especially the uprooting, or cutting down of olive trees. Although these figures
are small in comparison with the number of Palestinians killed and wounded by
the Israeli army during the uprising, they are nonetheless significant - settler
violence remains a serious problem.
However, the focus of this report is not primarily on the phenomenon of
settler violence, but on the inadequate response of the Israeli authorities to
this phenomenon. What is most disturbing about settler violence is the impunity
the settlers appear to enjoy. The Israeli government, through its law
enforcement agencies - the army, the police and the judiciary - is failing to
live up to its international obligations to protect the Palestinian civilian
population against attacks, and is also failing to fulfil its duty to ensure
that everyone is equal before the law.
Although settler violence is not new, it has increased during the Al-Aqsa
intifada. The settlers have reacted to what they see as inaction and restraint
on the part of the army, by taking their own steps to crush the uprising and to
increase their own 'security'.
This report does not make judgements about who is innocent and who is guilty
in individual cases. That is a question for the courts (Palestinian and
Israeli). However, it does hope to raise some uncomfortable questions about the
way that Israel is performing its duties to administer justice and protect
Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territories.
The structure of the report is as follows: Chapter
1 examines the demographic
characteristics of the settlers and provides a brief history and analysis of the
settlement movement and its links to extremism and violence. Chapter
2 describes
the local and international legal context and analyses the legal apartheid in
the Occupied Territories that applies different laws to people living on the
same land. Chapter
3 scrutinises the performance of the Israeli law enforcement
agencies - the army, the police and the judiciary, concentrating on the period
since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifada. Chapter
4 presents a selection of
testimonies gathered by the PHRMG of Palestinian victims of settler violence,
together with an analysis of the violence. Chapter
5 puts forward the
conclusions drawn by the PHRMG together with some recommendations of what can be
done to improve the protection of Palestinian human rights against settler
violence.
The PHRMG wishes to thank all the different organisations who contributed to
this report, and especially: The Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ),
Al Mawasi Charitable Organisation, B'Tselem, the Christian Peacemaker Team in
Hebron and Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR).
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I. Chapter 1:
Settlers, Settlements and Violence
A. Who Are The
Settlers?
It is important to differentiate between different kinds of settlers, between the
settlers and the settlement movement, and between the individuals and groups
prone to violent, vigilante action within the settlement movement and the
non-violent majority. According to Peace Now, there are about 199,000 Israeli
settlers living in approximately 145 settlements in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. Another 200,000 settlers live in occupied East Jerusalem. Approximately
half of the settlers live in 9 large, urban settlements like Ma'ale Adumim,
Givat Ze'ev and Ariel. But the majority of settlements are relatively small,
with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants.2
The settlers are not a homogenous group. Contrary to the common stereotypes,
the majority of them are not religious or nationalist fanatics, but social and
economic migrants who moved into the settlements because of the financial
incentives offered by the Israeli government, or to live among friends and
family. In a poll of West Bank settlers (not including East Jerusalem) conducted
for Khalil Shikaki's Center for Palestine Research and Studies (CPRS) in 1997,
42% of settlers surveyed said their motivation was primarily economic, while
only 27% said it was religious/ ideological.3 Had the poll included settlers in
East Jerusalem (Gilo, Psagot, East Talpiot) the number of 'quality of life'
settlers would presumably be higher. Another 24% were either born in the
settlements or moved there to be with family and friends. Because around 86% of
the settlements are designated areas of highest national priority, settlers get
a 7% income tax break, housing grants, subsidized mortgages, free schooling from
age 3, free school busing, and grants for businesses in industry, agriculture
and tourism.4 Thus the Israeli state has primary responsibility for the
establishment of settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territories, in
contravention of the Geneva Convention which explicitly prohibits the transfer
of civilian population into occupied areas.5
In terms of the demographic characteristics of the settlers, the 1997 poll
confirms the findings of a CPRS poll from 1995 that most settlers are
well-educated - almost 25% have a university degree - and have an income above
the Israeli average. About 44% of them define themselves as Orthodox or
ultra-Orthodox, while 23% see themselves as "traditional" and 33% as
secular. The proportion of settlers who define themselves as Orthodox or
ultra-Orthodox is thus well above the national average of between 10 and 20%.
About 50% of settlers work inside Israel and another 50% work in the West Bank.
About 30% of all settlers also own houses inside Israel. Most settlers (72%)
were born in Israel and the rest come from Asian-African countries (6%); the
former Soviet Union (5%) and Europe, North America and Canada (10%).
In their political views, the settlers tend to be more right-wing than the
rest of the Israeli population. Supporters of parties like Meretz and Labour are
severely underrepresented. Settlers vote mainly for religious parties,
especially the National Religious Party (NRP or Mafdal in Hebrew), and to some
extent for the Likud (especially in direct elections for Prime Minister). About
30% of the West Bank settlers believed that a Palestinian state will be
established in the next 5-10 years, while 32% believed that the peace process
will fail and the Israeli army will reoccupy the West Bank. Regarding the peace
process and its impact on relations with their Palestinian neighbors, 41% of the
respondents (compared to 36% in 1995) expressed the view that it will worsen the
relationship while 14% (compared to 16% in 1995) expressed the views that it
will improve the relationship.
The settlements enjoy significant support inside Israel (though some more
than others), and have to a large extent managed to portray themselves as merely
continuing the Zionist enterprise. However, left-wing Israeli grassroots groups
like Peace Now, Gush Shalom etc. have consistently denounced the settlements as
one of the major obstacles to peace and called for their dismantling. According
to Professor Galia Golan of Peace Now 'There is no question that the expansion
of settlement activity was one of the central elements in Israel's failure to
create minimum credibility in the eyes of the Palestinians and, as such, a
central reason for the grassroots frustration with the peace process that is
fueling the current conflagration.'6
Moreover, a poll published in the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot on
December 8, 2000 showed that large numbers of Israelis have little or nothing to
do with settlements, and often know very little about them. Six out of ten
Israeli Jews have not visited a settlement (except for military service) during
the last five years. Of those who did visit, one-half did as tourists, about a
third went to visit relatives, and around one tenth did so for business. The
majority of Israeli respondents did not personally know anyone living in West
Bank or Gaza Strip settlements. This percentage increases among young people and
among those over the age of 60. Only 16% of Israeli Jews have family members
living in settlements. And a staggering 82% of those questioned did not know
where the settlement of Kiryat Arba is located.
In 1979, the settlements were incorporated into the Israeli local government
system of regional councils. The settlements are now organized into 15 Local
Councils, 6 Regional Councils and two cities (Ariel and Ma'ale Adumim). In
addition to these local governments, the settlers are also represented by a
privately funded group called the Council of Yesha (acronym in Hebrew for Judea,
Samaria and 'Aza: the Biblical names of the West Bank and Gaza). The Yesha
Council, which fundraises, lobbies, meets with the press and writes newsletters
on behalf of the settlements, is not an official government body. Its members
are appointed, not elected. Nonetheless the Council of Yesha and the associated
Committee of Rabbis of Yesha, see themselves as spokespersons for the settlers,
and probably do reflect public opinion in the settlements to some extent.
According to the Yesha Report (a bimonthly newsletter), the intifada is a war
started by Arafat's 'murderous' security forces in order to destroy all of
Israel and liberate all of Palestine 'from the river to the sea.' Furthermore,
the settlements are the only thing defending Israelis in Israel from the
terrible onslaught of 'Palestinian terrorists.'7
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B. Israeli Settlement Policy
Settlements began to be established by Israel
in the Occupied Territories directly after the 1967 war. However, it was during
Menachem Begin's right-wing, Likud government in 1977 that the settlement drive
really took off. Between 1977 and 1979 the settler population more than doubled,
from some 4,000 to around 10,000. The settlement policies of Likud and Labour
governments have been importantly different. For Labour the Occupied
Territories, except Jerusalem, were to be exchanged for peace in the future, for
the Likud, they were integral parts of Israel which should never be
relinquished. And for many right-wing politicians from Begin to Sharon, the
settlements are the way to ensure that land is not returned to the Palestinians.
Nonetheless, governments from both sides have continued to encourage
settlement, and allowed the setting up of new settlements seriously violating
the Oslo Accords' provision that 'Neither side shall initiate or take any step
that will change the status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip pending the outcome
of the permanent status negotiations.'8 The Accords also state that the two
parties consider the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a single territorial unit, 'the
integrity and status of which will be preserved during the interim period.'9
Netanyahu (Prime Minister1996-1999) designated the settlements 'areas of
national priority', and began construction on Har Homa (Abu Gnheim). Barak's
government too continued to give high priority to the settlements, building more
housing units even than Netanyahu, including starting a new settlement in Mitzpe
Hagit. In Barak's proposed budget for 2001, the settlers were to receive
approximately NIS 1,2 billion (more than 1% of Israel's GDP) in subsidies,
public expenditure on transport and housing, and income tax breaks.10
The two main types of arguments used to justify Israeli settlements in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip are that Jews have a historical/religious right to the
land of Eretz Israel, and that settlements are necessary for Israel's security.
Both of these arguments are weak crutches on which to base a contemporary
occupation of the land and the subjugation of around 3 million Palestinians, but
the arguments themselves will not be addressed here.
Another important motive, though seldom acknowledged, has always been to
'create facts on the ground' which will complicate or even make impossible the
ceding of land for the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state and peace with
the Palestinians. As a reflection of these motives, the three main areas of
settlement are 1) along the Jordan River, serving as Israel's 'security border'
and separating the West Bank from Jordan, 2) along the 1967 border, within
commuting distance from cities like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and 3) around
Jerusalem, separating it from the rest of the West Bank to ensure that Jerusalem
remains Israel's 'eternal and undivided capital'.11
In 1996, then Israeli Minister of Finance, Dan Meridor was quoted as saying
'...[i]t is clear that if we are serious in our intention not to return to the
1967 lines, words alone will not suffice. Settlement is one of the things that
determines the map of the country. Therefore, if we stop the settlement in one
place or another it means that we have surrendered that place.'12
Equally revealing is a letter written by Ariel Sharon contained in a brochure
for Netzarim settlement in Gaza: '...[s]trategically, massive Jewish settlement
in the Netzarim area will dissect the Strip into two parts, and connect the
Negev with the sea. Settling in Netzarim is today the key to and guarantee for
our continuing hold on the entire Strip, and constitutes a vital obstacle to the
autonomy plan.'13
The current coalition Likud-Labour government has pledged not to build new
settlements, and on Labour's insistence agreed in principle that outlying
settlements may be dismantled. However, with Sharon as prime minister, ways will
no doubt be found around such agreements as they were under Netanyahu and Barak.
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C. The
Settlement Movement and Jewish Fundamentalism
The settlement movement
is not one unified movement, but rather a collection of groups and individuals
more or less organized and more or less united in their belief that Jews have a
right to the Occupied Territories, and that settlement activity is for the good
of all of Israel and thus must be promoted. Gush Emunim ('Bloc of the Faithful')
founded in 1973 and based on the teachings of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, has long
represented the religious-nationalist core of the settler movement. It is the
religious-nationalist, or religious-Zionist, settlers who are responsible for
the vast majority of vigilante and punitive violence against Palestinians.
Leaders and rabbis from groups such as Gush Emunim, and the Council of Yesha
proclaim that Eretz Israel was given to the Jewish people by God. 'Unto thy seed
I give this land' God promises Abraham in the book of Genesis. Gush Emunim
rabbis declare that settling in Judea and Samaria is a mitzvah, or good deed.
According to Gush Emunim the conquest of these lands in the 1967 war
demonstrated that the Messianic era had begun. They believe that the
're-settling' of Jews in and Samaria is part of a divine process that
would inexorably lead to the End of Days, the coming of the Messiah and the
redemption of mankind.14
Even a rabbi in a semi-official position, such as Rabbi Zalman Melamed,
chairman of the Committee of Rabbis of Yesha, can state that 'No rabbinical
authority disputes that it would be ideal if the land of Israel were inhabited
only by Jews'. Rabbi Goren, former chief rabbi of Israel, has argued that
Judaism prohibits 'granting any national rights to any group of foreigners in
the land of Israel.'15 The Committee of Rabbis of Yesha issued an appeal one year
before the Oslo agreements, stating '[i]t has already been ruled by our rabbi,
Zvi Yehuda Kook of blessed memory, that any decision, Jewish or non-Jewish, to
rob us of any part of our land can have no validity because the Will of God will
prevail.' Any expectation of making peace with the 'terrorist' Palestinian
leadership, referred to as 'animals in human shape' is 'a delusion inspired by
Satan.'16
Settler groups have acted as lobbying, or interest groups pressuring the
government to expand settlements, and build new ones. The right-wing political
parties have always enjoyed a special relationship with the settler movement.
The Likud government headed by Begin tacitly supported their setting up of
settlement outposts which were subsequently recognized, legalized and expanded.
Thus, Begin used Gush Emunim to create settlements in areas where he was not
politically able to do so.
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D. Settlers, Extremism and
Violence
The settlement movement in Israel, as
opposed to the majority of individual settlers, has always been strongly linked
to extreme ideological, national-religious goals and to the view that even
illegal means are justified in achieving these goals. In the 1980's a group was
formed by national-religious settlers which became known as the Jewish
Underground (or Makhteret in Hebrew). In June 1980 the Makhteret placed bombs in
the cars of three prominent Palestinian West Bank mayors. Two of the mayors were
seriously maimed in the attacks, while one was warned and escaped unharmed.
The attacks were in 'revenge' for the killing of six yeshiva students in
Hebron one month earlier. The Makhteret carried out several other attacks
between 1980 and 1983, including placing booby-trapped fragmentation grenades on
Hebron's football field and in a mosque injuring a dozen Palestinians - many of
them children. In 1983, the Hebron Islamic College was the target of a
machinegun and grenade attack that killed three Arab students and wounded
thirty-three others. In 1984 the Makhteret attempted to attach explosive charges
to five Arab buses in East Jerusalem. However, this scheme was discovered by the
Shin Bet who arrested some 30 settlers and dismantled the bombs. Twenty-five of
those arrested were eventually convicted for the various attacks and for
plotting to blow up the Haram al-Sharif (Dome of the Rock). However, even those
given life sentences, were released by 1992 after having their sentences reduced
by President Chaim Herzog.17
Shachak and Mezvinsky, argue that the violence by the religious-Zionist arm
of the settlement movement relies on Halachic (Jewish religious law) rulings by
right-wing rabbis that the holy need to keep Judea and Samaria Jewish justifies
exceptional means, and that even the killing of non-Jews is a far less serious
crime than the killing of Jews.18 Though such opinions are not shared by the
majority of religious Jews in Israel, it is clear that acts of settler or
religious-national violence against Palestinians occur in an atmosphere of
permissibility and tacit endorsement, since at least within the
national-religious communities such acts are almost never condemned or
criticized.
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An Alternative Jewish View
- Rabbi Arik Asherman (Rabbis for Human Rights)
Judaism is an ancient and multilayered tradition. There are so many
differing opinions reflected in our ancient texts that one should always be wary
when somebody claims 'Judaism says.' For a variety of sociological and
historical reasons, the religious community in Israel is increasingly socialized
into a volatile mixture of nationalism and particularism. However, there is an
equally authentic and textually based humanistic understanding of Judaism.
We
learn two basic ideas in the very first chapters of the Bible. In Genesis 1:1 we
read that God created heaven and earth. In other words, humanity is not the
pinnacle of existence which can create its own humanity. There is something,
call it God, truth, Justice or whatever, which is above us. Soon after we learn
that all human beings are created in God's image. Our commentators learn from
this that no human being can claim that s/he is better than any other on the
basis of skin color, place of origin, etc. We are taught that, just as defacing
the image of an earthly ruler is an attack against that ruler, harming another
human being is attack against God.
Judaism is not a pacifist religion, but we do
have a doctrine of minimum necessary force. We are taught that we can harm
others to defend ourselves or an innocent third party, but that to kill, even to
save life, when there was another option, is murder. One cannot justify the use
of lethal force merely by saying that there was danger and one can not employ
force as revenge or as a preventative measure when there is no immediate danger.
Judaism teaches that one can defend one's self against one who is attacking you,
but must not harm an innocent third party even to save one's self. From this
reading of the Jewish tradition it is clearly unacceptable to impose collective
punishment causing great suffering and sometimes death on a population which is
not directly threatening us.
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It is clear that it is a small number of people that are repeatedly involved
in vigilantism and punitive attacks. The same individuals and the same
settlements are repeatedly involved in attacks on Palestinians. And they
comprise a very small proportion of the almost 400,000 people that live in the
settlements. Nonetheless, the wider population, especially in the settlement
movement, is partly responsible for tolerating a culture of hatred and permitted
private violence. While the incitement of Arafat and the PA is regularly
excoriated, the pronouncements of certain settler rabbis, many of them state
employees, and other e.g. Yesha officials are not subjected to similar scrutiny.
Rabbi Moshe Levinger, father of the settlement movement and founding member
of Gush Emunim, is an example of the most extreme type of settler. He believes
in the necessity of transforming Eretz Israel into a holy nation - one that
would be ruled according to the Halacha and the Torah. He rejects any form of
political compromise with the Palestinians and opposes the creation of a
Palestinian state. Sharon has called Levinger and his wife 'heroes of our
generation.' However, Levinger has been convicted twice of attacking
Palestinians in Hebron. In one of the attacks, in 1988, he shot and killed
Khaled Salah (42) and injured Ibrahim Bali, after some other Palestinian youths
had thrown stones at his car. He was sentenced to 5 months in prison, but
released after just 10 weeks. Rabbi Levinger, though now an old man, is still an
active and revered leader of the settlers in Hebron.
Kach, founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane and outlawed in both the US and Israel for
its racist views and support for terror, is one of the most extreme Jewish
fundamentalist organisations. After Kahane's assassination in 1990, his son,
Binyamin Kahane, established Kahane Chai ('Kahane lives') modeled on the same
principles as the outlawed Kach. Kahane senior is infamous for pronouncements
such as 'A good Arab is a dead Arab'. His son kept a lower profile, avoided
scandal but carried on his father's work. Binyamin Kahane and his wife Talia
were shot and killed on December 31, 2000 on a bypass road near the settlement
of Ofra. Graffiti and stickers saying 'Kach', and 'Kahane was right' became
widespread during the Al-Aqsa intifada, in most of the settlements as well as
certain neighbourhoods in West Jerusalem.
Various Jewish terrorist/vigilante groups exist, e.g. TNT (Hebrew acronym for
Terror Neged Terror - or Terror Against Terror) and Defending Shield (Egrof
Magen). Such groups were responsible for a number of more or less organised
attacks on Palestinians and their property in the 1980s. During the first
intifada (1987-1992) there were many reports of Jewish vigilantism, including
shootings, punitive raids on refugee camps, and assaults on Arab motorists in
retaliation for rock-throwing attacks by Arab youths. However, most of these
appeared to be spontaneous actions by settlers of individual communities.
On February 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a resident of Kiryat Arba and a
member of Kach massacred 29 Muslims at prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque (Tomb of
the Patriarchs) in Hebron before himself being killed.
More revealing than the attack itself was the reaction it elicited from
nationalist-religious settlers. Goldstein's deed was given religious
sanctification by settlement rabbis such as Dov Lior from Kiryat Arba 'Since
Goldstein did what he did in God's own name, he is to be regarded as a righteous
man.'19 Rabbi Levinger, when asked if he was not sorry about the incident, said 'I
am sorry not only about dead Arabs but also about dead flies.'20
Goldstein's funeral procession was attended by at least a thousand mourners.
Rabbi Israel Ariel eulogized Goldstein as follows: 'The holy martyr, Baruch
Goldstein, is from now on our intercessor in heaven. Goldstein did not act as an
individual; he heard the cry of the land of Israel, which is being stolen from
us day after day by the Muslims. He acted to relieve that cry of the land!...The
Jews will inherit the land not by any peace agreement but only by shedding
blood.'21 In 1995 the Kiryat Arba municipality received permission from the Civil
Administration to build a shrine on Goldstein's tomb, which has since become a
place of pilgrimage. Also that year a book was published, entitled Blessed the
Male, where various authors (including Rabbi Ginsburgh, head of the Joseph's
Tomb yeshiva) praised Goldstein and presented Halachic justifications of his
act. At Goldstein's funeral, Rabbi Yaacov Perrin said 'One million Arabs are not
worth a Jewish fingernail.'22 Most recently, during Purim celebrations in Hebron
(11/03/20010) some settlers dressed their children up as Baruch Goldstein in
homage.23
Goldstein carried out his massacre with a weapon issued to him by the Israeli
army. He was a doctor in the reserves. Settlers are in general allowed to do
reserve military service (about 1 month a year) in or around their settlements.
In some cases this gives extremist settlers opportunity and official protection
to carry out violence against Palestinians.
On January 1, 1997 22-year-old Noam Friedman, an orthodox off-duty soldier
and a settler, opened fire in a crowded market in Hebron, wounding eight
Palestinians, two seriously. He later explained, 'I am not insane....I wanted to
kill Arabs. Hebron is ours forever and I wanted to prevent redeployment from
Hebron.'24 In a CNN interview also on Israeli television he said he had no regrets
about the attack and that it was for the good of Israel.25
The violence of the national-religious right is not directed exclusively at
Palestinians, although they are its main victims. Peace Now demonstrators and
other 'leftists' in Israel have been attacked and in some cases killed because
of their opposition to the settlements or their support for Palestinian rights.
Yitzhak Rabin (Israeli Prime Minister 1992-1995) was assassinated by a
national-religious settler for agreeing to surrender parts of 'Eretz Israel'
(i.e. the Occupied Territories) in return for peace. One settler, in a
conversation with PHRMG, said 'Our greatest enemy is not the Arabs, but the
Israeli government.' The national-religious settlers are a minority that most of
the time feels at odds with the Israeli state, and the majority of Israelis. In
one of the few thorough academic studies made of the phenomenon of settler
violence, David Weisburd notes that it is justified by reference to norms and
values higher than those embodied in the laws of the (Israeli) state. The
violence generally enjoys high levels of support in the communities and is
intended either to deter Palestinian 'crimes', i.e. vigilantism, or taking the
law into one's own hands, or as punishment for such 'crimes'.26
Disturbingly, PHRMG has also received numerous reports and testimonies of
extensive security co-operation between the volunteer teams of settler 'security
co-ordinators' and the Israeli army. Israeli army radio, and three settlers have
confirmed reports of patrols of private citizens on the roads around
settlements. The purpose of these patrols is apparently to protect settlers
traveling on the roads and to force the Israeli army to increase the number of
their patrols. Such private security patrols require the knowledge and the at
least tacit consent of the Israeli army. Private security patrols are a
dangerous development because they are unconstrained by the structures of
accountability of state law enforcement agencies. Do, for example, these private
security patrols have open-fire regulations? If someone violates them, are there
any disciplinary procedures? Furthermore, private security patrols undermine the
crucial distinction between combatants and non-combatants, upon which
international humanitarian law such as the Geneva Conventions are based. This
issue will be further discussed in chapters
3 and
4.
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II. Chapter 2: The Law
27
'There shall be one law for the citizen and the stranger who dwells among
you.' (Exodus 13: 49 )
1. The Legal Context
'In Judea, Samaria, and Gaza there are two legal systems and two types of
people: there are Israeli citizens with full rights, and there are non-citizens,
non-Israelis with non-rights.' MK Amnon Rubinstein28
It is a cardinal duty of all governments to protect the populations under
their jurisdiction and to maintain law and order. This principle is recognized
and safeguarded in domestic legislation in most liberal democracies. The UN's
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNUDHR) establishes equality before the
law and the right to effective redress against crime as two of the most
fundamental human rights in international law.
'All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to
equal protection of the law.' Article 7, UNUDHR
'Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national
tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the
constitution or by law.' Article 8, UNUDHR
In addition, the Geneva Conventions lay down that civilians 'shall be
protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against
insults…'29 (emphasis added). In the Geneva Conventions it is envisaged that the
Power which is in control of a certain territory, will also be responsible for
upholding law and order there.
Since 1995 the responsibility for providing law and order in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip is divided up between Israel and the PA. The Occupied Territories
are divided up into areas A, B and C, with Israel having total security
responsibility over area C, overall security responsibility for the protection
of Israeli citizens and confronting the threat of terrorism in area B, and the
PA having security responsibility over area A.30
Thus, Palestinians committing crimes in areas A and B generally fall under
the PA's criminal jurisdiction, are investigated by the Palestinian Police, and
tried in Palestinian courts. However, Palestinians committing crimes in area C,
as well as Israeli citizens committing crimes anywhere in the Occupied
Territories, come under Israeli criminal jurisdiction.31 Since most Palestinian
attacks against settlers occur in area C, both Palestinians who attack Israelis
and Israelis who attack Palestinians are generally tried in Israeli courts.
However, Palestinians are tried in military courts under military orders, while
Israeli settlers are tried under Israeli civilian penal law in normal criminal
courts. Thus, in effect two legal systems operate concurrently in the Occupied
Territories - one for Palestinians and one for Israelis. In theory the Interim
Agreement grants the fledgling Palestinian Authority the right to administer
criminal justice over its 'citizens'. However, Israel's retention of
jurisdiction over all 'security' offences committed in area C, means that the
legal dualism of trying Israelis and Palestinians under different legal codes
continues.
The existence of two different legal systems institutionalises and obscures
the ethnic discrimination in judicial treatment between Palestinians and
Israelis (effectively Jewish Israelis). Furthermore, the Israeli legal and law
enforcement establishment fails even to implement the existing laws in a
non-discriminatory and effective way (see Chapter
3).
Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories are subject to two sets of
penal codes. The pre-1967 local law (Jordanian, British and Ottoman in the West
Bank, and Egyptian, British and Ottoman in the Gaza Strip) and Israeli military
orders.32 The pre-1967 local law remains in force insofar as it has not been
superceded by Israeli security legislation. Corresponding to these two penal
codes, two Israeli court systems exist: local courts and military courts.
Israeli citizens are in theory subject to the same penal codes plus Israeli
penal law. In practice, however, Israeli civilians are tried in Israel under
Israeli penal law. The result is that Israeli settlers who commit crimes are
granted the full range of judicial safeguards, rights and guarantees in Israeli
law, while these are denied the Palestinian defendants residing on the same
territory. Furthermore, the maximum sentences to which Israeli citizens are
subject are less severe than those to which Palestinians are subject.33
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B. Differences in Legal Rights of Palestinians and Israelis
1. Arrest
Palestinian suspects may be arrested by any soldier or policeman without
taking into account the seriousness of the offence or the probability that the
person arrested committed it. However, such considerations must be taken into
account when an Israeli is arrested without a warrant.34
2. Detention Without Seeing A
Judge
A Palestinian suspect may be held in custody for eight days before being
brought before a judge to extend the detention period. An adult can be held for
18 days if suspected of certain crimes, such as: intentionally causing death,
sheltering a person suspected of causing death, aggravated espionage or
assaulting a person serving in the Israeli army or one of its branches. An Israeli however, must be brought before a judge within 48 hours (24 hours if a
minor above the age of 14, and 12 hours if below the age of 14).35
3. Access To Lawyer
A Palestinian may be prevented from meeting his/her lawyer for 15 days after
arrest for reasons of regional security or the good of the investigation. This
period may be extended for another 15 days. A jurist-judge (a military court
judge with legal training) can additionally extend this period by 30 days.
Detainees are routinely prevented from meeting their counsel for 15 days. An
Israeli may be denied access to his lawyer on the same grounds for only 7 days
following the arrest. This period may then be extended by another 8 days, though
this rarely occurs with Israeli civilians.36
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4. Arrest By Judge Before Indictment Is Filed
A Palestinian can be held without indictment by an order from a jurist-judge
for an initial period of 30 days, which can be extended. The maximum period for
which the detention can be extended, by the regional legal advisor via the
military appeals court is six months. For an Israeli adult the initial period is
15 days, 10 days for a minor. For an adult the period can be extended another 15
days, for a minor 10 days. To extend the period further requires a request from
the Attorney General. If after 90 days no indictment has been brought, the
suspect is released, unless there is intervention from the Supreme Court.37
5. Custody Until End Of
Proceedings
Following an indictment, a Palestinian may be held in custody until the end
of proceedings for an indefinite period, on the order of a jurist-judge. Such an
order may be appealed only after three months in detention. After a year in
custody, the defendant may request a review of his detention once every six
months. An Israeli defendant may be held in custody until the end of the trial
only in certain defined circumstances, i.e. if:
- His release may lead to
obstruction of justice, or may endanger life or public security
- The crime he
is accused of is serious: drugs, violence involving use of a weapon and similar
crimes
- The bond set by the judge was not paid or the terms of bail were
otherwise violated.38
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6. Sentencing
Maximum punishment allowed differs in the two penal codes applying to Israeli
citizens and to Palestinians. This is one of the reasons why Israeli settlers
and Palestinians are frequently seen to be given vastly different punishments
for similar crimes. For example:
A Palestinian convicted of manslaughter is subject to a maximum sentence of
life imprisonment. An Israeli convicted of manslaughter faces only a maximum of
20 years.
A Palestinian convicted of maliciously damaging property is subject to a
sentence of up to five years in prison. The maximum sentence for an Israeli
convicted of the same crime is three years.
This bias in the law is reinforced by regulations in the two penal systems
regarding the early release of prisoners. According to the Israeli penal code
prisoners may be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. The
military orders under which Palestinians are judged does not allow for any early
release for good behaviour.39
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7. Compensation
The dual penal systems, and the Israeli legal code, both discriminate against
Palestinians (whether Israeli citizens or not) on the issue of compensation for
the victims of nationalist-political violence. Israeli civilians who suffer
injury to person or property as a result of nationalist-politically motivated
violence are entitled to receive compensation from the state, but Palestinians
are not. Israeli Member of Knesset Haim Oron, has since 1992 introduced several
bills trying to achieve parity of compensation paid to victims of
nationalist-political violence, irrespective of ethnicity, but so far the law
remains the same.40
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III. Chapter 3: Law Enforcement
A. General
The Palestinian-Israeli Interim Agreement from 1995 calls for the
'efficient and effective handling of any incident involving a threat or an act
of terrorism, violence or incitement, whether committed by Palestinians or
Israelis' and stipulates that 'Each side shall immediately and effectively
respond to the occurrence or anticipated occurrence of an act of terrorism,
violence or incitement and shall take all necessary measures to prevent such an
occurrence.'41 The reality in the Occupied Territories, at least for Palestinians,
is very different. This chapter examines the performance of the Israeli army,
police and judiciary in protecting Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and
providing them with efficient redress.
Between December 1987 and March 2001, 119 Palestinians (including 23
children under the age of 17) were killed by Israeli civilians in the Occupied
Territories.42 Of 89 cases that were monitored by B'Tselem during this time, only
3 (around 3%) led to sentences of life imprisonment, commuted by the President
of Israel to 13 years in one case and 15 in another. Two suspects were
convicted of murder, but received sentences of less than life imprisonment.
Seven cases led to convictions for manslaughter and prison terms of between 6 months
and 7 ½ years. In another 7 cases the defendants were convicted of 'causing death
by negligence', receiving sentences of between 3 months community service and 18
months imprisonment. Two suspects were sentenced to psychiatric hospitalization
instead of prison. An inordinate number of files were closed without legal
action (39, or 44%) and an unacceptable number of cases were not investigated or
'lost' (10, or11%). In 5 cases, the court acquitted the defendants.
By contrast, 114 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinian civilians in the
Occupied Territories in the same period. Of 81 cases, 30 (34%) resulted in
murder convictions and life imprisonment without reduction of sentences by the
President of Israel, or parole on grounds of good behavior (compared to 5 out
of 89 Israelis convicted for murder). In addition, in many of the cases, the convicted's
house, or his family's house was demolished or sealed as punishment.
In 15 cases (around 17%) the suspects were 'eliminated' by Israeli security
forces. No Palestinian convicted of murder received a sentence less than life
imprisonment. No Palestinian was prosecuted for 'manslaughter' or 'death by
negligence' instead of murder. No Palestinian was acquitted because they had
acted in self-defense. No Palestinian suspect was committed to psychiatric
hospital instead of prison. In every single case an investigation was opened. In
no case did the authorities have difficulty locating the case files. In only 11
cases (including the killing of Baruch Goldstein in the Ibrahimi mosque) was the file
closed with no measures taken.
Different penalties for murder? How the Israeli law enforcement agencies have
dealt with Palestinians accused of murdering Israelis and Israelis accused of
murdering Palestinians.43
| Outcome |
Palestinians (out of 81) |
Israelis (out of 89) |
| Life in Prison (for
murder) |
30 |
3 |
| Less than Life (for murder) |
0 |
2 |
|
Convicted of accessory to murder
|
1
|
3
|
| Convicted of 'manslaughter' |
0 |
7 |
| Convicted of 'death by negligence' |
0 |
7 |
|
Psychiatric hospitalization |
0 |
2 |
| Manslaughter charges dropped, convicted for
lesser offences |
0 |
2 |
| Acquitted |
0 |
5 |
| Suspects 'eliminated' by security forces |
15 |
0 |
|
Suspects killed while carrying out killing |
2 |
1 |
| Suspect 'eliminated' by
Palestinians |
1 |
0 |
|
Charges dropped |
0 |
1 |
| Being processed by the authorities |
21 |
7 |
| No investigation
opened |
0 |
6 |
| Case file not located by the authorities |
0 |
4 |
| File closed, no measures
taken |
11 |
39 |
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B. The Israeli Army
Since 1995, the Israeli army has had general
responsibility for law and order in area C, and overall responsibility for
security in area B. The Interim Agreement prohibits Palestinian police forces
from arresting Israeli citizens. They may only detain a suspected offender until
such time as a Joint Patrol, or other representative of the Israeli army arrives
to take the suspect into custody.44 The fact that almost all settler violence
occurs in areas B and C, and that settlers are, as a rule, armed, means that the
Palestinian police's ability to combat settler violence is extremely limited.
The Israeli army is obliged by international law to provide the same
protection to Palestinian civilians in areas B and C as they are to Israeli
civilians. However, far from providing equal standards of protection, the
Israeli army regularly fails to intervene, let alone arrest settlers attacking
Palestinian persons and property within their sight. In fact, the army often
protects settlers attacking Palestinians.
One of the reasons for failure of Israeli soldiers to intervene against
attacks on Palestinians, seems to be that instructions given to soldiers about
how to react to violent attacks by settlers are contradictory and vague. In
theory it is the Police's responsibility to conduct investigations and collect
evidence, and the army's responsibility to make preliminary arrests as well as
intervening to prevent crime.45 However, the soldiers supposed to be carrying out
these responsibilities seem often unsure, or badly informed, about what degree
of force they may use in preventing attacks, and in apprehending suspects.
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A Soldier's Story
A reserve soldier serving in Hebron in 1994 wrote the
following to the then Minister of Education and Culture, MK Amnon Rubinstein:
'On January 17, during my reserve service in Hebron, I witnessed a serious
incident in which a group of settlers attacked vegetable stands belonging to
local residents. I was unable to stop the rioters because the orders we received
do not include that possibility. Even after the event, when I asked one of the
commanders whether we were permitted to arrest settlers during a riot [by them],
I received an explicit "No" in response. I was also not permitted,
despite my repeated requests and the promises that were made, to submit a
complaint to the police about what I saw.
On that day I was with another soldier from my unit...at a lookout near one
of the entrances to the Hebron casbah and the road leading to the Cave of the
Patriarchs. At about 3:00 p.m., a group of Jewish girls, accompanied by young
men with weapons and a few older women, came out of the alleyway leading from
the casbah. The girls began overturning crates of vegetables on stands located a
few metres from the lookout. I yelled at them to stop, and when they did not,
the soldier who was with me climbed down to stop them, and I radioed for
reinforcements. During the entire time, the girls kept dumping the produce and
trampling on them. They treated our demands to stop with contempt. The owners of
the stands were not there at first, but came back when they heard the tumult and
asked us to stop the attack on their property. In the meantime, one of the
settlers' escorts slashed the four tires of an Arab car parked nearby and
smashed the front windshield.
While all this was happening, I stayed at my post by the radio. The other
soldier tried, with no success, to stop the rampage. The patrol jeep arrived as
a reinforcement only after all the vegetables were already scattered on the
ground. The soldier who was with me seized the young fellow who had slashed the
tires. In the meantime, the owner of the car arrived, and a fight broke out
between him and the person who had damaged his car. The officer in the jeep
ordered the two separated, and in the melee that followed, during which the
settler girls shouted at the soldiers in the jeep and sprayed them with water,
the tire slasher escaped. The girls also fled.
We were told that the police would be summoned to take our testimony. A few
minutes later the regional battalion commander arrived with a police jeep. The
policeman spoke to the soldier who was on guard with me but did not take proper
testimony. We emphasised to the battalion commander that we could identify the
rioters, especially the one who had damaged the car. The battalion commander
promised that we would be taken to regional brigade headquarters to give written
testimony.
The battalion commander left around 4:30 p.m.; by 7:00 p.m. we had not yet
been taken to brigade headquarters. In the meantime, a curfew was imposed in the
area because of additional incidents. When I returned to the base, I asked the
operations room officer to ask battalion HQ when we would be taken to give our
written testimony. The officer explained that it was impossible to take me to
brigade HQ. He had been told: "If the soldier wants to testify, let him
come to regional brigade HQ." We had no way to get there, since individual
soldiers may not cross Hebron on foot unescorted. So no testimony was taken from
us. The next day we went home on a two-day leave.
I was very upset by the whole incident. A group of settlers had maliciously
damaged the property and sullied the honour of Arabs in front of IDF soldiers,
fearless and contemptuous of us and our demands that they stop. The orders we
received did not enable us to arrest rioting Jews. We were told to record their
actions with a camera and give a statement afterwards. But not every lookout has
a camera, and we did not. As for giving a statement, in my case at least, that
was merely theoretical. No arrangements or procedures exist for doing it quickly
and efficiently, even if somebody wants to do it. My repeated requests in this
matter encountered an apathetic bureaucratic reaction and the incredible advice
to cross Hebron by foot without an escort in order to give a statement, as
though it were my private caprice, and not the IDF's duty to preserve law and
order in the region. I heard similar stories from soldiers doing compulsory
service who are on duty in the area. In every confrontation with settlers, they
encounter a coarse reaction and feel powerless. My impression is that in cases
of attacks by settlers on local residents, anything goes. Is this really the
policy of the government and the IDF?'46
In later testimony to B'Tselem, the soldier added:
'After I sent the letter to Minister Rubinstein, I was called to meet with
the brigade commander. He told me that in cases of adult settlers, I had the
authority to arrest them, and that orders to that effect had been given in the
briefing. But when I asked other soldiers from my unit (thinking that maybe I
hadn't heard the order during the briefing), they told me they were not allowed
to arrest settlers. You could only document [the incident] and submit a
complaint to the police. In any event, even if an order were given to arrest
him, if no explanation was given to the soldiers how to go about it, the order
was meaningless. How are we supposed to restrain a Jew who is disturbing the
peace? Are we permitted to demand that he identify himself? The army has to
issue orders on how to make arrests.'47
Other soldiers interviewed on Israeli Radio and in newspapers confirm that
they are given inadequate instructions for how to deal with violent settlers,
and often told not to use any force against them whatsoever.48
Whether because of inadequate instructions, or for other reasons, soldiers
often stand idly by, observing without intervening in, settler violence. On
January 15, 2001 settlers from Gush Katif went on a rampage through the
Palestinian neighbourhood of Al Mawasi, in revenge for the killing of settler
Roni Tzalach, the day before. The attack was anticipated by the Israeli media,
and must have been expected by the Israeli army, yet the settlers were allowed
to rampage for several hours, destroying houses, burning cars and greenhouses
before the army finally intervened. (See Chapter
4 for more details.)
Palestinians who wish to complain about attacks or the lack of protection are
regularly dismissed or abused and insulted by soldiers. The only response to
settler violence that the Israeli army normally makes is to impose a curfew on
the Palestinians residents, 'for their own protection'. This has been the case
in places like Hebron, Huwwara, Al Mawasi and Silat Adh Dhaher.
Palestinians in Hebron are used to the Israeli army's inaction. The Dana
neighbourhood in Hebron is less than 100 metres from the settlement of Kiryat
Arba. Settler youth from Kiryat Arba often throw stones over the fence at nearby
Palestinian houses lying below them on the hill and sometimes people are
injured. Emad Dana (33) described to the PHRMG the pattern of the army response:
'On 20/12/2000 around 100 settlers from Hebron and Kiryat Arba marched
through Dana, throwing stones, breaking car windows, shouting racist slogans
etc. Approximately 15-20 soldiers walked with them to protect them. They did not
intervene or try to prevent any of the settlers from throwing stones at houses,
or breaking car windows. When the local Palestinian shabab began to retaliate by
throwing stones at the intruders, a curfew was imposed on the whole
neighbourhood.
On 5/01/2001, some young settlers were throwing stones from Kiryat Arba onto
my family's house just below. When an army jeep passed by the house, I stopped
it and asked the soldiers to do something, to stop the settlers from throwing
stones at us. The officer I spoke to refused. He said it was not his
responsibility. "You stop them", he said.'
This testimony unfortunately reflects the experience of many Palestinians.
Not only are soldiers often abusive and dismissive, but they repeatedly fail to
perform their duty to intervene on behalf of the Palestinian population for
whose safety they are responsible. The PHRMG has also received numerous reports
of soldiers protecting settlers who attack Palestinians (e.g. see testimonies on
Husan in next chapter) or damage Palestinian property, especially cutting down,
or uprooting olive trees. In a few, relatively rare, cases it appears that that
Israeli soldiers also participated in attacks on Palestinians.49
One very alarming question concerns the extent of security cooperation
between the settlers and the army, and the extent to which the army does exactly
what the settlers demand of them. Several reports from Husan and Huwarra
describe how soldiers come with bulldozers and uproot trees that are pointed out
to them by settlers, who of course need provide no proof that the trees have
been used as cover by shooters, or stone-throwers.
In November 2000, Peace Now discovered a document sent by the settlers in
Hebron to the local army command demanding that certain measures be implemented
against the local Palestinian population.50 The document, entitled 'Travel
Restrictions for Arabs, Recommendations to the IDF Brigade Commander' calls for
9 highly repressive measures to be taken against the Palestinian population,
from closing streets, banning Palestinian traffic, restricting Palestinian
traffic to 'half the daylight hours', to closure of the 'flea market', a gas
station, the Waqf offices and any Palestinian shops close to Jewish houses. The
document was dated 1/11/2000 and the Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron
reported seeing that several of the 'recommended' measures had been implemented
two weeks later.
The fact that the settler community in Hebron feels that it can 'advise' the
army, and that its advice seems to have been taken, raises disturbing questions
about who decides on army policy in Hebron, and perhaps the rest of the Occupied
Territories.
Another example of the Israeli army apparently following instructions given
by settlers is the killing of Mohammed Abed Ahmad Souf (27), from Haris, the
father of two children. His brother Mazouz Souf (19) told the PHRMG:
'On the 8/01/2001 at around 20.30, we were throwing stones at settler cars on
the road outside our village. We hit a settler car. The settler drove straight
to the nearest army checkpoint and complained. Within 5 minutes, a jeep arrived,
stopped on the road and the soldiers began shooting at us. Mohammed was hit in
the chest, and bled to death. The soldiers didn't allow us to evacuate him.'
Although in this case, the settlers themselves did not use violence, what is
disturbing is that the soldiers seem to have shot Mohammed Souf merely on the
strength of a report of stone-throwing by settlers. The soldiers lives
themselves were not endangered by the group of stone-throwing youth, even if the
settler's might have been. Mohammed Souf was killed by a soldier because he had
thrown a stone at a settler car a few minutes earlier.
The phenomenon of settler patrols is extremely alarming. These groups of
armed settlers (often volunteers), who travel on the roads in the West Bank in
order to protect other settlers have become increasingly common during the
Al-Aqsa intifada. The Israeli army is reportedly considering giving legal
recognition to these patrols which have been happening, in parts of the Occupied
Territories, since the last intifada.51 Palestinians have long complained of these
semi-official security patrols which roam through areas B and C unhindered.
Three sources within the settler community confirmed that patrols exist and that
they have been approved, at least tacitly, by the Israeli army since 1995. The
patrols typically consist of 4-5 people, armed with Uzis or M-16s provided by
the army. They escort other settlers to their homes, or simply stand on
stretches of road that are known to be particularly dangerous.
The army claims that 'There is no reason for concern that these patrols will
turn into militias. These people are operating from a position of self-defiance.
After all, their arms come to them from the IDF in any case, and many of them
serve in the reserves in the territorial defense system.'52 They also argue that
the settlers can be trusted to operate these patrols because they have shown
great restraint during the last 5 months. Chapter
1 outlined the legal reasons
for concern at private security patrols - the lack of open-fire regulations and
accountability, and the subsequent difficulty in distinguishing between
combatants and non-combatants. Chapter
4 will show why the PHRMG disagrees with
the army's assessment that the settlers have been restrained, and presents a
short argument why these groups could indeed turn into militias if the fighting
intensifies.
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C. The Israel Police Department
It is the responsibility of the Israel
Police Department to investigate crimes committed by Israelis against
Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Their duties thus include: accepting
and acting on complaints brought to them by Palestinians, locating and
questioning suspects and witnesses, detaining suspects for further questioning
when necessary and gathering evidence to allow the State Prosecutor to bring the
case to court.
In many cases, Palestinian victims of settler violence do not complain to the
police, either because they are unaware that this is the responsibility of the
Police, or because they believe that their complaints will be ignored. This
perception is based on experience and is unfortunately often correct. However,
it is important for Palestinian victims of crime to keep lodging complaints with
the Israeli police, to insist upon their rights and to keep up the pressure on
the Israel Police Department. If no complaints are made, this gives the police
yet another excuse not to open investigations.
In 1984, the Karp Commission, set up by the Israeli Ministry of Justice in
response to a petition from the law faculties of Tel Aviv University and the
Hebrew University in Jerusalem with the mandate of investigating the state's
handling of crimes by Israeli civilians in the Occupied Territories, published
its findings. The Commission concluded that the Israel Police Department's
handling of complaints against Israeli civilians was severely deficient, and
called for urgent action to safeguard the rule of law.53 The Commission found that
cases were needlessly closed where evidence and sometimes eyewitnesses existed.54
The Military Governor of Hebron had ordered some cases closed without
investigation. Some investigations were not pursued on Shabbat in order to allow
the settlers to enjoy their day of rest, and police would often do nothing when
settlers refused to cooperate with an investigation.55
In 1994, a B'Tselem report examining the handling of complaints against
Israeli settlers by the police found that 'nothing has changed in this regard
since the publication of the Karp Commission Report more than a decade ago.'56 It
was still difficult for Palestinians to have their complaints accepted by the
Police. In many cases, even when complaints were accepted, they were not
investigated. And if they were investigated, the investigation was not pursued
efficiently, leading to the case being closed on grounds of 'offender unknown',
'insufficient evidence' or some other such pretext.
Palestinian complainants have been denied their right to lodge complaints
with the police by being prevented from entering police stations, by being
beaten up by settlers waiting outside police stations, by being sent from one
police station to another in a circle of endless referrals, by being told that
the police do not accept complaints from people without identity cards, or
simply because 'that is the policy'.
Even when complaints are accepted, the police sometimes deny having received
them. On several occasions when B'Tselem or a similar organization such as
HaMoked, Center for the Defense of the Individual, contacted the police to
inquire about the progress of an investigation, the police denied receiving a
complaint, despite the fact that a complaint had been made by the victim,
sometimes accompanied by B'Tselem or HaMoked volunteers.
The failure of the Israel Police Department to accept and act on complaints
increases Palestinian reluctance to complain and further undermines any trust in
the Israeli authorities. Naaman Shukri Dana (58) from the Dana neighborhood in
Hebron (al-Khalil) has a house less than 30 meters from the fence around Kiryat
Arba. His house is often stoned and several members of his family have been
injured over the years. In 1996 settlers attempted to burn down his house during
the night. The family escaped unhurt except for smoke inhalation injuries to
their lungs and throats. When, the police finally agreed to investigate, after 6
months of complaining, their attitude was typical of the contempt shown by the
Israeli police to Palestinian complainants. They asked him if he knew the names
of the attackers or could identify them, although they knew that the attack took
place at night when the family was sleeping. They then made him take a
lie-detector test, treating him as though he were the criminal, and not the
victim.
In his testimony to the PHRMG, Mr. Dana told the PHRMG of other times he has
tried to complain.
'On the 16/06/1997 at around noon, 4 settler youths, whom I recognized, were
throwing stones over the fence at my house. I went to the Israeli Police Station
in the old city of Hebron and after waiting for close to an hour, the officer
agreed to come and investigate. When we approached my house however, he insisted
on going on foot. Of course, as soon as the stone-throwers saw us, they ran
away. The officer paid them no attention. When we reached the spot where they
had stood, he said "We have come to the place you spoke of, and I can see
no settlers!" I tried to argue with him, but he ignored me. A soldier from
the nearby checkpoint agreed that he had seen them, and agreed to be a witness,
but the officer just repeated "I have seen nothing."
More recently, on the 20/8/2000, we asked the police to come and arrest two
settler youths who were again throwing stones at our house. The police officer
this time came and did in fact arrest the two. However, a few hours later they
were back in the same place, throwing stones again. When we again called the
police they said "Do you want us to imprison them their whole lives for
throwing a few stones?"'
Mr. Dana estimated that he had complained over 30 times to the Police and the
army during 2000, but says that now he has given up.
In the absence of a complaint, it is still the legal duty of the Police to
investigate suspected crimes if they hear of them from the media or other
sources. And it is the duty of the Israeli army to report crimes they witness,
or hear about. However, the Karp Commission found that as a rule, 'If the law is
breached, but no complaint is filed, no investigation is conducted.'57 This
conclusion was echoed by the B'Tselem report ten years later. The B'Tselem
report documents cases of the police reporting that files 'cannot be located' or
have 'disappeared' far more frequently when the offender is a settler killing a
Palestinian. The report also found a surprising number of files were closed on
grounds of 'offender unknown' even when testimonies given to B'Tselem and
HaMoked indicate that a significant amount of prima facie evidence existed.
The two settlers from Itamar arrested on suspicion of killing Farid Nasrasrah, and
injuring 3 others on 17 October, 2000, were released 5 days later on
grounds of insufficient evidence.58 Nasrasrah was shot while picking olives near
Nablus and there were plenty of other Palestinian farmers who witnessed the
event. Nonetheless, the State Attorney's Office is considering closing the
investigation because of difficulties formulating an indictment.59
Two settlers suspected of killing Mohammed Shalash, near Ramallah on 17
December, 2000, were also released after a few days in custody for similar
reasons.
PHRMG fears that the defects uncovered by the Karp Commission and the
B'Tselem report have not been satisfactorily addressed within the Israel Police
Department. Settler violence continues to go uninvestigated, Palestinian
witnesses continue to be ignored, or dismissed in favor of testimony by
settlers. Complainants continue to be turned away, and files continue to be
closed inexplicably. Naturally the task of investigating crimes has been made
harder by the intifada, not least because the settlers see themselves as
fighting in a war, and presumably many police officers sympathize with them.
Nonetheless, the difficult circumstances do not justify the police neglecting
their duties, and the failures of the Israel Police Department did not begin
with the Al-Aqsa intifada.
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D. The Judiciary
1. The State Attorney's Office
The State Attorney's Office, in cooperation
with the Police, is responsible for bringing suspects to trial. The State
Attorney can choose to close a file because there is insufficient evidence, or
because of 'lack of public interest'. Statistics on numbers of cases closed for
these reasons by the State Attorney's Office are not available. However,
B'Tselem examined two cases of Palestinians (Fa'iq Subhi Suweidan and Mahmud
Muhammad al-Nawaj'ah) killed by settlers, whose files were closed due to
insufficient evidence, despite the existence of several eyewitnesses
(Palestinian). The eyewitnesses were not questioned.60
The B'Tselem report also refers to the phenomenon of public pressure being
brought to bear on the State Attorney's Office by settler organisations. In
1991, a senior official from the State Attorney's Office told the media:
'Tremendous pressure is placed on us, and we have reached the situation that
we close files.…for lack of evidence. If there is the slightest reason to
believe that self-defence was involved, we prefer to close the file.'61
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2. The Courts
The General Courts' System is responsible for deciding cases
and handing down sentences. There are three levels of courts in Israel: the
Magistrate Courts dealing with offenses with maximum prison terms of 7 years, or
maximum damages (in civil cases) of $30,000, the District Courts dealing with
cases where the maximum penalty is more than 7 years, or more than $30,000, and
the Supreme Court which hears appeals from the District Courts.
In addition to Palestinians and Israelis being tried under different penal
codes for the same crime, there is systematic discrimination in how strictly the
law is applied. Judges presiding in cases against Israeli settlers are extremely
susceptible to the argument of self-defence, whereas Palestinian arguments of
self-defence are rarely accepted. In cases where the defendant is convicted, the
judges consistently hand down more lenient sentences than the law allows, or
else a plea bargain is struck to permit the defendant to be tried for a less
serious offence in exchange for a guilty plea.
The consistently more lenient sentences than the law allows derives from the
convention of judges to follow legal precedents in sentencing. The trial of
Nissan Ishigayov in February, 1988, in particular set a precedent for the
sentencing of settlers who kill Palestinians. Ishigayov was convicted of
manslaughter for killing a thirteen-year-old Palestinian who threw stones at
him, and received 6 months of community service. The sentence was overturned by
the Supreme Court, which gave Ishigayov 5 years in prison, two of which were
suspended, arguing that:
'The punishment that the appellant received does not reflect the value that
should be placed on human life. It could be construed as acceptance of a norm of
behaviour which is intolerable when the act involved is one "which by its
gravity subverts the very existence of a civilized humane society."'62
Nonetheless, the case and the sentence became a model for subsequent trials,
and the precedent has repeatedly been cited in the cases of, e.g. Rabbi Moshe
Levinger, Boaz Moscovitz, and Pinhas Wallerstein, all accused of killing
Palestinians.
Nahum Korman (37) who was the security coordinator of Beitar Illit settlement
near Bethlehem, was given 6 months community service and a NIS 70,000 fine for
beating 12-year-old Hilmi Shousha to death in 1996. Korman attacked Shousha for
throwing stones at him, kicked him and beat him on the head with the butt of a
pistol. The lenient sentence was the result of a plea bargain - from murder to
manslaughter - which State Prosecutor Edna Arbel, in response to massive
criticism by human rights groups, the media and Justice Minister Yossi Beilin,
admitted was 'a mistake'.63
By contrast, on the same day (January 21, 2001), an Israeli military court
sentenced Su'ad Hilmi Ghazal, a Palestinian girl from Sabastiya, near Nablus, to
6 ½ years in prison. In 1998, she tried to stab a settler from Shave Shomron
and managed to injure him. The crime was committed when she was 15 and allegedly
suffering mental problems. After her arrest in 1998, Ghazal was held
incommunicado for 37 days, without access to a lawyer or her family, despite the
fact that she was a minor. Of those 37 days, 17 were spent in solitary
confinement. Because Ghazal was tried under military law, she will not be
eligible to have her sentence reduced by the President, or to be paroled for
good behaviour.64
While Palestinians are regularly sentenced to 12 months or more in prison for
throwing stones,65 settlers who throw stones at Palestinian vehicles and homes,
are almost never apprehended, let alone given prison terms.
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IV. Chapter
4: Settler Violence During the Al-Aqsa Intifada - Testimonies and Analysis
A. Types of Attacks
1. Killings
Between December 1987 and August 2000,
Israeli civilians killed 115 Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territories,
an average of less than one a month. In the five months since September 28,
2000, 7
Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli civilians in the Occupied
Territories. In most of these cases, no investigation has been opened by the
Israeli Police, and in those where an investigation has been opened, and
suspects have been arrested, they have been released shortly afterwards for
'lack of evidence'. As far as the PHRMG is aware, the police has not contacted
Palestinian eyewitnesses.
The first part of this chapter presents the 7 cases of Palestinians killed by
settlers for which the PHRMG has strong evidence. The second part brings up the
4 cases of Palestinians who were killed since 29/09/2000 in which the evidence
is insufficient or unclear. It is important to distinguish between these kinds
of cases because killings of Palestinians have been mistakenly reported as
settler violence in the past.66
Tahrir Suleiman Riziq (21) from Hizma, north of Jerusalem, was was killed by
a settler responding with force out of all proportion to an attack on his person
and property. Tahrir's father, Suleiman, told the PHRMG:
'On 31/12/2000 four or five youths from Hizma were throwing stones onto the
Ramallah bypass road leading from Maale Adumim to Ofra. They may have hit a
settler car, because the car, a white Mitsubishi, turned around and came back.
It stopped on the road, and the driver fired around 10 shots out of his
car-window. One of the shots hit Tahrir in the head at a range of less than 10
meters. Eyewitnesses say they believe the man was a settler because he was
traveling alone, in civilian clothes and a civilian car.67 Tahrir was taken to Al
Mukassed hospital in Jerusalem in a civilian car because they did not want to
wait for an ambulance. The family has made no complaint to either Palestinian or
Israeli authorities because we do not believe that it will lead to anything.
"If the judge is your enemy, what justice will you get?"'
The fact that the driver turned the car around and drove back to where the
youths were standing shows that he was not using reasonable force to protect his
own life, but rather wanted to punish the stone throwers. Although, Palestinians
who were with Tahrir say they can identify the vehicle and remember some of the
licence number, and despite the fact that this case was reported in the Israeli
newspapers, the police has not contacted the family for their testimonies.
Sometimes, the 'reaction' is even more delayed. The killing of Mohammed Shalash
(18) from Shuqba, near Ramallah on the 17/12/2000, may have been in revenge for
the stoning of a settler's car a week earlier. Mohammed's father Haj Hamed, told
the PHRMG:
'Mohammed and some classmates were waiting for a taxi to come back home when
some settlers stopped their car and came in their direction, so the boys ran
away towards the town of 'Abud, but Mohammed ran in the opposite direction, into
the fields. Two of the settlers followed him and fired in the air, so Mohammed
had to stop. They approached him and shot him in his forehead from a very close
range, 3-5 meters only. The settlers did not offer any help to him until he
passed away. After three hours, the Israeli army arrived with an ambulance that
carried the body to Beit-El, and after that to Abu-Kabir hospital in Tel Aviv
for the autopsy. It seemed the settler who killed my son wanted to take revenge
because his car was stoned a week before. Anyhow, the Israeli police apprehended
3 settlers for one night, and released them the following day.'
However, not all attacks by settlers are clearly in retaliation for anything
in particular. Farid Nasasrah (28) was killed in a shooting attack by two
settlers on some farmers from Beit Furik who were harvesting their olives.
Farid's cousin Khaled Issa Nasasrah, who was injured in the same attack, told
the PHRMG:
'On Tuesday 17/10/2000, and after coordinating it with the
Palestinian-Israeli District Coordination Office (DCO) some Palestinian farmers
from Beit Furik went to their fields to harvest their olives. After two hours or
so, 15-20 armed Jewish settlers suddenly appeared shooting in all directions.
Farmers tried to hide behind anything, a rock or a tree. Farid was shot in his
chest, and I was shot in my leg. Another relative called Malek Nasasrah was shot
in his abdomen. A fourth farmer, Hamdi Nasasrah, was luckily carrying a bag full
of olives, so the bullets didn't hit him directly in his back. This crime, which
was committed in cold blood, occurred before the eyes of the Israeli soldiers
who weren't far from the scene. I know that the Israeli police apprehended two
settlers for investigation, but released them soon after due to insufficient
evidence.'
Fahed Mustafa Baker Odeh (22) was killed when settlers attacked his home
village of Bidya, near Nablus on the 7/10/2000. Khadri Fayez Mohammed Marjan
(27) from Bidya, a clerk working in a private company gave the following
testimony to B'Tselem:
'On Sunday 8/10/2000, in the evening, settlers attacked Bidya in five cars -
including a Ford transit, and a GMC van. They arrived from the West, i.e. the
direction of Ariel. They attacked some shops and damaged some groceries on the
eastern side of the village. One of the villagers started calling through the
loudspeakers of the mosque for the youth to come to the centre of the village in
order to stop the settlers from entering. The youth arrived and divided into two
groups. The group in which Khadri was went to the eastern part of the village
while the other group went to the south of the village (direction of Mas'ha
village). The first wave of settlers attacked some shops and tried to set them
on fire. They then moved towards Mas'ha. At 21.15 two settlers arrived in a fiat
stationwagon pulling a big box. They reached the outskirts of the village and
stopped by the mound of stones put up by the youth. One settler got out of the
car and started shooting around him blindly. I was standing beside the martyr.
None of us threw any stones at the settler before he opened fire. The settler
shot 14 bullets towards us at a distance of 15 metres. Fahed was hit in the head
as he was seeking cover. The bullet entered his head from the back. I noticed
the entry hole when we carried him to safety.
Fahed did not at any time endanger the life of the settler. The settler
arrived on purpose to shoot at us. We took Fahed to a nearby house and later we
managed to take him to a local clinic in Bidya. There were no ambulances around
that day. We had to call an ambulance from Qalqilya, which arrived much later,
probably because they were held up by Israeli soldiers.
Fahed died one and a half hour after he was shot. He died before the army
allowed an ambulance to enter into the village. They kept his body for that
night in the clinic, and he was buried the next day.'
This case is similar to the attack on Husan (see
Shootings) in that it
was a planned attack initiated by settlers in which they began firing on
Palestinians who were not endangering their lives.
The only case of an Israeli civilian killing a Palestinian civilian in the
Occupied Territories which was actually in self-defence occurred near the Erez
industrial zone on 7/12/2000. Mohammed Joudy Abu-'Assi (30) from Gaza stabbed
his Israeli employer and was shot by a passing Israeli truck driver.
Najeeb Obeido (20) from Hebron was shot in the head by a settler while he was
lying helpless and wounded on the ground. He had attacked an Israeli policeman
and the policeman had shot and wounded him. As the policeman was leaving the
scene he met a settler and told him what had happened. This settler then went to
where Najeeb was lying and shot him in the head Najeeb's brother Jihad Obeido
told the PHRMG:
'On Friday 22/12/2000 Najeeb went to my sister's house for the Ramadan
breakfast in the evening there, he left the family house at about 2:30 in the
afternoon. We heard on the news that an Israeli policeman and a settler shot a
young Palestinian in Hebron when he tried to stab the policeman, we never
thought it was my brother Najeeb. Then an Israeli intelligence officer called my
brother Maher to the Civil Administration offices, where they told him that my
brother was detained and shot by the policeman, but that he was still alive when
the policeman left some settlers with him and went to get an ambulance. One of
the settlers shot Najeeb in the head and so he died.'
In this case there appears to have been no issue of self-defence as far as
the settler was concerned. He clearly intended to kill Obeido in retribution for
his attack on the policeman.
Mustafa Mahmoud Mousa Elayan (48) from Askar camp in Nablus, was killed by a
stone thrown at his car. Hussein Musallam who was with Mustafa when the attack
occurred said to the PHRMG:
'More than 13 Jewish settlers attacked the truck in which Mustafa sat next to
his son Ala' who drove it. We were three men in the truck, Mustafa was struck
with stones that broke the front glass of the vehicle, and hit him in his head
and chest. Mustafa and his son often travel to 'Anata, north of Jerusalem, to
sell vegetables, and return in the evening. The day before the accident, they
couldn't come back home because the settlers closed the road between Ramallah
and Nablus, so they stayed in 'Anata for the night. On the day of the attack,
while they were traveling home, settlers from Ofra settlement didn't allow us to
go on, so we went on a minor road, but other settlers attacked the truck and
Mustafa was fatally injured. When the stones hit his father, Ala' drove faster,
and Mustafa slumped in his seat unconscious. When we reached Rafidia hospital in
Nablus they said Mustafa had died from a strong blow from a heavy object on his
chest.'
The number of Palestinian civilians killed by settlers during the Al-Aqsa
intifada up till 10/03/2001 is by no means insignificant. Especially troubling
is the fact that in only one of these cases has the violence used by the
settlers been a case of genuine self-defence. The PHRMG's observation in this
respect confirms the earlier finding by B'Tselem. Of 64 cases monitored by
B'Tselem during the period 1987 to 1994, only 4 were clearly situations of
self-defence.68 Moreover, in those cases were investigations were opened by the
Israeli police, and suspects arrested, the suspects were all released within a
few days for 'lack of evidence'. This lack of evidence is difficult to
understand when in all the cases referred to above there were eyewitnesses to
the attacks.
In addition to the 7 reasonably clear cut cases, there are also 4 cases of
Palestinians killed in unclear circumstances. Some evidence points at settlers,
but either there were no eyewitnesses, or it is unclear whether the victim was
killed by a settler or a soldier, or where it is difficult to determine whether
the attack was a car accident or whether it was intentional. Shadi Mohammed
Ahmad al-Za'oul (16) from the village of Housan, near Bethlehem was killed in a
highly suspicious hit-and-run accident. He was definitely killed by a settler,
there are eyewitnesses. However, there is not enough evidence to determine
whether the driver intended to kill Shadi. His uncle, Yousef (32) told the
PHRMG:
'On 30/11/2000, at about 6 a.m. Shadi was walking to school on route 60, a
by-pass road used by both Palestinians and Israelis. I passed him in my bus on
my way to take some workers from the village. I stopped my bus at the entrance
to the settlement of BeitarIllit. I saw a large vehicle carrying cement and a
GMC van, both Israeli. Suddenly the GMC van crossed the street very fast towards
Shadi, and hit him so hard that he flew about 10 metres. I ran to see him, he
was bleeding from his head. His arms and legs were broken, and he was
unconscious. I quarreled with the driver of the van, an armed settler with a
kippah, who said he didn't kill him. People from the village gathered, and
settlers came too. When the killer saw settlers around him, he told them that he
killed the boy. He felt proud for doing that. Settlers began to sing and dance,
they were very happy that an Arab was killed. One of the settlers said he was a
doctor, and tried to check Shadi. He said the boy was in a serious condition, so
he called for an ambulance. The Israeli army arrived and told everyone to go
away, including the GMC driver, the killer. Then the ambulance arrived and took
Shadi to Hadassah Ein-Kerem hospital, where doctors received him and tried hard
to save his life with no success. The police allowed members of the family to go
with them to Abu-Kabir hospital for the autopsy, near Tel-Aviv. The medical
reports said the boy sustained fractures to the skull, to his spinal-cord, arms
and legs.'
Ibrahim Abdel-Rahman Daoud al-'Olami (25) was shot and killed while
travelling past Beit Einoun in Hebron district on 12/10/2000. However, there
were clashes in the area at the time in which both settlers and soldiers shot at
Palestinian protestors. Hence, it is not clear whether he was killed by a
settler or a soldier. Nonetheless, the phenomenon of settlers taking part in
clashes is absolutely unacceptable. Settlers supposedly have their weapons
solely for self-defence. When clashes break out they should seek cover and
remain passive. The fact that they participate in clashes as though they are
part of the security forces, is another indication of certain settlers'
dangerous refusal to remain non-combatants in the conflict.
Ahmad Hasan Mohammed 'Allan (25) from Qariout was found dead on the 3/03/2001
near the settlement of Shilo. On the 17/03/2001 the body of Mohammed Ismail
Nassar (11) from Dahyiet al-Barid, near al-Ram was found near Neve Yakov
settlement. There were no eyewitnesses who could tell the PHRMG what happened.
The PHRMG urges the Israeli police to open investigations into these cases
immediately, and to question settler suspects.
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2. Shootings
The number of non-fatal attacks involving weapons is also
very high since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifada. PHRMG has reports of at
least 66 Palestinians being injured in such shooting attacks. Although no
comparative data exists, it seems likely that, just as with fatal attacks, there
has been an escalation with the start of the intifada. The injuries sustained
and the circumstances surrounding the attacks are again very varied. The
injuries range from small wounds in hands and other extremities, to large,
potentially life-threatening, internal wounds in the chest and abdomen. However,
the PHRMG is aware of only one case - that of the shooting of Mansour Jaber (13)
- where the police have opened a serious investigation after the shooter,
Yehoshua Shani a settler from Kiryat Arba, admitted that he might have been
responsible for the injury.
Mansour Jaber was shot and injured in the hand and abdomen by Shani, during
an attack by settlers who occupied the home of Ata Jaber. The Jaber family has
repeatedly been harassed by settlers from the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba.
Mansour's grandfather Khader Ahmad Jaber told PHRMG:
'On 9/12/2000, at about 9 a.m. many cars and vehicles from the settlement of
Kiryat Arba drove to a hill very close to our house. There were more than 200
settlers, and about 50 Israeli soldiers. We knew there were after something.
They came closer and closer towards the house of my married daughter, 30 meters
away from us. The armed settlers began to shoot in the air, others threw stones
at our houses damaging windows and doors. We felt the danger and decided to go
out to defend ourselves. My sons tried to stop the settlers from attacking their
sister's house, by throwing stones at them. The confrontations continued for
about 90 minutes, with the Israeli army and police watching. Finally, one of the
settlers took out his M16 machinegun and shot my grandson Mansour, 13 years old.
The bullet hit him in his right hand, and went through his abdomen to the other
side. He fell on the ground bleeding.
The settlers tried to prevent us from helping the poor boy, but we went to
the police who called a military ambulance that took Mansour to Hadassah Ein
Karem hospital, where he stayed for more than 40 days. The situation remained
tense for more than 4 hours during which the Israeli soldiers and settlers
entered the house of Ata Abdel-Jawad Jaber, my cousin, which was demolished
twice by the Israeli authorities but was built for the third time with a permit
that Ata obtained from the Israeli authorities. The Israeli settlers left the
house after three days, but they burnt the whole interior of it before doing so,
and now the Israeli soldiers occupy the house. My cousin Ata, the owner of the
house got a legal judgment from the Israeli High Court ordering the evacuation
of the Israeli army and settlers from the house, to let the legitimate owner
live there. But until now the Israeli soldiers haven't implemented the court
decision.'
This account is confirmed by the Christian Peacemaker Team, who however
believe the number of settlers was lower - somewhere between 50 and 100. Members
of the Christian Peacemaker Team asked policemen sitting in two vans nearby why
they did not intervene. In response they were told that they could not, that the
army had decided to let them vent their frustration in response to the killing
of two settlers a week earlier.
One of the most serious non-lethal shooting attacks by settlers took place on
3/12/2000 in the village of Husan, near Bethlehem. Ali Khalil Hamamreh, member
of the Village Council, told PHRMG:
'At around 5:30 p.m., an Israeli van (a white GMC/Savana) stopped and four
armed men in civilian clothes got out, walked for 20 meters to the other side of
the road, and then opened fire from their automatic guns wounding two persons
who were near the mosque. In response to the attack, youths began to throw
stones at the settlers. Within a few minutes, two Israeli military jeeps arrived
and started shooting to protect the settlers. The shooting continued until after
midnight, and more than 30 people were wounded, most of them in the first 10
minutes. The Israeli soldiers also used tear-gas which caused one child to be
hospitalised for suffocation. There were no disturbances in the village prior to
the gunfire, everything was quiet.
During the gunfire, and the confrontations that occurred after that, the
Israeli army cut the electricity and telephone lines to the village. Moreover,
the army prevented ambulances from entering the village to take away the wounded
people. The wounded people were transferred to al-Hussein hospital in Beit-Jala
by civilian cars, and only after a considerable delay. A few Palestinian houses
and vehicles were also damaged. It is worth mentioning that the same GMC van had
a week earlier run over Shadi Ahmad Hussein (15) from the village.'
In the attack on olive-picking farmers in which Farid Nasasrah was killed,
three other farmers were also wounded. In a similar attack on the 1/11/2000, two
Palestinian farmers were shot at and injured while picking their olives near
'Urif, Nablus. One of the farmers, Fawzi Helil Shihadeh, told the PHRMG:
'On that day, members of al-Safadi family left their house to go to the
fields with other villagers to harvest their olives. While we were picking the
olives, 20 Israeli settlers armed with guns and wearing civilian clothes
attacked us. We ran towards the village, but they ran after us. One of them shot
Said Abed al-Safadi (18 years old) and wounded him seriously. Faleh Mohammed
al-Safadi (38 years old) was shot in his abdomen. The villagers carried both
injured men for about 2 kilometers before they were taken by a car to Rafidia
Hospital in Nablus. Both of them were taken into the operations room
immediately, Said remained in hospital for 21 days, and Faleh for 15 days. When
the two injured men were taken to hospital, we contacted the Israeli Military
Coordination office, and a force from the Israeli army arrived, when we told
them what had happened, one of the soldiers said jokingly: "Why didn't you
shoot them?" The Israeli Coordination officers asked us to come back the
following day in order to identify the settlers. But when we came the following
day, no settlers showed up.'
In a seemingly completely unprovoked attack on Huwwara Boys School on
19/12/2000, Ahmad Yosef Salim Odeh (17) was shot at and injured in his leg, and
Mohammed Ahmad Harzeen (14) was injured in the abdomen. Odeh told the PHRMG:
'At about 7:15 a.m. five armed settlers came to my school, Huwwara Boys
School, in a green GMC van, got out and started shooting at the school. I wanted
to close the main gate of the school because if those settlers came into the
school yard there would have been a disaster. But one of the settlers shot me in
my leg. My classmates helped me and we closed the gate. The Israeli army arrived
later and took the settlers away, but prevented the ambulance from arriving to
the school in order to take me to hospital. In the end the ambulance took a
sandy minor road, and managed to take me to Rafidia hospital in Nablus where I
stayed for one day. Apparently, there was some stone throwing earlier that
morning on settlers' cars, which made them more angry and dangerous. In the same
attack, Mohammed Ahmad Harzeen (14) was also shot and wounded in the abdomen. He
was kept in Rafidia hospital for 5 days.'
The very high number of shooting incidents is alarming in and of itself, as
are the often serious injuries sustained by Palestinians, who are not even
throwing stones. However, it is especially disturbing to note, that in the
majority of cases reported to the PHRMG, not only are settlers using firearms
without being in danger of their lives, but often the attacks seem to various
extents planned, premeditated and initiated by the settlers themselves. Again,
despite many eyewitnesses, the police have not opened investigations, except for
the case of Mansour Jaber. The Israeli army intervened in the attacks on Husan,
Huwwara boys' school, and 'Urif seemingly only concerned with the welfare of the
settlers, and neither the army nor the police took any measures against settlers
who refused to cooperate in the case of the attack on 'Urif.
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3. Beatings
Beatings also form part of the picture of settlers venting
their rage on Palestinians, trying to intimidate them (as in the case of
journalists in Hebron) or wishing to teach them a lesson. Again, the police show
little interest in investigating such cases, and the army routinely fails to
intervene to protect Palestinians. One particularly grave example of settlers
attacking a minor while soldiers stand by and do not intervene is given by the
attack on Baha' Dandis (12) in Hebron. His father Nimer Ahmad Dandis told the
PHRMG:
'One night, on 18/01/2001, at about 22:00, my children were playing in the
yard in front of the house, when a settler, about 18 years old, shouted at them,
insulted them, and pushed them inside [because of the curfew]. My eldest son,
Baha', refused to go inside and returned the insult. The settler got angry and
pulled Baha' out and took him by force to the settlers compound. They beat him
very badly there. When the children told me I ran after him, I feared they were
going to kill him. The soldiers prevented me from entering the settlers'
compound, one of the soldiers went inside and brought out Baha'. He was
unconscious and bleeding from his head, they had sprayed some sort of gas into
his eyes and nose. I took him to a doctor immediately who helped him and he
recovered. It was a nightmare; and since then the children never play or stand
outside in the yard. The Israeli soldiers were standing watching when the
settlers were beating my son.'
Adults are also often the target of settler aggression, which doesn't need
much provocation. Abdel-Latif Qasmieh (27) from Bal'a near Nablus, seems to have
been beaten simply for using one of the settlers' roads:
'On 9/10/00 I was on my way from Bal'a to Nablus. When I approached the
entrance of Anav settlement on the main road, there was a group of settlers who
stopped me. They made me get out and started beating me savagely, with clubs and
guns. They did that for 15 minutes until a military jeep arrived and stopped
them. I was lying on the ground in severe pain for half an hour without any help
from the soldiers. Finally, a taxi arrived and took me to Rafidia hospital where
I remained for 10 days.'
Journalists are regularly attacked, especially in Hebron, for taking pictures
of settler rampages through the market and other attacks which would further
harm their image in the media. Palestinian journalist Hussam Abu'-'Allan (46)
told the PHRMG:
'On 12/12/00 I was covering a visit by a group of foreign women, wives of
Palestinians living abroad, to the old city of Hebron, when some Jewish settlers
attacked the vegetable market, so we rushed to cover the incident and do our
duty. But 8 armed settlers caught me and beat me using a wooden club. I fell to
the ground, almost unconscious, the Israeli police or army did not interfere.
When the group of women gathered around me and started arguing with the
settlers, the Israeli army interfered, to protect the settlers mainly. I was
taken to Alia hospital where I stayed for two days. Of course, I do not trust
the Israeli police, therefore I did not complain to them.
On 26/12/00 I was among other journalists covering the confrontations between
the youths and the Israeli soldiers in al-Shalaleh street, we heard some cries
behind us so I ran to see what was happening, there were Israeli settlers
attacking three Palestinian women, I tried to help the women run away, but the
settlers attacked me, three of them were armed and threatened to kill me. My
friends gathered and started quarreling with the settlers. Finally, the Israeli
army came and took the settlers away. Of course, if the police or army does not
allow Palestinian journalists to enter a street to cover a certain event, how
can we trust them and complain to them about settler violence and abuses?!'
Luay Abu-Haikal (21) a photographer with Reuters told the PHRMG:
'On 12/12/00 I was covering some confrontations in the Shalaleh street when
we heard that settlers were attacking the vegetable market in the old city, so
we made our way there. When we arrived and started filming, the settlers
attacked us. I was injured in my right hand. They broke my camera. My colleague
Mazen Da'na helped me and took me to an ambulance where I was given first aid.
Settlers often insult and threaten us. They say "Arabs deserve to be
killed! All of you will be killed some day!" Of course we as journalists do
not reply to those provocations because if we do, the Israeli army will accuse
us of making trouble and prevent us from entering the area. For instance, once I
was filming a fight between settlers and Palestinians near al-Ibrahimi Mosque.
When I tried to defend an old Palestinian man, the Israeli army took my ID and
ordered me to leave the area. I said I would complain to the police station in
Kiryat Arba, but a settler said to me, "If you go and complain they will
not listen to you, and if you don't leave now I will claim you tried to steal my
gun and you will stay for a long time in prison."'
In addition to violating the right to security of person and property,
settler attacks on journalists, and the Israeli army's failure to intervene in
such attacks, also violate the right to freedom of expression and the right to
'seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers.'69 These rights are also protected by the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, and in Israeli domestic law.
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4. Stonings
PHRMG has reports of 45 cases of settlers throwing stones at
Palestinians travelling in their cars, or merely sitting in their houses. While
less serious than attacks with firearms, stonings can nonetheless cause severe
injury and even death, especially if the stone hits a car travelling at high
speed down a motorway, as shown by the case of Mustafa Elayan (see
Killings). Ali
Mahmoud al-Damouni (28) from Burin, Nablus was seriously injured when his car
was stoned by settlers. His sister Iman told the PHRMG:
'On 08/12/2000 at about 7:30 a.m. my brother Ali was driving his bus on the
by-pass road near Burin when settlers in a GMC van drove by and threw two big
stones on the front screen of his car smashing the glass and injuring him
seriously in his head. The settlers' van drove off before people gathered and
took Ali to the Special Hospital in Nablus where he remained unconscious for 12
days. The doctors said he had a concussion and internal bleeding.'
In another serious attack, Khaled Muwaffak Ibrahim al-Madani (35) from
Nablus, told the PHRMG:
'On 11/10/00, I was attacked by Jewish settlers near the settlement of Eli
who threw stones at my car. I lost control of the car, which hit some of the
settlers as it turned over, and I was taken to hospital in an Israeli helicopter
with the injured settlers. I suffered a spinal fracture and a broken arm, and
lost my memory for two months. I remained in hospital in the Intensive Care Unit
for 25 days. The treatment cost NIS 112,000 at Hadassah hospital. The Israeli
police have already taken my testimony twice.'
These attacks are aimed at keeping Palestinian cars off the roads, as well as
perhaps at exacting revenge for stonings by Palestinians. The settlers regularly
keep Palestinians from using 'their'roads by erecting unofficial roadblocks
stopping Palestinian cars. On 5/02/2001 for example, settlers from Beit El,
blocked one of the main intersections near Ramallah and refused access to
Palestinian vehicles. The Israeli army had to remove the settlers by force.
In a far more organised incident, on the 3/11/2000 settlers from Karnei
Shomron, Kedumim, Alfei Menashe and Immanuel in the northern West Bank blocked
Route 55 at two points (the Qalqilya Junction and a point near Azzoun). Hold
Lieberman, head of the Karnei Shomron council, said the roadblocks were aimed at
enforcing the principle that 'if we can't travel on a road, they [Palestinians]
won't be able to travel on it either.' Lieberman also stressed that this action
was coordinated with and approved by the Israeli army.70
Nadia Matar from the right-wing women's movement Women in Green, confirmed
that the police often assist with these actions of illegally infringing
Palestinian freedom of movement on the roads, although the police also sometimes
prevent settler road-blocks.71
Palestinian cars on the road between Husan and Nahhalin are stoned almost
every Saturday by settlers from the Beitar Illit settlement. Mohammed Hasan
Ghayada (33) told the PHRMG:
'Since about two months ago the settlers have started to throw stones every
Saturday at Arab cars. They do that between 2 - 3 p.m. They all dress in black
trousers and white shirts, and chose Wadi al-Bakar area, because it is very
dangerous there, if a driver loses control, his vehicle will end in the valley.
The settlers start throwing stones without any excuse, just to harm
Palestinians.'
This was confirmed by three other victims, among them Naim Ibrahim Fannoun
(42), who told the PHRMG:
'Every Saturday it happens. On 23/12/00, my car was stoned in the Wadi
al-Bakar area, at about 2 p.m. I was in the car with a friend, advocate Mohammed
Musallam, when we saw more than 80 settlers all dressed in black and white,
throwing stones at Arab cars passing by.'
Settlers also throw stones at Palestinian houses. Certain houses are
especially exposed to attacks, such as those close to the bypass roads in
villages like Husan and Huwwara. However, houses that are close to settlements,
such as Kiryat Arba, are also regularly stoned without being close to any main
roads. Mohammed Mustafa Ibrahim Elayan (45) from Husan, told the PHRMG:
'Settlers often throw stones at our house, which is 3-4 meters away from
route 60. But it has got worse since the eruption of the al-Aqsa intifada. They
usually throw stones from the windows of the bus that takes them to/from the
settlement of Beitar-Illit. On 30/10/2000 at about midnight, a GMC van stopped
on the road outside the house, and a Molotov cocktail was thrown from its window
at our house, hitting the main door and exploding outside it on the ground. Of
course, no Arabs would wonder around at this time of the night, besides, a few
minutes after the van disappeared, a military vehicle with four Israeli soldiers
in it arrived at the house. They asked me what had happened. I replied they must
have known what happened. They said they saw the settlers' van, so I asked to
speak with their commander who arrived in another jeep a few minutes later. He
was a Druze officer called Mansour, and he asked if I was sure it was the
settlers who did it, not one of my sons! I told him to be more logical.'
Similarly, Omar Ahmad Salim Issa (32), from Al Khadr, told the PHRMG:
On the 31/12/2000, between 15-20 settlers came in 3 vehicles, and started
throwing stones at my house. I hid with my 5 children at the other end of the
house behind a wall. They destroyed the front of the house completely, most of
them were armed, they were there for 6-8 minutes, then they disappeared.'
And Zeinab Omran Salim al-Mahsiri (46) also from Al Khadr, and who also had
his house attacked on the 31/12/2000, told the PHRMG:
'Suddenly more than 15 Israeli settlers surrounded my house. They were
shouting in Hebrew, I didn't understand what they said. They started throwing
stones at the house and destroyed all the windows on the front of the house.
They were armed; I was worried about my four children who were terrified. But
after about 15 minutes, the settlers left as suddenly as they had come.'
One of the most disturbing stoning attacks was perpetrated against Mustafa
Hmus (52) from Huwwara, Nablus on 6/01/01 at around 16.00. Hmus told the PHRMG:
'I was grazing my 5 sheep around 200 meters from my house on the outskirts of
Huwwara. After about an hour, two settlers probably from the nearby settlement
of Yitzhar came walking towards me. They were both armed with Uzis, one wore a
black balaclava and they had two dogs with them. When they reached me, they told
me I was 'trespassing' on their land. They made me sit down on a stone with my
hands in the air. Then one of them started throwing stones at me, while the
other held me at gun-point. They kept saying to me in Arabic: "Don't move,
don't try to resist!" This lasted for about 15 minutes, before I got hit by
some small stones and thought it would only be a matter of time before a stone
hits me in the head. So, I lunged at one of the settlers and tried to get away.
I was kicked to the ground and one of the settlers smashed a big stone on my
head. Bleeding heavily from my head, I managed to get up and run away. The wound
needed 10 stitches at Rafidia hospital. I wanted to complain to the DCO, but
there was nobody there.'
As previously noted, Palestinians who throw stones at settlers or military,
are shot at, or, if arrested, often given around 12 months in prison. However,
settlers throwing stones is not considered a serious enough offence, by the army
or police, to warrant more than a few hours in prison (see Mr. Dana's testimony
in chapter 3,C:
The Israel Police Department).
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5. Damage to Property and Theft
It is important to remember that settler
violence is not confined to the more serious attacks which result in death or
injury. The vast majority of attacks are directed at property. Thefts and
vandalism of varying degrees of seriousness, carried out under the cover of
curfews, are routine for many Palestinians. Even a cursory examination of the
nature and scope of such attacks, shows the extent to which certain settlers
consider themselves above the law, at least when it comes to crimes against
Palestinians.
During the current intifada, the almost weekly attacks by settlers on market
stallholders in the old city of Hebron have continued. The testimony of Nidal
Mousa Jamjoum to the PHRMG provides but one example:
'On 23/01/2001, in the afternoon, more than 25 Jewish settlers - men, women
and children - gathered with about 15 Israeli soldiers protecting them. They
entered the vegetable market, shouting slogans against all Arabs, calling Arabs
"dogs" and "pigs" "who deserve to be killed." Then
they attacked the vegetable and clothes stands, damaging the goods of the
Palestinian salesmen. Eventually, they came to my vegetable stand. Two women
settlers attacked it, turning over the vegetable boxes, and damaging the fruits
and vegetables in them. I tried to stop them, because that stall is my only
source of living, but the Israeli soldiers threatened that if I touched the
women they would shoot me. So I stood there watching while their rampage
continued for almost one hour.
The Jewish settlers have this practice two or three times every week, they
come to the vegetable market and turn it upside down, under the armed protection
of the Israeli army, of course. They couldn't do it without the help from the
army. They have made our lives miserable. Since the start of the current
Intifada, hardly any customers come to the vegetable market. They fear
harassment from the settlers and the Israeli army.'
The Palestinians Hebron, have long been used to constant
harassment from the army and the settlers. The reports of regular rampages by
settlers through the market upturning market stands and trampling on the goods
under the protection of the army are well known.72 According to the Christian
Peacemaker Team (CPT) there is a clear pattern to the attacks. Palestinians in
the Israeli area of Hebron (H2) are under almost continual curfew. As soon as it
is lifted even briefly, the settlers descend on the market to try to provoke an
incident which will force the army to reimpose the curfew. Karam Mohammed Othman
al-Za'atari (30) gave this testimony to the PHRMG:
'On 01/01/2001, at about 13:30, more than 10 armed settlers came to my shop.
They threw the clothes hanging outside my shop on the ground. When I shouted at
them - "Why are you doing this?", they entered the shop and beat me.
They continued to throw the clothes onto the wet and muddy ground, in order to
spoil them. Moreover, they took more than 30 of the finest clothes that I had. A
few minutes after the attack, an Israeli policeman came to my shop and informed
me that my property was in the Kiryat Arba police station. But I couldn't go
there because I didn't have a permit to enter that area, and even if I had one,
my friends advised me not to go, because settlers would be waiting for me
outside the police station for more abuse. The shop is the only source of income
for my family, but it hardly covers its own running costs: electricity, water
and telephone. The settlers are turning our lives into hell.'
A second area that has been a particular target for the settlers rage during
the recent months of the Al-Aqsa intifada is the strip of beach known as Al
Mawasi in Gaza. Surrounded on three sides by the Gush Katif settlements with the
other side facing the sea, Al Mawasi is home to around 9,000 Palestinians who
have been under a very strict closure since the outbreak of the intifada. On the
15/01/2001 settlers from Gush Katif went on a rampage through the area in
revenge for the killing the day before of settler Roni Tzalach.
For over two hours, around 100 settlers descended on Al Mawasi, burning
around 7 empty houses, burning and slashing at least 15 plastic greenhouses,
throwing stones at houses, breaking windows, burning cars and beating at least
one old woman - Magbola an Najar - whose tooth was knocked out by a settler.
PHRMG observed that the damage bore the hallmarks of pure opportunistic
vandalism. Several houses had bulletholes in their ceilings from the inside,
where the rioters had forced their way into the house and fired into the air.
Almost nothing was completely destroyed, but a large amount of property had been
badly damaged. Repair costs to the greenhouses alone lie at several thousand
dollars each, which is far beyond the means of the impoverished farmers in Al
Mawasi, especially because the closure prevents them from selling their
tomatoes, which instead lie and rot in the now ruined greenhouses.
Huwwara, a village which straddles bypass road 60 between Ramallah and
Nablus, has also been particularly badly affected by settler violence during the
Al-Aqsa intifada. Because the bypass road runs straight through it, settlers
constantly drive through the centre of the village, often throw stones from
their cars at Palestinian vehicles travelling in the opposite direction, and
sometimes open fire at people they believe to be stone throwing youth on the
side of the road. Jihad al-Jawwari, mayor of Huwwara, told the PHRMG:
'On 6/10/2000 settlers burned the inside of the mosque, including several
hundred copies of the Koran. The next day there were riots and lots of stone
throwing at passing settler cars. As a result, the army imposed a curfew on the
whole village, which is still in force and only lifted for a few days here and
there. Since the imposition of the curfew, settler attacks have increased. They
take advantage of the fact that no Palestinians are around to destroy and steal
property. On 5/01/2001 around 50 settlers came down from Yitzhar settlement with
a bulldozer. They destroyed two barns of mine, killed 7 sheep and stole the
rest. In total, 43 sheep and 5 horses were stolen. A settler I know from Bracha
told me later it was in retaliation for the damaging of a water pipe that goes
to Yitzhar. Since 28/09/2000 the settlers have also vandalised the petrol
station and destroyed tiles outside a tile-shop owned by Mohammed Ahmad Rahman
Odeh, for approximately NIS 100,000.'
Both the Israeli army and settlers independently have uprooted thousands of
trees since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifada. The justification often given
is that trees along the side of the road provide cover for stone-throwers.
However, in light of all the collective punishment used by the army,73 it seems
likely that at least part of the motive for such destruction of orchards is
punitive. For example, the approximately 300 trees by the side of the road in
the village of Huwwara may or may not have been used as cover by stone throwers
and shooters. The settlers claim that they were, the villagers of Huwwara deny
this. The Israeli army agreed with the settlers and in November 2000, the trees
were cut down.
Similarly, approximately 1000 trees were cut down by settlers under army
protection in the fields of Deir El Hatab, Nablus on the 4/12/2000. On the same
day, settlers from Yitzhar cut down 200 trees belonging to Hashem Mufdi Suleiman
from the village of 'Einabus between Ramallah and Nablus.
On the 29/10/2000 more than 30 settlers from Shilo entered the fields
belonging to the village of Qariot between Ramallah and Nablus and began
harvesting the olives belonging to the Palestinian farmers. When the farmers
gathered and asked the settlers to leave, the settlers - who were armed - threw
stones at the Palestinians, injuring two young men (Mohammed Sadeq 17, and Tareq
Sadeq 15). The villagers then called the District Coordination Office, and the
Israeli army eventually arrived and escorted the settlers out of the fields.
Apart from olives, clothes in Hebron, and the sheep and horses belonging to
the mayor of Huwwara mentioned above, settlers have also stolen approximately
NIS 250,000 worth of ceramic tiles, toilets, baths, sinks and Jacuzzis. Amr Awad
Amr Al-Diq (52) from Huwwara, owns a shop that sells ceramic tiles and bathroom
equipment. On 27/10/2000 sometime between midnight and 0700, settlers presumably
from the nearby Yitzhar settlement, took advantage of the curfew on Palestinians
imposed at the beginning of October to break into the shop and make off with
several carloads of merchandise. The police investigation has yielded no results
so far, and Al-Diq's insurance policy does not cover the loss, because they
describe it as occurring during war.
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B. Table:
Settler violence since 29/9/2000
| |
Killed (no. of victims)74 |
Shot and injured (no. of victims) |
Stoned (no. of
attacks) |
Beaten (no. of victims) |
Property Damaged (no. of attacks) |
| Total |
7 |
67 |
47 |
23 |
48 |
| PHRMG Testimonies |
5 |
39 |
13 |
11 |
20 |
| Other reports |
2 B'Tselem
4 (found dead near
settlements in unclear circumstances) |
26 |
34 |
12 |
28 |
C. Analysis
The picture that emerges is of a probably small group of
settlers repeatedly taking the law into their own hands, and again and again
demonstrating a total disrespect for the law and for human rights as they apply
to Palestinians. The Israeli law enforcement agencies continue to be
disgracefully ineffective when it comes to preventing, investigating and
prosecuting crimes by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the Occupied
Territories. One possible factor in this continuing failure is that soldiers,
police officers, prosecutors and judges feel varying degrees of sympathy for and
identification with settler offenders, and understanding of their difficult
position, and so apply the law more leniently in such cases. Another factor
might be that Israeli law enforcement officers agree to some extent with the
settlers that they are at war, and in a war defeating the enemy must take
precedence over protecting civilians, at least Palestinian civilians.
Settlers, like all human beings, have a right to self-defence. However, of
the 7 cases of settlers killing Palestinians during the Al-Aqsa intifada, only one seems to have occurred in
self-defence.75 In 6 out of 7 cases no violence,
and certainly not lethal violence, was warranted. Of those cases where the
settlers were in danger, they had put themselves in that situation and could, it
appears, have got themselves out of the danger without using violence. The overview of settler
violence during the Al-Aqsa intifada provided here suggests that by and large,
the settlers do not restrict their use of violence to self-defence, nor, in
cases where there was danger to them, do they restrict themselves to the minimum
violence necessary to avert that danger.
The settlers themselves argue that all attacks are in retaliation against
something, whether recent events or more distant ones. However, this argument is
difficult to sustain because even the 'reactions' such as the rampage through Al
Mawasi targets far more, and probably different people than those who were
involved in the act to which it is responding. Therefore, it is useful to
distinguish between excessive force in an immediate reaction to violence and
premeditated, pre-planned attacks.
The fact that a significant number of the attacks, especially the attacks
against property, but also a large number of the shootings, stonings and
beatings appear to have been organised and planned in advance (e.g. the attack
on Husan, the periodic rampages through Hebron market, and the stoning of
Palestinian cars passing Beitar Illit every Saturday) suggests that these
attacks are neither just criminal, nor merely overreactions to the dangerous
conditions in which the settlers choose to live. In addition to the motives of
retaliation and collective punishment, the evidence of settler violence against
Palestinians, especially during the last 5 months, suggests also the motive of
nationalist-political hatred towards the Palestinians and a wish to drive them
out of (at least) certain areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
This interpretation is backed up by what the settlers themselves say during
attacks, and the omniprescent graffitti around settlements in the occupied
Territories, e.g. 'Kahane was right', 'Death to the Arabs' and 'Arabs get out'.
Attacking farmers harvesting their olives, cutting down trees, stoning
Palestinian vehicles and houses under the protection of the army, and without
risk of prosecution, are all actions that contribute to an atmosphere of
continual harassment and intimidation presumably aimed at either subduing the
Palestinians, or encouraging them to leave. Many of the more radical settler
leaders profess as part of their ideology an Eretz Israel either emptied of
Arabs, or populated only by Arabs willing to live in peace, that is to say,
willing to live under occupation.
Insofar as attacks are organised and politically motivated, supported or
merely endorsed by various levels of the official settler leadership, these
leaders bear direct responsibility for the violence. However, settler
organisations such as the Yesha Council, settler rabbis and the Israeli
government all bear indirect responsibility for the violence in that they fail
to condemn settler attacks or the shamefully light sentences handed down to
settlers such Nachum Korman. The level of public incitement by settler leaders
is high. The Yesha Council called on 26/02/2001 for the Israeli army to
assassinate Arafat.76 Previously, in December, the head of Yesha's Council of
Rabbis, Rabbi Zalman Melamed called for everything to be done, legal and
illegal, 'in order to stop the processes [the peace process, leading to
compromise on Jersualem].'77
There are also clearly discernable geographical patterns to the violence.
Villages such as Huwwara which lie on main bypass roads are subject to constant
harassment. Certain extreme settlements (e.g. Yitzhar, Itamar, Bracha,
Hebron/Kiryat Arba, Kfar Tapuach, Beitar Illit and Elon Moreh) seem especially
prone to violence. In Hebron, settler attacks are so common that they have
become almost routine. The Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron knows that every
Saturday, or every second Saturday, or as soon as the curfew is temporarily
lifted, they will need to go down into the market and try to intervene in the
settler rampages. Palestinians in Hebron who began by believing in the system,
like Naman Shukri Dana, have given up complaining to the police.
In the beginning of the Al-Aqsa intifada, the settler reaction mainly took
the form of mass marches, rampages, attacks against houses and villages. Good
examples of this were the protest marches through the Palestinian Jerusalem
neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarah, Shu'fat and Beit Hanina over the Jewish holiday
of Yom Kippur (8-9 October 2000). These were clearly protest actions against the
uprising and perhaps the settlers hoped to intimidate the Palestinians into
ceasing their protests. By the end of October the general anger against the
uprising had abated. Later attacks seem more to have been in retaliation for
specific attacks - e.g. Al Mawasi. However, over Purim settlers rampaged again
in several cities in the Occupied Territories, causing material damage and
assaulting several Palestinians.78
The phenomenon of settler patrols, while not new, has become so common during
the Al-Aqsa intifada that according to an article in Haaretz the Israeli army is
looking for ways to make them official, in recognition that it is unable to stop
them.79 A senior officer quoted in the article claims that 'There is no reason to
fear that these patrols will turn into militias. These people are acting in
self-defence.' The officer also argues that the settlers have so far
demonstrated restraint.
The PHRMG disagrees vehemently with this assessment. It does not believe that
7 Palestinians killed in 5 months in attacks, 6 of which were not self-defencive is
aptly characterised as 'restraint'. It is difficult to know how many of the
attacks were carried out by settler security patrols, or members of such
patrols. However, Nachum Korman, who killed 11 year old Hilmi Shusha, was the
security coordinator of Beitar Illit settlement. It seems likely that the
settlements' official and unofficial 'security personnel' have been involved in
at least some of the attacks against Palestinians. The PHRMG believes it is
extremely dangerous to allow organised groups of armed civilians to provide
their own 'security'. It will lead to such groups taking the law into their own
hands, and will lend an air of legitimacy to what are, in fact, criminal
actions.
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V. Chapter 5:
Conclusions and Recommendations
A. Conclusions
Settler violence, an old problem, increased during the first
5 months of the Al-Aqsa intifada, both in seriousness and in quantity. The kinds
of attacks ranged from intentional and wanton killing to less serious crimes
such as destruction or theft of Palestinian property. The geographical
concentration of attacks, among other things, suggests that it is a small number
of settlers that commit these crimes.
The leaders of the settler community, such as the members of Yesha, and the
leaders of individual settlements, or regions, bear direct responsibility for
the violence insofar as they are directly involved in planning or carrying out
attacks against Palestinians. They bear indirect responsibility for other
attacks that are encouraged by their incitement, and by the tacit endorsement
contained in the almost total lack of condemnation of settler violence. The
latter is also true more broadly of the government and political (and religious)
leaders in Israel. The fact that no Israeli Prime Minister has condemned the
lenient (normally around 6-month community service) sentences given to murderers
such as Nachum Korman, Rabbi Moshe Levinger, and Boaz Moscovitz (see Chapters
1
and 3) helps to create a culture of acceptance and endorsement of violence
against Palestinians. This is unacceptable in a modern, democratic society and
must end.
The Israeli government has continued to be totally derelict in its duty to
protect Palestinian civilians under its jurisdiction and to arrest, investigate
and prosecute Israelis in the Occupied Territories who attack Palestinians. The
sad and shameful conclusions of the Karp Commission in 1984 and the B'Tselem
report from 1994 have still not been adequately addressed.
The Israeli army still stands by and does nothing while settlers shoot, stone
and beat Palestinians. The army still fails to report crimes it has witnessed to
the police. The police still fails to accept complaints from Palestinians, or
makes it difficult for Palestinians to complain. Further, the police still
refuses to act on complaints, or acts only half-heartedly. In short, the Israeli
police continue to refuse to take Palestinian complaints seriously. They protect
settlers who have committed crimes against Palestinians by not investigating
complaints, or by being lax in their investigations.
The Israeli judiciary continues to employ a double standard when it comes to
interpreting the law. It judges settlers far more leniently than Palestinians
who commit the same crimes. Part of the problem is the continuing system of
legal apartheid which exists in the Occupied Territories, the fact that Israelis
and Palestinians are tried under different penal codes. However, it is a
separate problem that settlers who have killed or injured Palestinians are
systematically given sentences far lower than the law allows, and which devalue
Palestinian life and send a signal that violence against Palestinians is less
serious than violence against Israelis.
The increased presence on roads of settler security patrols is an alarming
development which must be halted immediately. The acceptance of private violence
is extremely dangerous because of the lack of control over it and the lack of
accountability for it. Furthermore, the settler population have not exactly
shown themselves to be responsible or restrained when it comes to using force
against Palestinians. Should the conflict escalate, and these patrols are
allowed to continue to operate as they presently do, then there is every reason
to fear that they may become militias roaming through Palestinian areas causing
havoc and destruction.
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B. Recommendations
1. To the Israeli Government and Law Enforcement Agencies
The PHRMG calls
on the Israeli government, and in particular on its law enforcement agencies,
the Israeli army, the Israel Police Department and the Judiciary to abide by
international law, domestic Israeli law and human rights standards requiring all
people to be equal before the law. It also calls on the Israeli government to
observe its duty to protect Palestinians under its jurisdiction from attacks by
settlers, and to do everything legal and possible to discourage settlers from
operating their own security patrols.
The PHRMG specifically calls on the Israeli army to begin to intervene
against settlers attacking Palestinians and to use all reasonable force to
restrain settlers in such circumstances.
The PHRMG further calls on the Israel Police Department to institute a
thorough reform of the way complaints against settlers are handled, from the
receipt of complaints to the opening and pursuing of investigations.
Finally, the PHRMG calls on the Israeli judiciary to judge offenders
according to the same standards regardless of whether they are Israelis or
Palestinians, and to strive to express a proper appreciation of the value of
life in its judgements.
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2. To the International Community
The PHRMG urges the
international community to put pressure on Israel to cease practicing legal
apartheid in the Occupied Territories, and to respect the internationally
recognised standards of equality before the law, as well as its duty to ensure
the safety (of person and property) of Palestinian civilians in areas under its
control.
3. To the Palestinian Public
The PHRMG recognizes that the Israeli
law enforcement establishment has given the Palestinian public little reason to
trust it, or to cooperate with it. However, the PHRMG believes that without
sustained and unrelenting pressure from below as well as from above, the
drastically needed reform of the Israeli law enforcement system will not take
place. Thus, the PHRMG appeals to all Palestinian victims of settler violence to
make every effort to complain to the Israeli army and police in order to
eliminate the excuse that no complaint has been made.
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- 7/10/2000 Fahed Mustafa Baker Odeh (23), 17/10/2000 Farid Ashraf
Nasrasrah (28), 14/11/2000 Mustafa Mahmoud
Musa Alayyan (50), 7/12/2000 Mohammed Jodeh Abu Assi (27), 17/12/2000 Mohammed
Hamed Ali Shalash (18), 22/12/2000Najib Mohammed Qasem Obeido (20), 31/12/2001
Tahrir Suleiman Rezeq (22). Another 4 Palestinians have been killed in
suspicious circumstances, but although some evidence points to settlers, there
are still too many questions: 12/10/2000 Ibrahim Abdel-Rahman Daoud al-‘Olami
(25), 30/11/2000 Shadi Ahmed Hassan Za’oul (15), 3/3/2001 Ahmad Hasan Mohammed ‘Allan (25), 17/03/2001 Mohammed Ismail
Nassar (11). The PHRMG urges the Israeli police to open investigations into
these cases immediately.
- Peace Now Report, The Occupation during the Oslo Years, December 3, 2000
- CPRS, Settlers Poll (2), June 1997
- Peace Now Press Release, 28 December, 2000
- Geneva Convention IV, Article 49
- Peace Now Press Release, 7 Nov. 2000
- The Yesha Report, No. 77, Nov-Dec 2000, pp. 7-9, and 15-16
- Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
1995, Article XXXI, 7
- Ibid. Article XXXI, 8
- Peace Now Press Releases, Oct. and Nov., 2000
- Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), A Comprehensive Survey of Israeli
Settlements in the Gaza Strip 1997, p. 7
- Yediot Aharonot, 19 July 1996
- Quoted in Allon Groth ‘Israeli settlements past, present and future’, Middle
East International, 10 June 1994
- See Friedman, Robert, Zealots for Zion: Inside Israel’s West Bank
Settlement Movement, 1992, Random House
- Quoted in Shahak, Israel and Mezvinsky, Norton, Jewish Fundamentalism in
Israel, 1999, Pluto Press
- Quoted in PCHR, p. 11
- For a more detailed account of these events, see Robert I. Friedman, Zealots
for Zion: Inside Israel’s West Bank Settlement Movement, 1992, Random
House
- Shahak, Israel and Mezvinsky, Norton, Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, 1999, Pluto Press, pp. 96-112
- Shahak and Mezvinsky, p. 101
- Ibid. p.100
- Ibid. p. 102
- New York Times, 28/02/1994, p. 1
- Haaretz 12/03/2001 ‘Celebrations and a curfew in Hebron’, by Amos Harel, Amira Hass and Nadav
Shragai
- Usher, Graham, ‘The Fuse Blows in Hebron’, Middle East International,
10 January 1997
- CNN, 2 January, 1997
- Weisburd, David, Jewish Settler Violence: Deviance as Social Reaction,
1989, Pennsylvania State University Press
- In discussing the legal situation prior to 1994 this chapter relies heavily on
the B’Tselem report Law Enforcement vis-à-vis Israeli Civilians in the
Occupied Territories, 1994
- Knesset Protocol, January 2, 1984, p. 923
- Article 27, Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons
in Time of War of August 12, 1949
- Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 28 September 1995 – Chapter 2 – Articles X - XIII
- See Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip, 28 September 1995 – Annex III: Protocol Concerning Legal Matters,
Article I, and Annex I: Protocol Concerning Redeployment and Security
Arrangements
- See the Security Provision Order (Judea and Samaria Region) No. 378, 1970.
- For legal analyses and further information about the dual system of law operating in the Occupied Territories,
see Amnon Rubinstein, The Constitutional Law of the State of Israel,
Jerusalem, Vol. 1, 1991, and Eyal Benvenisti, Legal Dualism: The Absorption
of the Occupied Territories into Israel, West Bank Data Base Project,
Jerusalem Post, 1989.
- Section 78 of the Security Provisions Order (1970) for Palestinians, section 3 of the Criminal Procedure
(Detention and Search) Ordinance [New Version], (1969), and section 6 of the
Criminal Procedure (Detention and Arrest) Ordinance [New Version], (1969) for
Israelis.
- Order No. 1391, March 24, 1993, in the West Bank, and Order No. 1903, March 25, 1993, in Gaza for Palestinians.
Section 16 of the Criminal Procedure (Detention and Search) Ordinance [New
Version], (1969), and Section 10 of the Youth (Prosecution, Punishment and
Procedures) Law, (1971) for Israelis.
- Section 78 b-d, Security Provisions Order for Palestinians. Section 29, Criminal Procedure Law
[Consolidated Version], (1982) for Israelis.
- Amendment 68 to the Security Provisions Order, Order No. 1378 (1992) in the West Bank, and Amendment 70 to
the Security Provisions Order, Order No. 1081 (1992) in Gaza for Palestinians.
And Sections 17 and 51 of the Criminal Procedure (Detention and Search)
Ordinance [New Version], (1969) and Section 10(4) of the Youth (Prosecution,
Punishment, and Procedures) Law, (1971) for Israelis.
- Amendment No. 68 to the Security Provisions Order, Order No. 1378 (1992) in the West Bank, and Amendment
No. 70 to the Security Provisions Order, Order No. 1081 (1992) in Gaza for
Palestinians. Sections 21a, 53 and 54 of the Criminal Procedure Law
[Consolidated Version] (1982) for Israelis.
- See Section 304 of the (1977) Israeli Penal Code – for Israelis; and Section 3 of the Order Concerning
Methods of Punishment (Judea and Samaria) (No. 322) (1969) for Palestinians.
- See PHRMG report V.4 Issue 2, April 2000 A State of Denial: Israel’s
Disregard for Palestinian Victims of Terrorism
- Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, 28
September 1995 – Article II, paragraph 2
- See B’Tselem Tacit Consent: Israeli
Policy on Law Enforcemnet toward Settlers in the Occupied Territories,
Jerusalem, March 2001
- Ibid. Appendix
- Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,
Annex I: Protocol Concerning Redeployment and Security Arrangements, 28
September 1995 Article XI, Paragraph 4 (d)
- B’Tselem report Law Enforcement... (1994), p. 37
- Quoted in B’Tselem Law Enforcement..., pp. 38-40
- Ibid. p. 40
- e.g. Ma’ariv, November 16, 1993 and Lt. Col. Y. on Israeli Radio’s ‘This Morning’ program, January 7, 1994, 7:06 a.m.
- See e.g. ‘Missing the action’, Haaretz 2/02/2001 which describes 5 soldiers from an Ultra-Orthodox
Nahal brigade who were caught throwing stones at Palestinian vehicles near a
military base in the West Bank.
- See Peace Now press release 22/11/2000 ‘Hebron Settlers Pressuring IDF to Impose Repressive Apartheid
Measures on Local Palestinians.’
- Haaretz 28/02/2001 ‘IDF considers settler patrols’
- See Zvi Bar’el ‘Kosher Jewish Tanzim’, Haaretz 4/03/2001
- Karp Commission Report, p. 31
- Ibid. p. 13
- Ibid. pp. 19 and 30
- B’Tselem Law Enforcement... (1994), p. 88
- Karp Commission Report, p. 25
- Haaretz 22/11/2000, 'Police in no Rush to Solve the Incident
in Itamar' (Hebrew Edition)
- Haaretz 11/03/2001
'Difficulty in Formulating Indictment against Two Settlers' (Hebrew Edition)
- PHRMG Testimonies, and Haaretz December 11 and 19, 2000 and January 12, 2001
- B’Tselem Law Enforcement..., pp. 90-92
- Hotam (weekly magazine of Al Hamishmar), April 4, 1991
- Crim. App. 175/88, State of Israel v. Ishigayov, Piskei Din 42(2) 361, p. 367
- Haaretz January 22, 23 and 24, 2001
- Amnesty International Press Release 24 January, 2001
- ‘Palestinian man gets 17 months for throwing rocks’, Haaretz February 6,
2001 – no one was injured in this incident.
- Sarah Abde Azeem Hassan (1.5 years old) from Qabalan, Nablus reported killed by a settler on 1/10/2000 was in
fact killed in a gun accident in her home. Issam Joudeh Hamad (40) from Umm Safa,
Ramallah was reported killed by settlers on 9/10/2000, but the independent
international organisation Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) found that he had
died in a car accident. See Investigative Report Pertaining to the Death of
Issam Judeh Mustafa Hamed by PHR 2/11/2000, on www.phrusa.org/research/forensics/israel/Israel_accident_2.html
- In Haaretz 02/01/01 it was reported that the IDF said there were no military
patrols in the area at that time.
- B’Tselem (1994) Law Enforcement….
- Article 19, UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- Haaretz 5/11/2000
- See
www.womeningreen.org
- ‘Hebron’s nightmare market forces’, Haaretz 24/11/2000
- See PHRMG report ‘Overkill’, February 2000
- 7/10/2000 Fahed Mustafa Baker Odeh (23), 17/10/2000 Farid Ashraf
Nasrasrah (28), 14/11/2000 Mustafa Mahmoud
Musa Alayyan (50), 7/12/2000 Mohammed Jodeh Abu Assi (27), 17/12/2000 Mohammed
Hamed Ali Shalash (18), 22/12/2000Najib Mohammed Qasem Obeido (20), 31/12/2001
Tahrir Suleiman Rezeq (22). Another 4 Palestinians have been killed in
suspicious circumstances, but although some evidence points to settlers, there
are still too many questions: 12/10/2000 Ibrahim Abdel-Rahman Daoud al-‘Olami
(25), 30/11/2000 Shadi Ahmed Hassan Za’oul (15), 3/3/2001 Ahmad Hasan Mohammed ‘Allan (25), 17/03/2001 Mohammed Ismail
Nassar (11). The PHRMG urges the Israeli police to open investigations into
these cases immediately.
- Mohammed Joudy Abu-'Assi (30) who stabbed his Israeli
employer and was himself shot by a passing truck driver in Gaza.
- Haaretz 27/02/2001 ‘Yesha tells Sharon to make IDF kill Arafat’
- Haaretz 31/12/2000 Editorial ‘Of provocation and freedom of speech’
- ‘Trenches, arrows and Goldstein’ by Khaled Amayreh in Al Ahram, 15-21 March, also Haaretz 12/03/2001
‘Celebrations and a curfew in Hebron’, by Amos Harel, Amira Hass and Nadav Shragai
- Haaretz 28/02/2001 ‘IDF considers settler patrols’
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