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It is
the conclusion of the
PHRMG’s Settler Violence
Legal Unit that our work –
although real successes have
been few and far between -
has had and will continue to
have a positive impact both
on the Palestinian community
and on public opinion in
Israel and the international
community.
Within
Palestinian society,
assisting victims to seek
just redress teaches them
first, that they have
inalienable rights and
secondly, that they must
fight to defend those
rights. This consciousness
will eventually affect the
way in which people relate
to any ruling authority,
whether it be Israeli or
Palestinian. It is a way of
strengthening Palestinian
civil society and political
culture. It should lead to
increased participation by
Palestinian citizens in the
process of nation building
and aid the development of a
broad national democratic
movement, a goal that is
much talked about today.
Settler violence is an
almost daily fact of life in
the OT and takes a
tremendous toll upon the
Palestinian population. It
cannot be ignored by human
rights organizations. Simply
documenting the crimes and
abuses that people suffer
does not empower them and,
in fact, can lead to
disillusionment. It is
possible in individual cases
to force Israeli law
enforcement authorities to
comply with their duty under
both international and
domestic law to find and
punish settler criminals.
Such punishment may deter
settlers to a certain
extent.
Within
Israeli society, focusing
upon the criminal behavior
of settlers can help drive a
wedge between the solid
majority of Israeli citizens
who support withdrawal from
the Occupied Territories and
the dismantling of the
settlements - and the
settlers. Several recent
polls have indicated that a
60% majority or more of
Israelis favor dismantling
settlements, even in the
framework of a “unilateral
separation.”
The majority of Israeli
society that supports the
dismantlement of settlements
and immediate withdrawal
does not yet have a voice
and therefore can be ignored
by the Israeli Government.
To
the extent that we are able
to publicize settler crime
and its tolerance by Israeli
law enforcement, we
strengthen this public
anti-settlement/anti-settler
sentiment and raise
consciousness about the
inherent threat posed by the
settlements to the rule of
law, to democracy and to
basic moral values in
Israel. In this way, we help
highlight, isolate and
gradually make untenable a
key aspect of the
Occupation.
Our
settler violence work may
also help further drive the
wedge between the negligible
minority of “ideological
settlers,” who put the
security of all Israelis
living in the OT at risk,
and the 90% of non-violent
settlers who moved to the OT
for “quality of life”
reasons and, research has
shown, would be ready to
return to Israel for a
reasonable compensation.
Many
in the international
community are not even aware
that Israel occupies
Palestinian territory or
that there are settlers
illegally living there.
When there is reporting done
about settlers, it is often
romanticized. For instance,
the headline of the New York
Times article of 3 July 2002
was” “Two Dreams of Land
Collide,” and the article
quoted one settler, “smiling
as he clutched the grip of
his M-16 assault rifle,
saying: “This is just one
hill, but it points straight
up to God.” While the world
has been distracted by
violence in the region, the
causes of that violence have
remained overlooked and
ignored.
The
settlers have become
extremely conscious of
public relations and are
trying to present an image
to the world that they are
victims and “dreamers,” not
fanatics – or criminals. We
must counter that image, in
Israel and abroad. Focusing
on settler criminal activity
is one way of educating the
international community that
first, there is an
Occupation and second, that
a main goal of that
Occupation is to protect
Jewish settlers, who are
living in the OT illegally,
some of whom commit all
sorts of atrocities against
Palestinian civilians and
their property.
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