Israeli Settler Violence: Not Even the Animals Are Safe

Does PETA have an international division? After reading this post in Mondoweiss this morning, I figured I'd add some context and numbers to the poignant images which captured events all too common and far too underdisscussed.

By now, readers of this blog have gotten to understand some of the risks posed to Palestinian civilians because of settler violence. But what many don't really grasp is how often the victims of Israel's fanatic settlers are not only Palestinian people, but Palestinian livestock. Sheep, horses, cows and camels have all fallen prey to settler violence in the past and many of these instances are captured in our settler violence database.

For many Palestinians, farming and shepherding is a way of life. They had been tending to their livestock and crops long before the Israeli occupation began in 1967, long before the state of Israel in 1948 and long before Zionism. But too often, it is precisely these Palestinians which fall prey to violent Israeli settlers. You see, you can't take your sheep to graze in an urban setting of densely populated concrete houses. But for the vast majority of Palestinian's tending to sheep, this means choosing between putting yourself in harms way or abandoning your way of life. Because of the Oslo Accords, most Palestinian urban centers are in what's called Area A, where the Palestinian Authority maintains security control (although Israeli forces can enter Area A at will), but most rural territory is in Area B and C where Israeli forces maintain security control. But Israeli forces see themselves there to provide security for Israelis, i.e. the settlers, and not provide security for Palestinian civilians. It should come as no surprise then that the vast majority of settler violence, upwards of 84%, occurs in Areas B and C. Because these areas stratify security control, settlers basically have free reign in Areas B and C to do as they please. There have been numerous instances where settlers attack Palestinians in Areas B and C, and Israeli forces intervene only to protect the settlers. Preventative action is almost never taken.

So when it comes to settler violence, shepherds and farmers are sitting ducks, and so are their sheep, cows, horses and the occasional camel. Our database did not code specifically for attacks on animals, but we did record injury, killing or mutilation (yes, mutilation) of livestock. Initially, I was hesitant to record such data because I thought some might take the opportunity to trivialize settler violence as Hatfield-McCoy type feuds and miss the critical point that settler violence is the inevitable byproduct of a system of inequality called occupation.

These data points should give you an idea of the inherent risks of being a Palestinian shepherd under occupation:

September 2004 - Settlers run over a herd of sheep near the village of Haris in Salfit killing and injuring 18.

August 2005 - Settlers from Kiryat Arba in Hebron poisoned and killed the horse of a Palestinian civilian living near by.

February 2006 - Settlers from Meitzad in Hebron district sprayed poison over land where Palestinian shepherds bring their sheep leading 40 of them to die.

April 2006 - Settlers from an outpost in the Ramallah district opened fire towards civilians in the village of Al Mughayyir and killed a horse.

May 2006 - Settlers opened fire at a herd of camels belonging to a Palestinian civilian near the village of Al-Awja in the Jericho district killing one camel and injuring another.

November 2007 - Settlers in a car ram through a flock of sheep killing 15 in the Jericho district.

July 2008- Settlers sprayed poison in grazing grounds which killed 14 sheep and made 18 others sick.

January 2011- Settlers opened fire at a flock of sheep near Tuwani in Hebron killing the sheep dog as well as one of the sheep.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. As a Palestinian heading out to tend to your sheep or pick your olive trees, you venture into the unknown and may very well be subject to Israeli settler violence. The frequency and location of these events, which will be discussed in detail here, rule out any possibility that these are isolated incidents. There are countless more cases where Palestinians have had their animals targeted. In some instances the Palestinians tending to the animals were killed or injured as well, like 15 year-old Sharif Ishtiyeh from Salem village who was mowed down and killed by an Israeli settler from the settlement of Elon Moreh, deep in the West Bank.

Settler violence, in its many forms, is an outgrowth of the Israeli occupation and a systematic attack on many facets of Palestinian life, even some of the most simple and ancient.

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