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At the onset of the
al-Aqsa Intifada, there were approximately 200'000 Israeli settlers scattered
throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and another 200'000 living in East
Jerusalem 12.
Polls - conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip only - indicated that the
motivation of most of these settlers is primarily economic (settlers receive
income tax break, housing grants, subsidized mortgages, free schooling and free
school busing, grants for businesses, etc). Only 27% said that their motivation
was religious and/or ideological. These are the settlers represented by the
settlement movement, a loose collection of groups more or less united in their
view that the "re-settling" of Jews in Judea and Samaria is part of a divine
process that will eventually lead to the End of Days, the coming of the Messiah
and the redemption of mankind. These settlers believe that it would obviously be
ideal if the Land of Israel would be inhabited only by Jews, and that even
illegal means are justified in achieving this goal. A few hundreds of these
settlers are ready to put the principles into practice.
The al-Aqsa
Intifada has witnessed a sharp increase in settler violence against Palestinian
lives and properties. Testimonies indicate that often the same settlers are
involved in attacks throughout the West Bank. The same faces appear in Hebron,
Nablus or Beit El, pointing at some degree of organization and coordination of
all the attacks. Furthermore, during the al-Aqsa Intifada, attacks often occur
in full sight of the Israeli army - sometimes even under its protection or with
its participation - and the army makes no attempt to stop the attacks. This
reflects the widespread view that the task of the Israeli army is to protect
Israeli civilians, not Palestinians. However, as an army of occupation, it is
the duty of the Israeli army to protect all civilians under its control,
including the Palestinians.
Settler violence is
a very serious problem both directly, and because of the lack of response of
Israeli law enforcement agencies. First, Israeli settlers in the occupied
Palestinian territories do not fall under the same set of laws as the
Palestinian residents, and therefore face lesser sentences for the same type of
offenses. In addition, the Israeli police and courts do not show the same zeal
in prosecuting Israelis who have attacked Palestinians, as they do for
prosecuting Palestinians who attacked Israelis. Data collected by B'Tselem show
that files are often closed for "lack of evidence," a situation that rarely
occurs when the suspect is Palestinian
12. And often,
Palestinians do not even file complaints when they have been victims of settler
violence, either because they don't believe that a formal complaint will lead to
any prosecution, or more perversely, because Israeli police stations in the
occupied territories are generally located inside Israeli settlements and hence
hardly accessible to Palestinians, who also fear further harassment from the
police and/or settlers.
The PHRMG initiated
a special project to respond to the findings of its report on settler violence.
The purpose of the Settler Watch Hotline is to encourage Palestinians to come
forward and report incidents of settler violence, and to put pressure on the
Israeli law enforcement agencies by filing complaints and following up the
cases. Since its launch in early July 2001, the Settler Watch Hotline has
already registered more than 40 calls. When ongoing attacks were reported, the
PHRMG was generally successful in alerting the local Israeli police and
prompting them to intervene to stop the attack. Two cases where settlers have
seized Palestinian lands to establish a new outpost have been transferred to a
lawyer who is now handling the matter. Sometimes, the callers refuse to file an
official complaint and the PHRMG can only record the incident reported.
- 12 B'TSELEM, Tacit consent: Israeli Policy on Law Enforcement toward Settlers
in the Occupied Territories, Jerusalem, March 2001, Appendix
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