The PHRMG’s Settler Violence Hotline and Legal Unit are controversial, as is evidenced by the following debate between two leading Palestinian human rights advocates Mohammed Abu Harthia, former Executive Director of al-Haq and current founder of The Jerusalem Center for Human Rights and Bassem Eid, Executive Director of PHRMG.

It is useless!

 Settlement activities in the Occupied Territories, which the occupying authority supports by encouraging civilians to move into the new settlements, are not only considered to be violations of international law but are also crimes of war. The practices of Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories, through confiscation of land by various means, prevent an entire population from expelling out the occupation and enjoying the right to self-determination.

It is true that there are violations of the human rights of Palestinians, by Israelis, individually or collectively, and sometimes these violations are systematically organized. We should study each violation as a separate case, since the attacks committed by Israeli settlers are considered crimes under both domestic and international law. But how should we deal with these violations from a legal point of view?

Since settler offenses are crimes that may be committed in any society, the following arguments may be made in support of the position that Palestinian human rights organizations should not deal with cases of settler violence:

1- Previous experience with Israeli law enforcement authorities, the judiciary, the army and the police, have all taught us that – as a general rule - they don’t prosecute Jewish settlers; and when they do – a rare occurrence - the settler, who is prosecuted in civilian court, according to Israeli civil law, is either found innocent, or given a very light sentence. On the other hand, Palestinians detained by Israel are given the maximum penalties permitted by law in Israeli military courts. The clearest description of the Israeli judicial system is that it is discriminatory against non-Jews. Palestinian life in the Israeli judicial system has practically no value. Take, for example, the case of the Jewish fundamentalist settler Nachum Korman, who beat Hilmi Shosheh, a 12-year old Palestinian child from the village of al-Khader, to death, but was only sentenced for 6 months community service, and a 15-month suspended prison sentence.

2-We need to study the subject of settler violence comprehensively. It is true that settlers carry out their crimes in a savage manner and get away with their ugly deeds, Yet the efforts of the Palestinian community should be directed at preventing the confiscation of land – under pretexts such as illegal ownership of property by Palestinians, or government security concerns, and at protecting Palestinian property. Settler criminal activity only hides and obfuscates the real crimes of land confiscation and occupation that are taking place. If we try to prosecute settlers in individual cases of violence, we are in fact accepting their presence, and indirectly, accepting the unfair judgments that the Israeli courts render against settler criminals.

3- The core issue of settler violence is not the crimes they commit; it is the curtailing, by the mere presence of the settlers, of the right of the Palestinian people for self-determination, as announced in countless UN resolutions, and accepted by the international community. Treating settler violence as cases of individual harassment or abuse both strengthens the existence of the Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories and fosters the discriminatory Israeli judicial system. And that, in turn, weakens the international legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and absolves the international community from supporting it.

The responsibility for apprehending and prosecuting Jewish settler criminals falls squarely upon the shoulders of the Israeli police and prosecutor. It is not the responsibility of any Palestinian party.  It is well known and recognized by international law that the responsibility of investigating crime falls upon the authority in control of the region. This is, in fact, what Israel has been doing with Palestinians since the beginning of the Occupation in June 1967. Despite the fact that resistance to occupation is considered to be legitimate by the international community, more than 900,000 Palestinians have been prosecuted for such activity in Israeli courts.

This is my view on the issue. By this I don’t mean that an individual Palestinian citizen who has been attacked by Jewish settlers, or whose property has been taken from him or destroyed, should not go to court to prosecute the aggressors. On the contrary, this is his personal right. However, I believe that the prosecution of Jewish settlers does not fall within the responsibilities of human rights organizations, which should focus more on achieving justice and not asking for compensation. This justice will definitely not be achievable in a racist country, like the State of Israel.

 By: Mohammed Abu-Harthieh, Director

Jerusalem Center for Human Rights

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 A mission has to be accomplished

Responsibilities and tasks of human rights organizations may look complicated, especially under occupation, and those duties may appear more challenging if this occupation continues for a long time.

A major task of those organizations is to try to find ways to help and support the average citizen who faces continuous violations of his basic rights, from the occupying power. This matter might seem strange to the average citizen, for whose interests such human rights organizations and civil society were established. The ordinary citizen might find it strange for human rights organizations to address his problems to the occupying authorities. People sometimes think that human rights organizations can find solutions to all difficulties without recourse to the occupying authorities.

The difficulties facing Palestinian human rights organizations intensified after the Palestinian Authority entered the Occupied Territories, as the geographical division of the Territories into areas A, B and C, accompanied by division of powers and jurisdiction, made things very complex. Some Palestinians in certain parts of the Territories don’t even realize under whose rule they live.

The issue of settler violence is not easy at all. Following up cases of settler violence in area C –which is under full Israeli rule- is a matter that holds much risk and danger, especially if such areas are under Israeli military curfew. Of course, this makes it easier for settlers to carry out their aggression against Palestinian civilians and their property. Israeli settlers can only direct their attacks against Palestinians living in area C and B because those areas are governed by Israeli security. So, in those areas, it is only logical for human rights organizations to contact the Israeli law enforcement authorities, such as the Israeli army or police on settler violence cases, since it is the Israeli police alone who can investigate and arrest Israeli settlers, according to the Oslo peace agreement of 1993, signed between the PLO and Israel.

It is true to say that the Israeli authorities, including the police, are not complying with their responsibilities regarding the settlers; this in turn encourages settlers to escalate their attacks against the Palestinians. And in the rare cases when a settler is prosecuted, the discriminatory Israeli judicial system offers Palestinians little chance of redress.

According to the Geneva Conventions regarding protection of civilians during armed conflict, of 12 August 1949, the occupying authority is responsible for providing protection to civilians under its rule. Article 3, paragraph a, states: “ …the following acts are and shall be prohibited against all person taking no active part in the hostilities: Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture.” This explains why human rights organizations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories should approach the Israeli authorities to stop settler criminal conduct, and to bring the criminals before justice. Based on this principle, the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG) launched its Settler Hotline project, and began communicating with the Israeli authorities concerning crimes and human rights abuses committed by Jewish settlers against Palestinian civilians.

 We realized from the start that trying to pressure Israeli law enforcement to do the right thing would be frustrating. It turned out to be more frustrating than even expected, as is evidenced by the fact that the PHRMG had to file a petition before the Israeli High Court (on 27 February 2002) just to force the Hebron police to respond to correspondence written by PHRMG attorneys on behalf of our Palestinian victim clients. Getting them to investigate cases of settler violence and getting the state’s attorney to prosecute such cases has been even more difficult. In the aftermath of our petition, however, we have witnessed some change n the attitude of the Hebron police. Not only are they responding to our correspondence within few days of receipt, they have also begun to investigate cases with which we are involved more seriously and have referred a number of such cases for prosecution.  In at least one case, the settler, a young woman accused of assaulting a 12 year old Palestinian child with an iron bar, was sentenced – although, due to errors made by the police and the state attorney prosecuted the cases, she was found guilty only of the misdemeanor of inappropriate behavior in a public place.

 Professional human rights work has to be comprehensive and complete, in order to convince the international community of the unjust suffering the Palestinian people face because of the Israeli occupation. Furthermore, the interaction with the Israeli authorities, which sometimes forces them to take action against individual settlers, may give the settlers the feeling that they are being monitored, and this, in turn, may reduce the phenomenon of settler violence.

 By: Bassem Eid,  Director

Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group