Israeli Settlers Make My Point

Yesterday we presented an analysis of data covering several years worth of Israeli settler violence and approximately 3,000 instances of attacks. We presented numbers, graphs, pictures and video of attacks that were both statistically and analytically solid. Yet, despite the fact that this research took months and that it will continue to serve as an important resource on this issue, Israeli settlers yesterday made my point in only a few hours.

You see, by the time I was done with the presentation, which can be seen in its entirety below, I came back to my desk only to find an e-mail about how Israeli settlers attacked school children in the village of Tuwani in the Hebron governorate. I spoke specifically about the perils facing this particular Palestinian village at 25 minutes in. So it came as no surprise to me that Palestinian school children had rocks thrown at them by Israeli settler children as the settler parents watched. This is a regular occurrence for the school children of Tuwani, so much so in fact, that special escorts have to be arranged to take them to and from school out of fear of settler attacks.

One of the main points of the presentation was that settler violence happens all the time even though we might not hear about it. You might think that the instance of settler violence in Tuwani on the same day as this presentation is enough to prove that point, but in case there was any doubt, colonists in the north of the West Bank had other things on their mind.

That's right, yet another settler attack took place against the Palestinian village of Burin, right around the time we were making this presentation. At about 28 minutes in I discuss the village of Burin and why it falls prey to more settler violence than any other Palestinian village. It is located in between two of the most violent colonies in the West Bank, Yitzhar and Bracha.

Settler violence, contrary to what many may believe, is not retaliatory nor is it simply a response to Israeli government actions against outposts which have been called "price tag" events. It is a symptom of occupation. The stratification of security jurisdiction created by the Oslo accords allows settlers to have free reign over Palestinian populations living in Areas B and C. We see upwards of 90% of all settler violence incidents occuring in these areas precisely because there is no law enforcement deterrent to acts of violence against Palestinian civilians. As you can see from the chart above, settler violence is dramatically on the rise over the past few years. In 2006 the average number of settler violence events per month was about 20; in 2010 it nearly tripled, with just over 57 per month.

Our event yesterday was an attempt to sound the alarm on a violent phenomenon which is targeting Palestinian civilians and their property more and more each year. The violent settlers which attacked Palestinians in Burin and Tuwani yesterday only help make this point.

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