Suomen HALLITUKSEN pyydettävä anteeksi Israelilta!

Revenge of the settlers

Palestinians are under increasing attacks from Israeli settlers, especially in the last few years, reports have found.

Nour Samaha Last Modified: 07 Mar 2012 05:05

http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2012/3/4/2012341321383734_20.jpg...

Fadi Quran is little different from any other Palestinian living in the West Bank, where violence from Israeli settlers is part of daily life. Hailing from the town of Al-Bireh, less than one kilometre from the settlement of Psagot, the 23-year-old Master's degree student has been forced to deal with attacks and harassment for years.

"Settler violence is a daily occurrence," he told Al Jazeera. On one occasion, he was playing football with friends when they came under fire from settlers with machine guns. In another altercation, settlers threw stones at him while he was driving. Their guns discouraged him from stopping. "I'm telling you my story, but there are literally hundreds of thousands of other cases that are much worse."

Last week, Quran was arrested after attending a non-violent protest in Hebron which demanded the re-opening of a street in the centre of the city. The Israeli army had made it a settler-only road 11 years previously, despite the presence of Palestinian families still living there.

Following a verbal dispute, Israeli soldiers pepper-sprayed him, beat him, arrested him, blindfolded him and took him to an interrogation centre at a nearby settlement. Once there, he discovered the arresting soldiers were actually from one of the area's settlements.

"I asked where they were from and they told me: 'Kiryat Arba'," he said. "One of them then asked me if I knew Baruch Goldstein [an Israeli settler who, in 1994, opened fire inside a mosque in the West Bank, killing 29 and wounding over 125 others]. They said he was a hero and they would do the same thing."

Quran was charged with attacking ten soldiers. In court a few days later, the judge stated there was no proof that Quran did not attack them. The hearing was postponed until the following day, by which point a video capturing the events leading up to Quran's arrest had gone viral. After the video was presented to the judge (which clearly showed Quran had not attacked troops), he was released on bail.

OCHA Statistics
- Settler attacks have increased by 32 per cent in 2011

- 10,000 Palestinian-owned trees were damaged or destroyed in 2011

- 139 Palestinians were displaced due to settler attacks in 2011

- Over 90 per cent of complaints filed by Palestinians have been closed without indictment

Settler violence has been forcing people to significantly change their lives, Quran said: "There are communities who don't use main roads because they are afraid they will be murdered. Many farmers can't farm anymore because their lands are being burned or vandalised, so they have to find another job.
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