"Justice" is Served, Israeli Occupation Style

Meet Zvi Struck. Struck is an Israeli settler from a colonial outpost deep in the West Bank. He is, according to the Israeli court which convicted him, a perpetrator of Israeli settler violence. While it is not uncommon for Israeli settlers to commit acts of violence against Palestinian civilians -- and readers of this blog are well informed on this -- what is uncommon is that Zvi was actually arrested and brought before the Israeli justice system. The overwhelming majority of settler violence incidents are not investigated or prosecuted and often, if not always, happen with the direct or indirect involvement of Israeli occupation forces.

So what was Zvi's crime? The 28-year-old Struck had abducted a 15 year-old Palestinian child in 2007, then assaulted and beat the child before leaving him tied and naked in an open field. Who knows what else may have been done to this poor child, but one can only imagine that a naked and vulnerable child at the mercy of a criminal may also have been sexually assaulted. Similarly, one can also imagine that if that was the case, it would not be talked about by the victim or his family in a conservative Palestinian society where such things are taboo and can lead, unfortunately, to being ostracized from society.

And the time? Well over 3 years after the crime, an Israeli court has finally sentenced Struck to an 18-month jail term. Pending appeal, Struck will likely be one of the few Israeli settlers that do any time for their crimes against Palestinian civilians. It's important that this convicted criminal is punished for his actions, and one can only hope that the prosecution of settler crimes against Palestinians will happen regularly, as it should, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Still, does the time fit the crime? What would the sentence handed down by an Israeli court have been had the victim been an Israeli and not a Palestinian? The charges Struck was found guilty of were "battery under aggravated circumstances and kidnapping for the purpose of causing grave bodily injury." Does that sound like it deserves a mere 18-month sentence? I certainly don't think so.

But as I thought about this sentence, I realized the 18-month duration rang a bell.

Meet Adeeb Abu Rahma. Abu Rahma is a non-violent protest organizer in and around the Palestinian village of Bili'in, which is been affected by the encroaching apartheid wall. In 2009 Abu Rahma was arrested and was later sentenced to 18-months by an Israeli military court for "incitement." Much more on this here. The Abu Rahma family, dedicated leaders of the Palestinian non-violent movement and specifically the Bil'in popular committee against the wall, have paid a steep price for their peaceful protest. Adeeb and Abdallah Abu Rahma have been in and out of Israeli prisons, but Bassem Abu Rahma, who was killed by an Israeli tear gas canister, and Jawaher Abu Rahma, who also fell to Israeli tear gas, will never be able to return to their loved ones.

I've grown tired and frustrated of hearing people ask "Where are the Palestinian Gandhis?" As we watch revolutions around the Arab world, world leaders are criticizing states for cracking down against non-violent protesters. For non-violence to work, it relies on global non-silence. Yet, as the Israeli occupation is slowly killing off a family of Palestinian Gandhis and targeting others throughout Palestine, few dare to sound alarm.

In short, by juxtaposing these two cases and the Israeli court system's actions, we can learn a great deal about what "justice" means under Israeli occupation. As far as the occupation is concerned, non-violent Palestinians demonstrating against the illegal confiscation of their land are just as bad, if not worse, than an Israeli settler who commits a violent crime against a defenseless Palestinian child.

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