When Settlers Attack

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"What goes for the geese goes for the gander" is definitely not a catchphrase applicable in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. We "gander" certainly are not granted the rights and privileges of Israeli settler "geese" in any shape or form. This is a well known fact, but incidents that offer further proof of it continue to take place, reminding all that illegal Jewish settlers squatting on Palestinian land can act against the laws of humanity with impunity.

For the past four days, Jewish settlers near the West Bank city of Nablus have been burning Palestinian fields, blocking roads and attacking Palestinians in response to the Israeli government's decision to evacuate a few tiny settlement outposts. On May 31, six Palestinian men were injured after being attacked by Jewish settlers near the Qadumim settlement. Since then, incidents of violence have been taking place almost continuously, the latest being the raging fires in Palestinian fields.

If only this were an isolated incident. In east Jerusalem, on the seam line between east and west near Jaffa Gate, an Israeli settler opened fire, killing a Palestinian man and wounding an Israeli on June 2. Amjad Abu Kheir, 30, was apparently walking with his Israeli employer when the two approached the gunman to ask for a cigarette. When the settler asked Abu Khdeir if he was Arab and received a positive answer, he shot him dead. According to his Jewish employer, he would have killed him too if he did not blurt out that he was Israeli.

The gunman was arrested, but is being called "unstable," the hackneyed excuse used by the Israeli establishment for settler attacks on Palestinians. Barring the details of the incident, one thing is clear. If it were a Palestinian who opened fire at an Israeli, he would not have had time to explain anything or demonstrate his mental state. He would have been killed on the spot.

Anyway, Palestinian citizens are not allowed to carry guns in Jerusalem or anywhere else for that matter. Israeli soldiers and civilians are all free to bear arms, walking freely in the city with their automatic rifles slung across their shoulders or their pistols securely tucked into their waist holsters.

The same goes for Israeli settlers. They live in the heart of the West Bank, are surrounded by Palestinians and residential areas and are, by the nature of their existence on occupied Palestinian land, hostile towards their neighbors. They live in the West Bank but do not follow the laws of the majority of those living there. They are Israeli in every sense of the word, guns and all. This means that these heavily armed settlers, who have equally heavily armed Israeli soldiers guarding them around the clock, have the freedom to take the law into their own hands whenever they deem in necessary.

This week's incidents only further support this point. Palestinians have no legal recourse against settler rampages. Their lands are burned. Their livelihood ruined, their orchards damaged and their sons and daughters attacked. On paper, they could file complaints with the Israeli police through a liaison office, but in reality these go nowhere. They are left to fend for themselves time and again against these violent intruders on their usurped land."

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[Shaktimaan]

1. Interesting...

But when an article demonstrates such reluctance to be really honest about the aspects of the conflict that I do know about, I tend to be leery about trusting it with regards to aspects I don't. With statements like these, I'd be reluctant to trust that this reporter is being entirely truthful.

Anyway, Palestinian citizens are not allowed to carry guns in Jerusalem or anywhere else for that matter. Israeli soldiers and civilians are all free to bear arms, walking freely in the city with their automatic rifles slung across their shoulders or their pistols securely tucked into their waist holsters.

Actually, the law is the same for everyone. Everyone meaning all Israeli citizens. This person draws a distinction between Palestinians citizens and Israelis, which makes no sense as they are all Israelis. So is he complaining that Israeli soldiers are allowed to arm themselves while citizens who aren't members of the reserves or armed forces are not? Is that really so unreasonable? Of course, any Israeli Arab who joins the army can walk around with a gun, as many do. So in that regard he's clearly wrong.

Maybe he means citizens of Palestine vs. citizens of Israel. That would make more sense. But then he is complaining that non-citizens of Israel don't get to walk around Israeli cities while armed. Here in America the police are all fully armed, walking around with their guns holstered at their sides while non-citizens are kept from doing so. Is there really a problem with this system?