More Zionist than the Zionists

There she goes again. Isabel Kershner's report on what happened when Israeli settlers attempted to attack a Palestinian village is quite something. This story was widely reported in Israeli and Palestinian media.

First, some background.

Basically, as it has happened many times before, Israeli settlers from a colony in the West Bank attempted to attack Palestinians in their villages and destroy their property.

This is sometimes done as a "price tag" attack, which is when Israeli settlers exact a price against Palestinians in the rare instances when the Israeli government limits the expansion of, or dismantles, Israeli settlement structures. Most settler violence, however, is a product of an unequal system of laws that protects and privileges Israeli settlers against Palestinians, providing both the physical infrastructure and the impunity that incentivizes settler violence.

Israeli settler violence is a rampant phenomenon we have documented and studied extensively here at the Palestine Center. In 2012, we published a comprehensive report on Israeli settler violence and how, when and why it occurs covering thousands of events from 2004-2011. We will be producing an update soon to cover the years since then.

I've put together the map below to help you understand where things are located.

View Jalud/Esh Kodesh in a larger map

The Israeli colonies of Eli, Shilo, Shvut Rahel, Ahiya and Esh Kodesh are in blue (running counterclockwise starting from Eli) and the Palestinian villages of Karyut, Jalud and Kusra are in red. As you can see the Israeli colonies surround the Palestinian villages from the West and the South. This particular area is a hotbed of Israeli Settler Violence, in large part because of the geographic proximity and the fact that the Palestinian villages here are in Area B, not Area A where Palestinian security jurisdiction usually deters settlers from entering.

The most common type of settler attack in these villages is destruction of property. Some 40% of all attack types in our database for these three villages fall into that category. In yesterday's event, Israeli settlers from Esh Kodesh went into Jalud.

Here are some of the various headlines from Israeli media on the event:

From the left-leaning Haaretz: "Jewish Settlers Caught and Beaten After Trespassing in Palestinian Village"

From the popular Israeli tabloid Yideot Ahranot: "West Bank Palestinians say protected settlers from locals' revenge"

From the right-leaning Jerusalem Post: "Elder Palestinians protect settlers from lynching in West Bank village"

Yet here is the New York Times' headline: "Palestinians Corner Jewish Settlers During Clash in West Bank"

Let's try this another way by playing a game. Below are two excerpts of the first four paragraphs from different stories describing the same events:

Excerpt 1:

A confrontation between a group of Jewish settlers and Palestinian villagers in the West Bank on Tuesday ended when Palestinian officials handed the settlers, who had been surrounded by other Palestinians, over to Israeli forces. 

The episode shined an unusual spotlight on the potentially explosive tensions in the area even as Israeli-Palestinian peace talks were underway.  

Scenes captured on video showed a group of more than a dozen male settlers, including minors, who had apparently been corralled by angry Palestinians in an unfinished building on the edge of the village of Jalud, near Nablus in the northern West Bank. Some of the settlers had bloodied faces.  

The settlers said they had been hiking in the area. But Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank, said they had come to uproot olive trees and clashed with Palestinians who confronted them in the fields among the villages of Qaryut, Jalud and Qusra.

Photos accompanying this story show bloodied settlers cowering before Palestinians surrounding them, being cornered by rock throwing Palestinians and being manhandled as well. Reading the headline, the story and the seeing the images, you are left under the impression that it was Palestinians who were the aggressors in this clash and not the settlers.

Excerpt 2:

Some 15 settlers from Esh Kodesh placed themselves in life-threatening danger on Tuesday as a result of provocative decision on their part to enter the Palestinian village of Jallud, adjacent to Ramallah.  

Residents began to riot and it was only thanks to several village officials and elders that the settlers escaped from the incident with their lives. Villagers accused the settlers, ages 15 to 30, of throwing rocks at farmers tending their fields, shattering the windows of a local home and assaulting three residents.  

Village officials and elders attempted to contain the situation. According to reports, six Palestinian men shielded the settlers with their bodies against what quickly grew into an angry mob, and were able to hold the settlers in an uninhabited structure on the outskirts of the village until Israel Defense Forces troops arrived.

The IDF said the settlers, all known right-wing activists, entered the village with the clear intent of carrying out a "price-tag" attack.

Photos accompanying this story include images of bloodied settlers but also include images of Palestinians protecting settlers, of Israeli soldiers removing the settlers and of a Palestinian victim of Israeli settler violence.

The first excerpt is ambiguous as to who is responsible and presents the situation as a he said/he said dispute. It does not even clearly identify that Jalud, the village the settlers entered, is a Palestinian village. It notes that among the dozen settlers there were minors and all were "corralled by angry Palestinians" setting up a dichotomy between the innocent and the aggressor.

The second excerpt starts by placing blame on the Israeli settlers for entering Jalud, which it clearly says is a Palestinian village. It notes that some Palestinians protected the settlers from what could have been greater violence. Finally, it says the Israeli military said the settlers were all "known right-wing activists" that intended to carry out a "price-tag" attack.

Now, can you guess which of these excerpts is from the New York Times and which one is from the right-wing, pro-Netanyahu rag funded by Sheldon Adelson, Israel Hayom?

Yup, it has gotten THAT bad.

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