Palestinians in Israel protest indictments over attacker's death

Palestinians in Israel protest indictments over attacker's death

Jonathan Cook,
The Electronic Intifada,
10 June 2009

The decision to prosecute 12 Israeli Arabs over what the local media have described as the "lynching" of an Israeli soldier on a bus shortly after he shot dead the driver and three passengers has been greeted with outrage from the country's Arab minority. The inhabitants of Shefa'amr, one of the largest Arab towns in the Galilee region and the location of the attack, are expected to stage a one-day strike today in protest against the indictments.

Seven of the 12 face charges of attempted murder. Jafar Farah, the head of Mossawa, an Arab political lobbying group, said the indictments, which follow a series of about-turns by state prosecutors, reflected "the current harsher political climate" for the Arab minority, one-fifth of the country's population. A right-wing government, established this year, includes the party of Avigdor Lieberman, which is openly hostile to Arabs.

electronicintifada.net...

Basically an Israeli soldier in battle gear and belonging to one of the extremist Israeli settler groups walks up to a bus, sprays the bus with bullets and kills the driver and 22 passengers. When he stops to reload, he is taken out by a Palestinian woman. The police are called and they turn up and hold him in the bus.

In the meantime a crowd gathers and something kicks off. The crowd push aside the Israeli police and beat to the murderer/terrorist to death the terrorist.


Now the full might of the Israeli state descends on the Palestinian villagers and indict them for murder. The victims and the relatives of the murdered passengers are denied compensation and are refused the declaration of the incident as a terrorist act.

It seems that there is one law for Israelis and another for the Palestinians they rule. You know now why the Palestinians fight for freedom.

Mod Edit: External Source Tags – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 12/6/2009 by Mirthful Me]

Unfortunately, EVERYONE, even israel supporters, know that there is a complete double standard in israel.

I mean, they color your license plates by race/religion!!!

reply to post by breakingdradles


BUT THE ROCKETS! OMG TEH ROKKITS!!!!~~!~!~!!@W!!!!

Americans will never give up on Israel. The reason is, most Americans figure that if they fellate Israel enough, Jesus will shoot out. The only debate is how hard they need to suck

Originally posted by masonwatcher
It seems that there is one law for Israelis and another for the Palestinians they rule. You know now why the Palestinians fight for freedom.

Unless I read this wrong they aren't Palistinians but Arab Israeli's.

reply to post by breakingdradles

I mean, they color your license plates by race/religion!!!

This is not double standart. Just a lie. Nobody colors their plates according to race/religion. There is different color of plates for Palestinian citizens. All Israeli citizens (Arabs, Druzes,Beduins , Jews, Christians, Muslims, Bahais, ATS members,) have the same color of license plates.
Oh, i forgot, BUT THE ROCKETS!

[edit on 10-6-2009 by ZeroKnowledge]

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by masonwatcher
It seems that there is one law for Israelis and another for the Palestinians they rule. You know now why the Palestinians fight for freedom.

Unless I read this wrong they aren't Palistinians but Arab Israeli's.

The Arabs in Israel are Palestinians and they are treated as third class citizens if lucky. They carry special ID and assigned to villages and towns they live in.

If the purpose of this post is to enlighten, inform, or debate this issue then please could you post a link to the original incident from a source which is not blatantly anti-Israeli, so that those of us that do not hate Jews can become better informed about the situation?

Thank you.

Originally posted by masonwatcher

The Arabs in Israel are Palestinians and they are treated as third class citizens if lucky. They carry special ID and assigned to villages and towns they live in.

As far as I'm aware this is completely and utterly false, all ethnic / religious / cultural groups are all treated as equals in the eyes of the law in Israel. Tel Aviv, for instance, has a 10% Arab population (Muslim and Christian).

If I'm wrong please could you post evidence? If not, I respectfully suggest that you refrain from posting such blatant inflammatory disinformation.

reply to post by mattpryor

The Arabs in Israel are Palestinians and they are treated as third class citizens if lucky.

I think the correct term is 2nd class. 3rd class probably belongs to the sewer rats and strays.

Israel never sought to assimilate or integrate the Palestinian population, treating them as second-class citizens and excluding them from public life and the public sphere. The state practiced systematic and institutionalized discrimination in all areas, such as land dispossession and allocation, education, language, economics, culture, and political participation.

Successive Israeli governments maintained tight control over the community, attempting to suppress Palestinian/Arab identity and to divide the community within itself. To that end, Palestinians are not defined by the state as a national minority despite UN Resolution 181 calling for such; rather they are referred to as "Israeli Arabs," "non-Jews," or by religious affiliation.

www.adalah.org...

Some aspects of Israeli democracy are at odds with core American values. Unlike the US, where people are supposed to enjoy equal rights irrespective of race, religion or ethnicity, Israel was explicitly founded as a Jewish state and citizenship is based on the principle of blood kinship. Given this, it is not surprising that its 1.3 million Arabs are treated as second-class citizens, or that a recent Israeli government commission found that Israel behaves in a ‘neglectful and discriminatory’ manner towards them. Its democratic status is also undermined by its refusal to grant the Palestinians a viable state of their own or full political rights.
www.lrb.co.uk...

Israeli law already extends an absolute preference to Jews, over members of all other ethnic or religious groups, in obtaining Israeli citizenship. The Law of Return, together with the country’s Citizenship Law, grants automatic citizenship to Jewish immigrants to Israel. Not only do the country’s legal rules benefit Jews over other potential immigrants, they give Jews priority over Palestinians who fled or were driven from the country during the 1948 and 1967 wars.

The law that was just passed, however, goes an important step beyond the previously existing rules. Rather than granting a preference to Jews over all other groups, it specifically singles out Palestinians for adverse treatment.

The overwhelming majority of Israeli-Palestinian marriages are between Israeli citizens of Palestinian origin (known as Israeli Arabs), and Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. By blocking the reunification of families split between Israel and the occupied territories, the law will have a devastating impact on the family life of Israeli Arabs.

Israeli Arabs who are married to Palestinians will now have to abandon Israel if they want to live with their families. Indeed, the prospect of their emigration may have helped spur the law’s passage. As Israelis prepare for the establishment of a Palestinian state, nationalist legislators are anxious to ensure the geographic separation of Jews and Palestinians.
writ.news.findlaw.com...

In Israel, there are more than 50 villages inhabited by Palestinians that have been there for centuries. Israel has decreed these "unrecognized villages" and notified the families that their homes will be demolished because they were "built illegally." Thousands of homes of Palestinians who are Israeli citizens have been destroyed. Although these villagers are citizens of Israel, they receive no state services such as electricity, running water, sewer, access roads, health or educational facilities.

Similarly, thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel have been decreed "present absentees," Israel's Orwellian phrase for Palestinians whose land and homes Israel has confiscated for Jewish-only habitation.
www.oregonlive.com...

Here is an insightful documentary from CBS "60 Minutes" that captures the state of affairs A MUST SEE!:
current.com...

Conscience, thanks for the opinion pieces.

What I'm trying to ascertain is, are Arab Israelis (governed by the Knesset, not by Fatah or Hamas) treated any differently to Jewish Israelis in the eyes of the law?

I am under the impression that Arab Israelis have full citizenship and can vote, own property, marry who they please, work for who they please, practice their religion, and do not have to carry around special ID (just because they are Arabs) or live in restricted areas. From what I can tell there is no institutional discrimination, but there is social discrimination, which does not make Israel anything special compared with any other western country.

However, like any other western, pluralist country with liberal values and freedom of the press, Israel has the capacity to bring about change and make life better for its citizens. Perhaps more so with Israel than most other countries, since Judaism promotes philanthropy and love and respect for fellow human beings of all races, does it not?

Perhaps instead of singling out Israel for condemnation of their human rights record, and comparing their society to some utopian place where no-one suffers any discrimination whatsoever, people should be comparing their treatment of minorities with other countries in the region? Wouldn't that lend more perspective and be a bit fairer?

Thanks.

[edit on 11-6-2009 by mattpryor]

reply to post by mattpryor


Not so matt, as you can see.

One thing though, the Israeli Supreme Court must be fully commended for its truly non discriminatory rulings that has been handed out time and time again. It seems to be the glimmer of hope together with the active human rights group in Israel that is restraining the extreme elements of Israel society and making things right.

According to the 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for Israel and the Occupied Territories, the Israeli government had done "little to reduce institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against the country's Arab citizens."[181]

The 2004 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices[181] notes that:
"Approximately 93 percent of land in the country was public domain, including that owned by the state and some 12.5 percent owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF). All public land by law may only be leased, not sold. The JNF's statutes prohibit the sale or lease of land to non-Jews. In October, civil rights groups petitioned the High Court of Justice claiming that a bid announcement by the Israel Land Administration (ILA) involving JNF land was discriminatory in that it banned Arabs from bidding."

"Israeli-Arab advocacy organizations have challenged the Government's policy of demolishing illegal buildings in the Arab sector, and claimed that the Government was more restrictive in issuing building permits in Arab communities than in Jewish communities, thereby not accommodating natural growth."

"In June, the Supreme Court ruled that omitting Arab towns from specific government social and economic plans is discriminatory. This judgment builds on previous assessments of disadvantages suffered by Arab Israelis."

"Israeli-Arab organizations have challenged as discriminatory the 1996 "Master Plan for the Northern Areas of Israel," which listed as priority goals increasing the Galilee's Jewish population and blocking the territorial contiguity of Arab towns."

"Israeli Arabs were not required to perform mandatory military service and, in practice, only a small percentage of Israeli Arabs served in the military. Those who did not serve in the army had less access than other citizens to social and economic benefits for which military service was a prerequisite or an advantage, such as housing, new-household subsidies, and employment, especially government or security-related industrial employment. The Ivri Committee on National Service has issued official recommendations to the Government that Israel Arabs not be compelled to perform national or "civic" service, but be afforded an opportunity to perform such service".

"According to a 2003 Haifa University study, a tendency existed to impose heavier prison terms to Arab citizens than to Jewish citizens. Human rights advocates claimed that Arab citizens were more likely to be convicted of murder and to have been denied bail."

"The Orr Commission of Inquiry's report [...] stated that the 'Government handling of the Arab sector has been primarily neglectful and discriminatory,' that the Government 'did not show sufficient sensitivity to the needs of the Arab population, and did not take enough action to allocate state resources in an equal manner.' As a result, 'serious distress prevailed in the Arab sector in various areas. Evidence of distress included poverty, unemployment, a shortage of land, serious problems in the education system, and substantially defective infrastructure.'"

The 2007 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices[183] notes that:
"According to a 2005 study at Hebrew University, three times more money was invested in education of Jewish children as in Arab children."

Human Rights Watch has charged that cuts in veteran benefits and child allowances based on parents' military service discriminate against Arab children: "The cuts will also affect the children of Jewish ultra-orthodox parents who do not serve in the military, but they are eligible for extra subsidies, including educational supplements, not available to Palestinian Arab children."[184]

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by masonwatcher


Interesting site you quote. Electronic Intifada is it's name.

For those who wonder what Intifada means - read what it means at this link at the site.

Well Masonwatcher - Looking at the home page of your source, I've just gotta wonder how accurate it's information is. Got any sources, other than that propaganda site, that gives the information? If so, please post it so we can all read about it. Thank you.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
reply to post by masonwatcher

 

Interesting site you quote. Electronic Intifada is it's name.

Well Masonwatcher - Looking at the home page of your source, I've just gotta wonder how accurate it's information is. Got any sources, other than that propaganda site, that gives the information? If so, please post it so we can all read about it. Thank you.

Here is the definition of the word 'Intifada' and the context in which the word is used;

As a verb intifada means "to be shaken, to wake up".

As a noun it means "shudder, awakening, uprising", with the implication of "a shaking off" -- referring to the process of shaking off sleep or shaking off the dust from one's feet. In the context of 37 years of Israeli military occupation (as of 2004), Intifada represents a 'shaking off' of the chains of occupation.

electronicintifada.net...

I was scratching my head as to why an Arabic word or a Palestinian website should trigger your reaction. I even envisioned a jack booted fascist asking, "Vas ist your name?" as a kind of fascistic inquisition to establish origin.

Then I realised why to a zionist anything Arabic or Palestinian is such a dirty thing to be readily dismissed. It is about discrediting a witness just like a guilty rape suspect would when confronted. He will attack and soil the name of the victim instead of proving innocence by providing an alibi, producing witness, allowing transparency and helping the investigation.

Arabs in Israel have equal voting rights; in fact, it is one of the few places in the Middle East where Arab women may vote. Arabs currently hold 8 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. Israeli Arabs have also held various government posts, including one who served as Israel's ambassador to Finland and the current deputy mayor of Tel Aviv. Oscar Abu Razaq was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Interior, the first Arab citizen to become chief executive of a key government ministry. Ariel Sharon's original cabinet included the first Arab minister, Salah Tarif, a Druze who served as a minister without portfolio. An Arab is also a Supreme Court justice.

No matter what someone has done civilians cannot take the law into their own hands.

reply to post by dizzylizzy

Arabs in Israel have equal voting rights; in fact, it is one of the few places in the Middle East where Arab women may vote. Arabs currently hold 8 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

Are you sure about what you are saying or are you just aping standard misinformation. Actually Israel is in direct control of millions of Palestinians. Can you say Palestinian? Yet none of them can vote let a lone return to their homes from refugee camps.



[edit on 083030p://pm3059 by masonwatcher]

reply to post by masonwatcher


Wrong (as usual).

Pointing out where this alleged information comes from is part of what we call DENY IGNORANCE . And when the information comes from a biased and unsubstantiated source it is important to point that out.

Considering that most people here won't know what the title of that source means ... I gladly provided the link to the source explaining the title.

Your attempt at deflection away from your biased source and onto my character (or what you want people to think my character is) .... pretty lame.

[edit on 6/14/2009 by FlyersFan]

Originally posted by masonwatcher
Are you sure about what you are saying or are you just aping standard misinformation. Actually Israel is in direct control of millions of Palestinians. Can you say Palestinian? Yet none of them can vote let a lone return to their homes from refugee camps.

Well, Israeli Arabs can vote (they have 8 MKs as an above poster mentioned).

Palestinians in Gaza voted for Hamas in 2006 and in the same year Palestinians in Judea/Samara voted for Fatah.

Seems like they have a vote to me (although I doubt the elections are free or fair given the rival factions' propensity to knee-cap, murder and torture their opponents). So what is it you want? Should Palestinians be allowed to vote in Israeli elections as well as Palestinian elections?