Activist: Israel to seize more land in Salfit district

SALFIT (Ma’an) — Israeli authorities issued a decision to seize 30 dunums of land belonging to Palestinians from Deir Istiya, near Salfit, activists said Thursday.

Rizik Abu Nasser, head of the popular campaign against settlements in Salfit, quoted the order as saying the land was being seized “for security reasons and to prevent terrorist operations.”

The mayor, Nathmi Salman, condemned the decision.

He said it was the third such order in a row to seize land from Deir Istiya.

(www.maannews.net / 26.05.2012)

Islam en Milieu

God de Almachtige zegt dat Hij alles om ons heen ten behoeve van de mensen heeft geschapen. Om op de juiste manier onze dankbaarheid te kunnen uiten, dienen we ons bewust te zijn van het feit, dat dit alles tijdelijk aan ons is toevertrouwd en zodoende het milieu met verantwoordelijkheidsbesef te benaderen. Het tonen van minachting voor het milieu, het vernietigen en het verkwisten ervan, is een blijk van ondankbaarheid, waardoor uiteindelijk wijzelf onder zullen lijden. De Almachtige God zegt het volgende: “Het verderf is op het vasteland en op zee zichtbaar geworden door wat de handen van de mensen ten uitvoer brengen, zodat Hij hun een gedeelte van wat zij hebben verricht doet proeven; hopelijk zullen zij terugkeren.”(ạl-Rūm, 30:41)

De Almachtige Allah had eerder al het volgende bevolen: “En Hij heeft de hemel opgeheven en Hij heeft de weegschaal geplaatst. Opdat jullie het evenwicht niet verstoren.”1 De mensen zijn echter niet gehoorzaam geweest en nu betalen zij daarvoor de prijs.

Een moslim heeft rust en schoonheid in zijn hart en dat straalt hij uit naar anderen. Om schade aan anderen te voorkomen is hij voorzichtig in zijn omgang met andere mensen, met dieren, met planten en zelfs met niet-levende wezens. Op een dag passeerde langs onze leermeester de Boodschapper van Allah (vzmh) een begrafenisstoet, waarop hij zei: “Of hij heeft rust bereikt, of anderen zijn van hem verlost.” De metgezellen vroegen: “O Boodschapper van Allah, wat bedoelt u met ‘Of hij heeft rust bereikt, of anderen zijn van hem verlost?” De Boodschapper van Allah zei: “Wanneer een gelovige overlijdt, wordt hij verlost van de vermoeienissen en de zorgen van de wereld en bereikt hij de genade van Allah. Wanneer een zondaar, een kwaadaardig persoon overlijdt, worden de mensen, de landen, de bomen en de dieren van hem verlost en vinden zij rust.”2

Mensen dienen altijd en overal zaken die anderen last veroorzaken te vermijden. Het past niet bij de menselijke waardigheid om het land, het water, de lucht en de landschap van de steden en de dorpen waarin we leven te vervuilen. Dit zou betekenen dat we noch om onszelf, noch om anderen geven.

Een moslim is zich ervan bewust dat anderen last kunnen hebben van zijn rommel en dat de natuurlijke schoonheid van de natuur hierdoor wordt bedorven; hij beschouwt het als een vereiste voor vroomheid om ervoor te zorgen dat zijn vuil, zoals schillen, pitjes, flessen, blikjes, papier en verpakkingen, waar andere mensen en dieren last van kunnen hebben, niet op straat of op de picknickweide terechtkomt. Onze leermeester de Profeet informeerde ons dat het verwijderen van een tak of een doornstruik van de weg als het laagste niveau van geloof kan worden beschouwd3en zei dat Allah niet houdt van degenen die anderen overlast aandoen. Muāz ibn Ạnạs (r.a) verhaalt het volgende: “Ik was op een militaire expeditie met de Boodschapper van Allah (vzmh). De soldaten vernauwden het kampeerterrein en blokkeerden de weg. Hierop stuurde de Profeet (vzmh) een omroeper, die hij het volgende tegen de soldaten liet zeggen: “Degene die een plaats beperkt of een weg blokkeert (ofwel een gelovige last bezorgt); voor hem is er geen [beloning van de] jihād.”4

Hier verkondigt onze leermeester, de eerbare Profeet (vzmh), hoe verkeerd het is om plekken en straten onnodig te blokkeren en dienaren van Allah lastig te vallen. Degenen die zo handelen zullen hun goddelijke beloningen verliezen. Om deze reden dient iedere hinder veroorzakende daad te worden vermeden, zoals het lukraak vervuilen, in het openbaar spugen, fout parkeren of het plaatsen van dingen op de weg die het passeren bemoeilijken. De moslims hebben getracht om behalve mensen ook dieren niet lastig te vallen; ze zijn hen zelfs van dienst vanwege het simpele feit dat ook zij schepselen van Allah zijn. De beroemde Franse schrijver Montaignevertelt dat: “Turkse moslims zelfs stichtingen en ziekenhuizen voor dieren hadden gebouwd.” Guer, een Franse advocaat die in de 17^de eeuw door het Ottomaanse Rijk heeft gereisd, vertelt over een dierenhospitaal voor zieke honden en katten in Damascus. Over dit soort stichtingen informeert Prof. Dr. Sibāi ons het volgende: “Volgens de oude traditie voor stichtingen waren er plaatsen waar zieke dieren werden verzorgd en waar ze konden grazen. Het Groene Veld (vandaag de dag het stadsplein in Damascus) was een gedoneerd grasveld voor het voeren van lastdieren, die vanwege de afname van hun werkkracht niet meer konden werken, waardoor hun eigenaars niet meer in staat waren om ze te voeden. Deze dieren graasden daar totdat zij stierven. Onder de Stichtingen van Damascus waren er plaatsen waar katten konden eten, slapen en rondlopen; dagelijks konden honderden katten hun voedsel op die plaatsen verkrijgen.”

De religie van de Islam, die zoveel belang hecht aan levende wezens, behandelt natuurlijk eveneens de flora uiterst zorgzaam. De Boodschapper van Allah (vzmh) zei: “Indien één van jullie een kiemplant in zijn hand heeft en de Dag des Oordeels aanbreekt, laat hem deze, als hij dat kan, voor het einde van de wereld planten!”5

Ạbū ạl-Dạrdā (r.a), één van de vooraanstaande metgezellen, was in Damascus een boom aan het planten. Iemand naderde hem en liet hem zijn verbazing blijken door te zeggen: “Houd jij, een metgezel van de Profeet, jezelf bezig met het planten van bomen?” Ạbū ạl-Dạrdā (r.a) antwoordde hem: “Wacht even, veroordeel mij niet te snel! Ik hoorde de Boodschapper van Allah (vzmh) zeggen dat:“Als iemand een boom plant en iemand of ieder willekeurig schepsel van Allah van zijn vruchten eet, geldt dat als een sadaqa, een aalmoes voor degene die de boom heeft geplant.”6

De Boodschapper van Allah (vzmh) verbood het kappen van cederbomen in de woestijn, waaronder reizigers en dieren immers schaduw kunnen vinden, en hij heeft degenen die deze bomen kappen vervloekt.”7

Onze leermeester de Profeet heeft naast Mekka eveneens de steden Medina en Tāif heilig en onschendbaar verklaard en zodoende verboden om daar bomen te kappen, vegetatie te beschadigen en te jagen.8 Over het grasland van de Bạnū Hārithạ-stam, zei hij:“Een ieder die in dit veld een boom kapt, moet daarvoor weer één boom planten!”9

Door steeds te adviseren om het landschap en het milieu te beschermen, bracht de Boodschapper van Allah een gemeenschap voort die zich jegens alle schepsels vriendelijk en respectvol gedroeg. Dit wordt duidelijk zichtbaar door de toespraak die de eerste kalief Ạbū Bạkr (r.a) voor zijn soldaten heeft gehouden, die op het punt stonden om op een militaire expeditie te gaan: “Verraad niet, plunder de oorlogsbuit niet, onderdruk niet, vermink niet; dood geen kinderen, ouderen en vrouwen! Kap geen dadelbomen en verbrand ze niet. Kap geen vruchtdragende bomen; slacht geen schapen, koeien en kamelen anders dan datgene waarvan jullie willen eten! Jullie zullen mensen tegenkomen die zichzelf in kloosters hebben opgesloten en met aanbidding bezig zijn; laat hen alleen met hun aanbidding…”10 11

 

 

 

---

[1] De Koran, ạl-Rahmān, 55: 7-8.

[2] Sahīh ạl-Bukhārī, Riqāq, 42; Sunạn ạl-Nạsāī, Jạnāiz, 48; Musnạd Ahmạd ibn Hanbạl, V, 296, 302, 304.

[3] Sahīh Muslim, Īmān, 58.

[4] Sunạn Ạbū Dāwūd, Jihād, 88/2629; Musnạd Ahmạd ibn Hanbạl, III, 441.

[5] Musnạd Ahmạd ibn Hanbạl, III, 191, 183.

[6] Musnạd Ahmạd ibn Hanbạl, VI, 444. Zie Muslim, Musāqāt, 7.

[7] Sunạn Ạbū Dāwūd, Ạdạb, 158-159/5239.

[8] Sunạn Ạbū Dāwūd, Mạnāsik, 96; M. Hamidullah, İslam Peygamberi (Profeet van Islam), Istanbul 2003, I, 500; a.mlf., ạl-Wạsāiq,Beiroet 1969, pp. 236-238, 240; Ali Rıza Temel, “İslam’a Göre İnsan Çevre İlişkisi” (De Relatie tussen Mens en Milieu volgens de Islam, İnsan ve Çevre (Mens en Milieu), p. 77.

[9] Bạlazūrī, Futūh ạl-Buldān, Beiroet 1987, p. 17; İbrahim Canan, İslam ve Çevre Sağlığı (Islam en Milieuhygiëne), İstanbul 1987, pp. 59-60.

[10] Sunạn ạl-Bạyhaqī, ạl-Sunạn ạl-Kubrā, IX, 85; Ali ạl-Muttaqī, Kạnz ạl-‘Ummāl, no: 30268; Ibn ạl-Ạthīr, ạl-Kāmil fī ạl-Tārīkh, Beiroet 1987, II, 200.

[11] De Laatstee Hemelse Religie: Islam, Dr. Murat Kaya

(www.vragenenislam.com / 26.05.2012)

Carter: Egypt’s Brotherhood would keep Israel treaty

CAIRO (Reuters) — The Muslim Brotherhood may seek to modify, but will not destroy, Egypt’s 33-year-old peace treaty with Israel, former US President Jimmy Carter said Saturday.

Carter, 87, was speaking after initial vote tallies put the Brotherhood’s candidate ahead in the first round of Egypt’s presidential election, which his Carter Center helped monitor.

The US statesman, who brought together Israeli leader Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar Sadat in 1978 to agree the Camp David accords which led to a 1979 treaty, said he had held long discussions with senior Brotherhood figures in Egypt this week.

“My opinion is that the treaty will not be modified in any unilateral way,” Carter said at a news conference in Cairo to present the preliminary findings of his election monitors.

Official results in Egypt’s first free leadership election are due on Tuesday, but informal tallies put the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi and Mubarak’s last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in the lead. If confirmed, they would fight a run-off in June.

Hamdeen Sabahy, a leftist who has championed Palestinian resistance against Israel, was running a close third.

The peace treaty remains a lynchpin of US/Middle East policy and, despite its unpopularity with many Egyptians, was staunchly upheld by President Hosni Mubarak until his overthrow last year in a popular uprising.

The Brotherhood, long suppressed under Mubarak, is vehemently critical of Israel, and its Palestinian offshoot Hamas rules the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials have watched political turmoil since Mubarak’s overthrow with growing wariness.

Ties

Mubarak’s fall opened up a freer form of Egyptian politics in which the popular mood looms far larger.

Mursi criticizes Israel but says he would respect the treaty. One of his aides said Mursi would not meet Israeli officials as president, though he might delegate that task.

Cairo needs good ties with Israel’s closest ally the United States, which provides billions of dollars in military and civilian aid and is pressing other major foreign donors to support Egypt’s struggling economy.

But some of the election contenders said the peace treaty should be reviewed, partly because of perceptions the deal Carter brokered was biased in Israel’s favor.

Carter said the treaty had not been violated by either side since its inception and that any problems had been resolved peacefully, including a flare-up of tension last year over the killing of some Egyptian border guards.

“The Israelis apologized for that. They see great value in preserving the treaty,” said Carter.

The Camp David accords were also supposed to guarantee the rights of the Palestinians, at Sadat’s insistence, but that aspect had not been honored, Carter said.

(www.maannews.net / 26.05.2012)

US drone strike kills 4 militants in Pakistan

Islamabad: A US drone targeted a house in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region of Pakistan on Saturday, killing four suspected militants in the third such attack in four days.

The CIA-operated spy plane fired two missiles at the house near Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency, which has been described by US officials as a stronghold of Taliban and al Qaeda elements.

Security officials and local residents were quoted by the media as saying that four suspected militants were killed in the attack.

The identity of those killed could not immediately be ascertained.

The house caught fire after being hit by the missiles and militants cordoned off the site and prevented people from approaching the area.

On May 23, four suspected militants were killed in a drone strike near Miranshah, while 10 suspected militants were killed in a missile attack in the same region the following day.

The string of drone strikes have added to tensions between the US and Pakistan, which has been calling for an end to the attacks.

The strikes came days after President Asif Ali Zardari left the NATO Summit in Chicago without announcing any move to reopen supply lines for foreign forces in Afghanistan.

Pakistan closed the supply routes after a cross-border NATO air strike from Afghanistan killed 24 of its soldiers in November.

Since then, Islamabad has been insisting that Washington halt the drone strikes, which Pakistani leaders have described as a violation of the country’s sovereignty and international law.
The US has been pressing Pakistan to launch a military operation in North Waziristan agency, which American officials have said is a safe haven for the Haqqani network that has been blamed for a series of brazen attacks on Western targets in Afghanistan.

(zeenews.india.com / 26.05.2012)

Amnesty International raps Tel Aviv violating Palestinian rights

Amnesty International condemns the Israeli violation of Palestinians’ rights.

Amnesty International has, in a detailed report, exposed Israel’s violation of human rights and denounced Tel Aviv’s policies on Palestinians.

In its rights report for 2012, Amnesty International condemned Israel for its use of torture, restriction of movement, limitation of freedom of speech, and siege of Palestinians.

It also criticized Israel’s use of excessive force in suppressing Palestinian protesters in the West Bank and civilians in the Gaza Strip, stressing that the kind of brutality has led to dozens of deaths, among them women and children.

The rights group also blasted Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has created a humanitarian crisis for more than 1.5 million Palestinians.

Amnesty also criticized Tel Aviv for demolishing Palestinian homes and building settlements in the face of international law.

The report addresses human rights in 155 different nations across the world throughout 2011.

Earlier this month, the European Union also condemned Tel Aviv’s discriminatory policies and maltreatment of Palestinians living in the occupied territories.

Palestinians and the international community have repeatedly censured Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories, calling it the main obstacle to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

(www.presstv.ir / 26.05.2012)

Leftist candidate Sabahy will seek Egypt election suspension: lawyer

Preliminary results showed Hamdeen Sabahy in third place behind Ahmad Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi.

Leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahy will file an appeal for Egypt’s presidential election to be suspended because of alleged voting irregularities and a pending case over former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq’s right to stand, Sabahy’s lawyer said on Saturday.

“We will present an appeal on behalf of candidate Hamdeen Sabahy … to the presidential electoral committee, citing a series of irregularities … that have affected the outcome of the first round,” lawyer Essam el-Islamboly told Reuters.

According to Egyptian state television, preliminary results showed Sabahy in third place behind Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi after this week’s first round. Only the top two go through to a run-off in June.

Islamboly said the appeal, to be lodged on Sunday or Monday at the latest, would ask the electoral committee to suspend the election until the prosecutor-general checks a claim by a police officer that the Interior Ministry had illegally assigned 900,000 votes to Shafiq.

He said Sabahy also wanted the election halted until the constitutional court rules on the validity of an April decision by the electoral committee to disqualify Shafiq.

The committee swiftly lifted its ban on Shafiq, who was deposed leader Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, but referred a new law barring top Mubarak-era officials from the race to the constitutional court.

Reaching out to rivals

The apparent winners of the first round of Egypt’s landmark presidential vote reached out to rival candidates Friday ahead of a June run-off, as international monitors describe the initial voting process as “encouraging.”

Final votes were still being counted, but unofficial results suggested that the top two vote-getters out of 12 candidates were Morsi and Shafiq.

On Friday night, the Brotherhood said it was seeking to create a coalition of forces to challenge Shafiq, reaching out to Morsi’s former rivals, including Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, who left the organization to run for president.

“We call on all sincere political and national forces to unite to protect the revolution and to achieve the pledges we took before our great nation,” the Brotherhood said.

“The slogan now is: ‘the nation is in danger,’” Essam al-Erian, the deputy head of the Brotherhood’s political arm, told AFP.

The Brotherhood called a meeting of various candidates on Saturday afternoon, but the campaigns of Abul Fotouh, former foreign minister Amr Mussa and Nasserist candidate Sabbahi said the three men would not attend.

Shafiq also called for broad support from former rivals, calling on his competitors by name to join him, and promising there would be no return to the old regime.

“I reach out to all the partners and I pledge that we would all work together for the good of Egypt,” he told a news conference on Saturday.

Addressing the youth that spearheaded the 2011 revolt, he said: “your revolution has been hijacked and I am committed to bringing (it) back.”

“I pledge now, to all Egyptians, we shall start a new era. There is no going back.”

Polarized runoff

A Shafiq-Morsi run-off looks likely further polarize a nation that rose up against the authoritarian Mubarak 15 months ago but has since suffered endemic violence and a declining economy.

The contest presents a difficult choice for activists who led the revolt against Mubarak. For them, choosing Shafiq would be to admit the revolution had failed, but a vote for Morsi would threaten the very freedoms they fought for.

Independent analyst Hisham Kassem said the situation “is one of the most difficult political situations that Egypt has ever known.”

“We face the risk of maintaining the Mubarak regime, or Islamizing the country,” he told AFP.

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Centre monitored the elections, told journalists on Saturday that the process had been “encouraging” but noted that he and his monitors had faced unprecedented constraints.

“I would say that these (elections) have been encouraging to me,” he said, adding that authorities has imposed “constraints placed on us as witnesses that have never been placed on us before.”

He said minor “haphazard” violations had been observed, but there did not appear to be systematic irregularities that favored any one candidate.

The electoral commission is expected to declare the official results on Tuesday, but media tallies and Brotherhood figures put Morsi in first place and Shafiq in second.

And Erian said Friday it was “completely clear” that Morsi and Shafiq had topped the presidential vote and would compete in the June 16-17 run-off.

He said Morsi had won 25.3 percent of the vote and Shafiq 24 percent, with Sabbahi at 22 percent.

Both Mosi and Shafiq had been written off as long shots just weeks before the historic election in which the country freely voted for the first time to elect a president after Mubarak’s ouster in a democratic uprising.

The election, which saw 50 million eligible voters given the chance to choose, was hailed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who congratulated Egypt on its “historic” presidential election and said Washington was ready to work with a new government in Cairo.

Electoral commission officials said turnout was around 50 percent over the two days of voting.

The election follows a tumultuous military-led transition from autocratic rule marked by political upheaval and bloodshed, but which also witnessed free parliamentary elections.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in power since Mubarak’s ouster, has vowed to restore civilian rule by the end of June, after a president is elected, but many fear its withdrawal from politics will be just an illusion

(english.alarabiya.net / 26.05.2012)

Israel’s UK embassy plans Twitter campaign against boycott of Tel Aviv theater group

The Israeli embassy and Zionist groups in Britain are coordinating a “social media” campaign to counter calls to boycott performances by the Tel Aviv-based drama group Habima in London’s Globe theater.

On Friday afternoon, the Liverpool Jewish Community sent out an email with the heading “An Important Message from the Israeli Embassy”. The email contained step by step instructions for a planned Twitter campaign this coming Tuesday, designed to trend the hashtag #LoveCulture.

The email begins (my emphasis):

As part of the campaign around Habima’s performance at the Globe this coming week, we are aiming to get something relevant trending on Twitter. After careful consideration, we have decided to use the hashtag #LoveCulture as it is short enough to fit on a substantial tweet and won’t be taken at first glance as a political statement.

It continues:

we will start tweeting with #LoveCulture at 08:00 UK Time (which is GMT +1) on Tuesday 29 May

The message from the Israeli embassy also includes specific suggestions about what to tweet:

Examples of tweets that you can use (please try and edit them) are:

• Great to see @HabimaTheatre celebrating the Cultural Olympiad @the_globe…all the world’s a stage #LoveCulture
• Fantastic seeing the foremost Hebrew speaking theater company perform the Merchant of Venice @the_globe #LoveCulture
• Was great to hear @edvaizey enjoyed watching @HabimaTheatre…did he understand any of it though? #LoveCulture
• Jealous of all those off to see sold out @HabimaTheatre at @the_globe tonight…last night was great #LoveCulture

The message concludes by saying that any questions should be directed to two email addresses: pr-asst3@london.mfa.gov.il and elliot@thejlc.org

The former is clearly associated with the Israeli embassy in London, while the latter is the address for Elliot Jebreel, public affairs officer for the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) whose role includes implementing “the JLC’s social media strategy.”

It seems some were too excited to wait until the appointed hour, since on Friday morning, the #LoveCulture hashtag had already been used in relation to Habima, which has previously performed in illegal Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank. One use of the hashtag was by the Labour Friends of Israel account, another by Jeremy Newmark – CEO of the Jewish Leadership Council – and also by an account with no followers and only two tweets.

Just this last week, leaders from pro-Israel groups in Britain were presenting evidence to a subcommittee in the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) on “Zionism in Britain”, chaired by Knesset member Einat Wilf. Amusingly, the meeting was originally going to be called “UK: World Leader in Anti-Israel Rhetoric,” but “after concerns from the British attendees…Wilf agreed to tone it down.”

The Israeli embassy’s effort to counter the boycott call comes as The Globe’s management prepares for the performances by issuing extraordinary “conditions of entry” restrictions to ticket-holders, including:

the right to refuse admission to anyone we have reason to believe may cause a disruption to the performance.

This raises the question of how exactly the Globe is going about identifying potential “disruptors.” An article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz mentioned that the “list of regulations” followed “discussions with London’s Metropolitan Police.” A piece in theTimes of Israel noted that “the Globe says that it is taking ‘all necessary precautions’ to make sure that the performances can proceed smoothly”, but “will not disclose any details.”

The call to boycott Habima has already been a significant embarrassment for Israel advocates in Britain, with the public debate often focused on how best to respond to Israeli human rights abuses (rather than on whether those abuses are fact or not).

Even before the Israeli foreign ministry-funded performances, it all adds up to be a failure for Israel’s brand of propaganda or hasbara, as it’s known in Hebrew. Habima’s general manager might see the Globe’s invitation as an “honorable accomplishment for the State of Israel in general” but it looks more like a hasbara farce.

(electronicintifada.net / 26.05.2012)

Why IDF soldiers stand idly by when settlers attack Palestinians

By Dana Golan

Last Saturday, a B’Tselem video camera captured an incident of settler violence that began with rocks being thrown at Palestinians near the village of Asira al-Qibliya in the outskirts of Nablus, and ended with live shots fired by the settlers and a wounded Palestinian youth.

Anyone who saw the video could easily make out the IDF soldiers standing next to the settlers, doing nothing to stop them. Those watching from the sidelines may have been surprised by the useless stance of the soldiers. But anyone who understands the reality in the Occupied Territories well knows that that this is just another example of the long-entrenched paradigm that constitutes the basis of IDF activity on the ground: We are not here to protect Palestinians. Not when the settlers burn their olive trees or throw rocks at them. And not even when settlers shoot at them.

The most extreme outcome of this paradigm was the massacre at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in 1994. When Baruch Goldstein, a settler from Kiryat Arba, entered the Tomb, there were no cameras to record the incident and no soldiers (or Border Police officers) to stand in opposition. But even if they had been there, it’s reasonable to assume that they wouldn’t have been the ones to stop the firing. The reason for this, as published in the report by the Shamgar Committee charged with investigating the incident, is that the rules of engagement given to Border Police officers serving there at the time forbade them from directing any fire of any kind at a Jewish settler. In testimony given by one of the officers to the Committee, the explicit command was described: “Arms may not be used against any Jewish settler in Hebron, along with any crowd dispersal method, even if said settler is endangering my own life or the life of an Arab near him.” Another commander from a Border Police company in Hebron testified that the rules regarding disturbance of the peace by a Jew were, “to take shelter so as not to be injured, to wait until his weapon jams or the magazine runs out, and to then try to overpower him through other means.” Baruch Goldstein was stopped when his weapon jammed; the result was 29 Palestinians killed and dozens injured.

After the Shamgar Committee investigation, the rules of engagement changed. The command to wait for a weapons jam was replaced with the direction to “instruct the shooter or person endangering life through other means to cease his actions, or to try to overpower him immediately, while using reasonable force.” In the case that the shooter is not deterred by the soldiers’ requests to cease fire, they are required, according to the IDF instructions, to carry out something similar to the “procedure for detaining a suspect”: shots in the air, shots towards the legs, and only then, shots to neutralize the danger.

This is how it is on paper. In reality, the soldier on the ground receives oral commands that preserve the order to do nothing in instances of Israeli fire towards Palestinians, and in instances of less severe violence, “to serve as a buffer.” Soldiers on the ground are well-trained to take action when a Palestinian attacks, but not when he is the victim of settler violence. Most of the testimonies given to Breaking the Silence don’t relate to the commands given in the instance of an Israeli shooting at a Palestinian because the perception is that the IDF is in the Occupied Territories in order to protect the settlers, and this is the basis for all routine IDF activity. You don’t shoot at the ones you were sent to protect.

Perhaps its because I served in Hebron, or perhaps because I’ve been exposed to many soldier testimonies that describe incidents of settler violence towards Palestinians – but I cannot understand the Israeli public’s amazement surrounding the video from Saturday. After nearly 45 years of occupation, even those Israelis who never served in the Territories should already know that this is what life looks like in the “backyard” of our own State. This is the reality created by constant discrimination and the enforcement of two separate law regimes. The soldiers who just stood there should not be the targets of disgust for their unfit behavior. It is us, the civilians at home, who continue to send them there to enforce this discriminatory occupation, who should be looking in the mirror and asking ourselves how we let this reality develop and continue.

First Lieutenant (Res.) Dana Golan is the Executive Director of Breaking the Silence. She served in the Border Police in Hebron in 2001. 

(972mag.com / 26.05.2012)