Israeli society has been confronted recently by a troubling new trend: vigilante attacks by some settlers and their supporters against Palestinians in the occupied territories, Arab citizens of Israel and, increasingly, Israeli peace groups. These began as the settlers' own form of retaliation -- exacting a "price" for any Palestinian violence -- but have devolved into a campaign of terror. Marauding bands of armed settlers have uprooted olive trees, burned mosques and schools, shot at cars, run over children.
Victims of a long and bitter legacy of persecution defined by pogroms, ghettos and genocide, Jews have historically been at the forefront of the fight for equality and justice for the disenfranchised. It is therefore a sad irony that settler thugs and their allies have been waging this growing campaign of violence against Palestinians.
Is not the simple Palestinian villager standing defiant and unarmed in the face of those who cut down his olive trees and burn his fields the victim in this tragedy?
Brave, young Jewish Americans, who traveled to the Deep South to fight and, in some cases, die for civil rights in our own country have left an enduring legacy. Their courage in the face of police brutality and racist mobs stands in stark contrast to the violent arrogance of some Jewish Israelis.
While these odious acts have been duly acknowledged and even condemned by the Israeli government and by mainstream society, they mostly go unresolved and unpunished.
The complex and fragmented political system of Israel is making it difficult to put an end to this sad chapter. Violent settlers, and their supporters in the bureaucracy and political establishment, have successfully counted on the continued inaction and even apathy of the state apparatus.
At the gala of the American Task Force on Palestine, held on October 19, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said that "a much better job needs to be done by the Israeli government in order to hold those who are involved in these terrible actions accountable... We see very little of that."
Under international law and by any moral standard, Israel has the obligation to restrain its citizens from inflicting harm on people who live on land it controls. But its justice system barely takes note of these flagrant crimes and has created a general climate of impunity.
Trying to scare away the Palestinians from their land will not work. Israel and its supporters cannot simultaneously proclaim its high-minded opposition to a culture of hate while its own lawless citizens persistently feed the flame of hatred. All forms of incitement and violence, the mortal enemies of peace, must stop.
Those of us in the Palestinian community who have spoken publicly and clearly about our condemnation of terrorism directed against Israeli civilians, including settlers, are morally obligated to also condemn the acts of terror and vandalism by settlers against Palestinian civilians.
Lawless acts of settler terror strengthen extremist forces in Palestine and across the Arab and Muslim worlds. Israelis who oppose these acts of vandalism should stand by those who stand up to these hooligans to defend not only Jewish moral values, but also the strategic interests of their country.
Some Israeli leaders finally seem to be taking stock of the threat.
In the context of the anniversary of the assassination of the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli extremist, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin recently observed, "These villainous criminals, who harmed houses of prayer, fields, homes and property belonging to Palestinians, are Jewish, and this is 'Jewish terrorism,' that should be called nothing else."
Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar called it "a cancerous tumor" on Israeli society. For his part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly condemned an attack on a mosque in northern Israel, saying he was "outraged" by the arson and vandalism.
If Israel wants to avoid growing international criticism and to maintain stability on the ground, it must take swift and determined measures against this criminal behavior.
It should heed the warnings of two of its top military commanders, who have had to deal with this threat firsthand. The head of the Israel Defense Forces Central Command, Avi Mizrahi, and former West Bank division commander Nitzan Alon both call "price tag" violence terror and warn that it could spark a firestorm of reciprocal attacks.
With tensions already running high between all the parties, an outbreak of widespread violence in the occupied territories is the last thing anyone needs. Putting an end to "price tag" attacks is, therefore, urgently important not only for Israelis and Palestinians, but for the United States, as well. And on this issue, our values are precisely aligned with our interests.
Ziad Asali is the president of the American Task Force on Palestine. This post originally appeared in The Jewish Daily Forward
Religious dogma and myths are the opposite of truth.
And considering that as we do the opposite, and SUPPORT oppressive nations, like Saudi Arabia, and Israel, we have brought responses and hate upon us from their victims, i.e., 9/11.
So, we really do need to, at the very least, STOP supporting oppressive regimes which are perpetrating crimes against humanity. This would follow our American Principles and at least remove us from the hatred of the millions of civilians being oppressed.
Wouldn't you rather be the shining nation on the hill representing Justice for ALL and Equality under the LAW, again? Where the oppressed of the world could seek asylum and, or, help in their fight against oppression instead of being on the side of their OPPRESSOR?
This is the time for peace - they have an opportunity to make peace - get the land they need - Israel has shown before they are willing to trade land for peace - and have the homeland they claim to want.
For an oppressed people it is amazing that the life expectancy in Gaza is age 72 - five years higher than the world average. Literacy rates are higher than in Turkey, and the West Bank and Gaza are the only place on earth where you see refugees driving around in Mercedes.
Do just a little research 'dougsdbag' it will do the mind good.
The solution of for the Palestinians to stop holding up the process and to sit down and negotiate.
Sorry, when a Palestinian stabs a baby in the throat, is *that* a "fair fight?" Or when a suicide bomber kills a dozen yeshiva students, is *that* a fair fight? I'm so confused by Palestinian supporters sometimes, but I'm sure you'll be glad to clear it up for me.
Whenever there's an article about Palestinian violence against Israelis the response also is the same: Israel supporters condemn it and Palestinian supporters either make excuses for it or outright endorse it.
Therein lies the problem.
Or spew unrelated hate speech against Israel and its supporters. But that happens on every article.
Well said.
I don;t think the validity of a movement hinges on the most radical members, expecially if their behavior is roundly condemned by that movement.
What's up with the golem avatar?
The avatar is a picture of the word "emet" that I whittled from some scrap wood. Means truth in hebrew. I try to live up to it sometimes :)
The author cites Israels government officials speaking out but does not cite one Palestinian official or even non official criticizing Palestinian violence, not even ones not residing in the ME.
Any Palestinian or Muslim for that matter supporting any issue favoring Israel or criticizing Palestinians is subject to retaliation. The are hundreds of such incidents.
F & F
This "policy" and those actions, are in no way related to the policies and actions of an advanced democracy.
What is most perplexing is that America, the home of Justice for ALL and equality under the law, would actually strongly support this oppressive government which has oppressed and abused and even massacred civilians for her entire existence.
There is a real conflict in that support which could only be explained by the extremely powerful reach of groups like AIPAC into our halls of government.
So, monetary contributions to our "leaders" has inspired them to look the other way, even as Israel commits crimes against humanity.
Currently though, our "looking the other way" has resulted in the conflict coming to OUR shores, in the form of 9/11 and the other intentions and acts of hatred against us for supporting their oppressor.
I would think, and, or, hope, that soon we will act smarter than those mired in the never ending conflict and return to our American Principles as the way above and out of this vicious cycle.
We can only hope.
There all pray freely and equal rights are afforded to all included women's and gay people
We do not torture anyone in our free countries. We do not threaten any of our neighbours including our Jewish brethren
We offer free genuine elections every 4 or 5 years and all our judges are appomywed free of politicians and leaders
Comment?
Well, all of those nations you listed have not massacred as many civilians as Israel has. So on that one issue, Israel still stands at the FRONT of the pack.
congratulations.
Simple,question answer required
So, why don't YOU answer your own question! Look into it. But, you might want to use some "yardstick" in order to determine if a nation is an oppressor nation, or not.
For instance, you might want to research if they are creating refugees by stealing land and displacing people from their homes; and not compensating them for their losses.
You might want to research if they are doing what is called "collective punishment" where the nation will bomb an entire village because it is suspected that a criminal is from there.
You might want to research if a nation is blockading hundreds of thousands of people into a small area from which people have to dig tunnels to get out of.
You might want to research if a nation is bulldozing peoples' homes in order to make room for their chosen "settlers".
You might do these comparisons, and so much more, but along the way, I feel confident that you will find nations who are not doing these things to civilians.
B'Tselem keeps statistics on hostilities and also on internal violence in the OT.Overwhelmingly it is against Palestinians by occupiers. Palestinians even have names here. Here it is:
http://www.btselem.org/statistics
Oh wait...there is. Make peace with Israel and the price tag attacks will stop.
As Israel refuses to consider the Right of Return for the Palestinian refugess (though it does, undemocratically, guarantee that right for those who belong its state-sanctioned religion), it would seem that Israel is the one who is not willing to make a just peace.
Yet there is no mentioning by either him, the PA or the leftist Israelis about the root cause of these misdeeds… further, there is a constant harassment by the palestinians toward the settlers, their homes and their fields. There is on-going vandalism of settlers’ properties and stealing of their livestock….. The fact that neither the liberal Israeli media report it nor the PA security forces and the IDF are willing to deal with it, DOES NOT MEAN it is not happening….. while each misdeed by the settlers and their supporters get the headlines in Israel and abroad, but everything concerning the palestinians’ misdeeds is hashed… ONLY if you bother to check news/internet sources NOT controlled by liberals you get a glimpse of the palestinians’ transgressions, which include stealing livestock, damaging olive and almond orchards, letting their sheep and goats to roam freely into settlements’ fields and consuming everything growing, or damaging water pipes either for stealing water or letting it get wasted…..
Dr. Asali the WB Arabs are not innocent bystanders, IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO, and when the IDF let the palestinians get away with their transgressions the settlers had enough and decided to protect themselves and make the palestinians think twice about future actions.
That is not a socially acceptable method of acquiring land and will always lead to "problems".
So, while you are looking into the never ending illegal acts of both sides, don't forget THIS "root cause". This is a recipe for bad actions, not a plan for good neighbors.
If you want to understand why no one is ever prosecuted for these actions simply read the simple minded posts here from the American wannabes and raise the bigotry level by a factor of ten while incorporating some financial incentive.
Link me to the last time a Palestinian was ever prosecuted by Hamas for a terror attack.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/report-hamas-arrests-militants-planning-to-fire-rockets-at-israel-1.6597
I don't know if this was really the last time, but it certainly was not the first time.
Also, I only looked (briefly) in Israeli media, afraid of being accused or consulting antisemitic sources (everybody else).
Now, nice try to deflect from topic, but the topic was about the price tag operations, for which, as far as I know, not a SINGLE Israeli extremist has so far been convicted in Court (three afternoons of house arrest do not count).
So on the one hand, in the Israeli "equality" system, there is administrative detention for Arabs, who can be detained for years without even knowing what they are suspected of, whereas Israeli extremists conducting price tag attacks on Palestinian AND Israeli targets walk away scott free.
Here is an example how easy it is to put a Palestinian in jail:
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/the-banality-of-a-palestinian-s-arrest-1.396732
1947 Palestine is long gone. Israel exists, and it is not going away. The failure to recognize that fact will get the Palestinians nothing but misery and death. The Israelis are by far the superior military power.
and with most of the world tired of this ME$$, and boycotting Israel, that too will
start to show it's effects.....
Chest thumping, like by so many Israeli's or their blind supporters, is the
true path towards more and more conflict.....is that in Israel's best interest,
obviously not.....
.
News flash. The population is not going to explode in support of these fanatics. I never met anyone in Israel who didn't have anything but disdain for them.
And as far as you news flash-I was referring to the Arab population for that was the cautionary tale of the authors thesis, not the Israelis. Admittedly poor syntax on my part
But, allowing the settlers to further abuse the Palestinians when the settlers already have been provided with "free land" which was stolen from the Palestinians is obscene.
Yes, Israel should do a better job of applying their laws equally amongst all the people, rather than having one standard for Palestinians and another one for settlers. Nobody can be proud of such inhumane and oppressive policies.
Israel likes to call itself an advanced Democracy; well, these are the issues which the world sees to diminish that concept, and shows the reality of Israels' policies and realities.
It is not "upside down" to apply laws EQUALLY. That is the way it is supposed to be, and the way it has to be if they really want peaceful co-existence amongst their society.
figures
Wonder how you're spending Thanksgiving--Mr. "Let's return to American values after all look what happened on 9/11 because we're friends with Israel"
pathetic posturing--the sign of a very weak cause