Palestinian Kills Israeli Settler, Israel Strikes in Gaza

[oberliner]

Source: Bloomberg

A Palestinian killed an Israeli settler in the West Bank and Israel carried out a deadly air strike on a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip it linked to a rocket attack.

The two incidents occurred within hours of each other, though they were not directly related, Israeli security officials said. The attack at the Tapuach road junction was the first time in more than a year that an Israeli civilian was killed in the West Bank.

The Israeli, a resident of the Yitzhar settlement, was stabbed by the Palestinian, who grabbed his gun and opened fire at Israeli security forces, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a telephone interview. Security forces shot back and arrested him, and it was unclear whether the Israeli died from knife or gunshot wounds, Rosenfeld said.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-30/palestinian-kills-israeli-settler-israel-strikes-in-gaza.html

[morningfog]

1. Another summer is coming, time for senseless wars.

[shaayecanaan]

2. From the Guardian

2012 was the first year that no Israelis were killed in the West Bank, according to the Israeli internal security service, Shin Bet.

Since the beginning of this year, nine Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/30/israeli-forces-west-bank-settler-stabbed

[oberliner]

3. From B'Tselem

B’Tselem strongly condemns the stabbing attack at Tapuah Junction this morning, in which a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli civilian to death.

...

Contrary to certain Palestinian claims, attacks against civilians within Israel’s borders are no different from attacks against settlers living in the West Bank. In both cases, the targets are civilians who must not be attacked and who must be protected from attacks. The fact that the settlements are illegal is entirely irrelevant to the status of their residents – settlers are civilians – and to the unequivocal prohibition of attacks that target them. Similarly, the argument that there is justification for killing settlers as part of the struggle against Israeli occupation is both legally and morally groundless.

http://www.btselem.org/israeli_civilians/20130430_israeli_civilian_stabbed_to_death_by_palestinian

[shaayecanaan]

4. Also from B'Tselem

Dual system of law

Although settlers in the Occupied Territories live in an area that is subject to military rule, and despite the fact that the settlements have not been formally annexed, Israel has applied a substantial part of Israeli law to the settlers. As a result, Israeli civilians living in the Occupied Territories are not subject to military or local law, as are the Palestinians, but are prosecuted according to the Israeli penal law.

The Emergency Regulations (Offenses in the Occupied Territories – Jurisdiction and Legal Assistance), 5727-1967, enacted by the Minister of Defense in July 1967, provided that Israeli civilians who have committed offenses in the Occupied Territories can be tried also in Israeli civil courts. This created extra-territorial personal status for Israeli civilians in the Occupied Territories. Since then, the Knesset has regularly extended these regulations.

Being subject to the Israeli judicial system, settlers enjoy liberties and legal guarantees that are denied Palestinian defendants in the Occupied Territories charged with the same offense. The authority to arrest an individual, the maximum period of detention before being brought before a judge, the right to meet with an attorney, the protections available to defendants at trial, the maximum punishment allowed by law, and the release of prisoners before completion of their sentence – all of these differ greatly in the two systems of law, with the Israeli system providing the suspect and defendant with many more protections.

Thus, different legal systems are applied to two populations residing in the same area, and the nationality of the individual determines the system and court in which he or she is tried. This situation violates the principle of equality before the law, especially given the disparity between the two systems. It also violates the principle of territoriality, conventional in modern legal approaches, according to which a single system of law must apply to all persons living in the same territory.

http://www.btselem.org/settler_violence/dual_legal_system

Having two separate laws for Jews and Arabs within the same geographic area is of course a defining characteristic of apartheid.

[Crunchy Frog]

5. Thank you for providing some additional context to this story.

[oberliner]

6. You're welcome

I'm very pleased that B'Tselem has spoken out as clearly and forcefully as they have in this case and would hope all DUers who follow the I/P conflict (such as yourself) would do the same.

[azurnoir]

7. Thank you shaayecanaan for the additional information

and a dual legal system based on ethnic affiliation what's that called again?

[shaayecanaan]

8. I believe its called "apartheid"

but B'Tselem certainly do very good and worthwhile work. Anyone interested in this discussion would do well to pick up a copy of their book "Our Harsh Logic":-

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Harsh-Logic-Testimonies-Territories/dp/1250037735/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367364448&sr=1-2

I am fairly jaded, but even I was surprised by some of the disclosures in the book. In one of the stories, a soldier confesses that he was sent on a mission to kill a Palestinian policeman (effectively at random) as a reprisal for a Palestinian policeman killing an Israeli soldier earlier.

The soldier duly sought out a Palestinian policeman (who had no idea why he was being killed) and shot him in the head.

There are some other fairly shocking disclosures. In one of the stories, a soldier confesses that in addition to firing at Gazan fishing boats, Israeli patrol boats also fire at Egyptian fishing vessels that are too close to the maritime border for Israel's liking. "Even though we have a peace treaty with Egypt" says the patrolman.

Most of the time, though, it deals with the boredom of young conscripts who have to stand at checkpoints day in and day out, and the petty humiliations they inflict on the Palestinians to amuse themselves.

Definitely worth picking up. Frankly I think it should be in every library in the country.