‘An elderly shepherd, his wife and a nephew said they were attacked by four masked men for allowing their animals to graze near the settlement of Susia.
The rights group, B’Tselem, said the cameras were provided to enable Palestinians to get proof of attacks.
A spokesman for the Israeli police said that an investigation was under way.
So far, no-one has been arrested.’
One of the victims of the settler attack was Thamam al-Nawaja, a 70 year-old
woman (pictured). She said of the attack:
“The settlers gave us a 10-minute warning to clear off from the land,” she told me, her voice a tired, cracked whisper.
She and her husband had stood their ground. It is at this point that her voice grows louder.
“They don’t want us to stay on our land. But we won’t leave. We’ll die here. It’s ours,” she added.
Settler violence and intimidation is a pervasive feature of Palestinian life under occupation, and is rarely prosecuted by Israel. Indeed, the attacks are often carried out with the complicity or active support of the Israeli army.
Unfortunately for Mrs. al-Nawaja and for millions of other Palestinians whose lives are ruined by the Israeli settlements, Israel today confirmed the construction of 1,300 new housing units in occupied East Jerusalem:
‘Israel on Friday confirmed plans to build 1,300 more apartments in east Jerusalem, immediately drawing the ire of Palestinians who accused it of sabotaging already rocky peace efforts…
“We firmly condemn this project, which reveals the Israeli government’s intention to destroy peace,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat fumed…
Contentious Israeli construction has roiled the peace talks from the time they began late last year. Even before the first formal negotiating session began in December, Israel moved ahead with plans to build hundreds of new apartments elsewhere in east Jerusalem.
In all, Israel has pressed forward with plans to build thousands of apartments in east Jerusalem and the West Bank since Israeli-Palestinian peace talks resumed after a seven-year breakdown in November.’
Since the Annapolis summit the pace of settlement construction has increased significantly. It is no wonder, therefore, that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad acknowledged this week that a peace agreement will almost certainly not be achieved by the end of this year, George Bush’s delusions aside. The Palestinian population is even more pessimistic, with 66% believing that the chances of establishing a Palestinian state within the next five years are ‘non-existent or weak’ and 68% believing that the farcical “talks” between Olmert and Abbas are not beneficial and should be stopped. As Israel’s continuing colonisation of Palestinian land demonstrates, they are sadly correct on both counts.
Filed under: Israeli / Palestinian, News and politics, US | 11 Comments
Tags: "peace process", Annapolis, occupation, Salam Fayyad, settlements, settlers, Terrorism
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Interesting Jerusalem Post article on Israel’s duplicity regarding the settlements:
re ‘Israeli settlers assault a Palestinian family’: Why is the video no longer available? Who is responsible for its disappearance?
Still works for me…
Regarding many of the so-called “settlements” on the West Bank, my impression is that many of them are half-empty. Further, the supply of occupants is drying up. No significant numbers are no longer coming from Russia. In fact, many Russians are returning to their home country, about 100,000 at last count. Further, many Israelis have dual citizenship and may just keep an apartment there. This seems to be especially true of US jews. Consider the low, subsidized price of apartments in the “settlements”. Just what is the consistently permanent population of Israel? I am willing to bet it is much less than the official line. The occupation of the West Bank is just not turning out as planned. All those brave “pioneers” occupying a “land with no people” seem to be capable of is beating up old women.
Do you have any data to support this, kassandra? The rate of growth inside the settlements is still a lot higher than it is within Israel. In any case, a majority of the settlers are there for economic as opposed to ideological reasons, which means it shouldn’t be too difficult to relocate them in the event of a two-state settlement.
Great post, and very important. You’re the best blog on this subject I’ve found. I think Israeli politics is run by fear, and leads to illogical thinking/plans. Rampant emotionalism, esp. fear and hate, are considered normal & justified. Yet they totally reject criticism, even advice, as some kind of attack.
Thanks omyma. I’m not sure I agree with you about Israeli politics – of course there is a lot of fear at the level of the general public, but it is very unlikely that senior Israeli planners and military officials are ‘afraid’ of the Palestinians. The problem is not that Israel is scared, but that Israel refuses to withdraw to its legal borders and, rightly, judges that no other party is both able and willing to compel it to do so.
Another fabricated video from a seditious organisation. The “injuries” are more than likely the result of domestic violence which is prevalent amongst Israel’s neighbours.
Secondly, there is no such thing as “Palestinian land.” Or the “West Bank,” it is Judea/Samaria as it has been for millenia.
you’re such a bright light, merkava. where can i get a shade?
i know, jamie: “don’t feed the zionist trolls” but it is interesting that they’ve been reduced to prowling the blogs and hardly ever come into a public forum (with other people present) and confront the anti-zionist viewpoint. this from norman finkelstein’s great lecture of May 8 at Evergreen State College (WA) you can find it at pdxjustice.org
Thanks, clem – I’ve seen that lecture and it is indeed a good’un. As Finkelstein says, the reason why Israel’s apologists are so reluctant to talk about the facts is because the facts simply aren’t on their side. That’s why ‘merkava’ here is reduced to simply branding mainstream human rights organisations as “seditious” frauds and to dismissing clear video evidence as “fabricated”. Given the factual record, what else can s/he do?
Merkava, if it’s fabricated then how come the Israeli police have arrested and charged two settlers. .