Israeli settler violence against Palestinians is increasing, and exasperated Palestinians have begun organizing neighborhood watch groups. Israeli officials worry that these groups may endanger Israeli vandals.
Palestinians who rely on olive harvests for their livelihood have been terrorized by Israeli settlers since the beginning of the occupation in 1967. Settlers – often guarded or assisted by Israeli military – destroy trees and equipment, steal large quantities of olives, kill livestock, and attack Palestinian farmers.
In the ongoing travesty of justice, some olive groves are only accessible to their Palestinian owners for a few days a year; swaths of farmland has been appropriated by Israel for settlement expansion or military use.
Israeli settler violence – with IDF complicity – is becoming more and more commonplace, even targeting elementary schools. The government has also approved extensive Israeli settlement expansions and Jewish-only roads to be built on Palestinian land, which will result in isolation of Palestinian communities and loss of olive trees.
In addition, Jerusalem has seen an increase in extremist Jewish visits to the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Israeli soldiers and settlers terrorize Palestinians every day. Stories from November 4-5 (that won’t appear in mainstream media) include 2 Palestinian deaths, at least 14 abductions – some of them children, a settler free-for-all in Hebron, and an injured infant.
Ever have one of those days? In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, you never know whether your house, or your car, or your family members will be there when the day is done.
Israel’s Nation-State Law, celebrated by many Jewish Israelis, is deeply worrying to Palestinian Israelis. Already, after just one month, violence, threats of violence, and discriminatory policies are in high gear – this after decades of unrestrained injustice. And still the world remains silent.
Israeli settlers – protected by military – demolished 2 homes on a church compound, although the owner had a court order protecting the property, & his belongings were still inside.
Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, seeks worldwide support for maintaining the status quo in Jerusalem, where settler groups are vandalizing church property and covertly buying up land in the Old City; Jerusalem’s city council wants $200 million in back taxes from churches; land may be expropriated. Phone Congress!
Defense for Children International, Palestine reports on the current situation in refugee camps, where danger and hunger are ever present.
The recent conviction of an Israeli settler for an arson attack on the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes is a reminder that Jewish extremism toward Christians and their holy sites is a problem as old as the state of Israel itself.