Illegal Jewish settlers in Hebron shoot Palestinian men

[spartan]

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has released graphic video footage showing settlers fighting with Palestinians in Hebron and shooting two men at close range in the hours after a settler house was evacuated by police yesterday.

The film, recorded by a Palestinian resident in Hebron, shows settlers attacking his house, which was in a valley close to the three-storey building where dozens of settlers were evicted by Israeli riot police. In the hours after the eviction, Jewish settlers rioted in Hebron, throwing stones at police and Palestinians and setting fire to Palestinian trees and attacking Palestinian homes. Most of the violence took place between the evicted house and the nearby hardline Jewish settlement of Kirya Arba.

The footage shows a settler firing a handgun and injuring two Palestinians, Hosni Abu Se'ifan, 40, who was hit in the chest and is now in a stable condition in hospital, and his father, Abd al-Hai Abu Se'ifan, 65, who was hurt in the arm. Others from the family then overpower the gunman until armed Israeli security guards from the Kiryat Arba settlement arrive and shoot several rounds over the heads of the Palestinians. The Abu Se'ifan family have frequently been targeted by settlers in the past.

B'Tselem handed the video to Israeli police in Hebron last night and was "demanding that the assailant is immediately brought to justice and that the involvement of the security guard be investigated".

"Additionally, the security forces must investigate the failures that allowed settlers to riot throughout the afternoon and evening in Hebron's Palestinian neighbourhoods," the rights group said.

Since early last year B'Tselem has given out more than 100 small video cameras to Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank to allow them to record human rights abuses, and particularly the increasingly violent clashes with settlers. The group says the video recordings encourage accountability and are frequently used as evidence to bring cases against soldiers and settlers who break the law.

There are around 470,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and their numbers are increasing every year, even though all settlements in the occupied territories are illegal under international law.

The settlers at the Hebron house claimed they had bought the building legally nearly two years ago from a Palestinian and said they had documents and videotape as proof. However, the Palestinian has since denied selling the building to the settlers and last month the Israeli supreme court said the house should be evacuated until the ownership dispute was settled. The 15 settler families were joined by dozens of supporters ahead of the eviction and the house quickly became their latest symbol of defiance against the Israeli government.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/05/hebron-settlers-shooting-israel-palestinians

Here is a link to the video showing the incident:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/dec/05/hebron-settlers-shooting-israel-palestinians

[Yehuda Stern]

As I generally avoid starting threads in these forums, I forgot to report a lot of these things happening in Israel, though I probably should. Anyway, we're producing a leaflet on this that will be translated to English in a few days.

[Dean]

As I generally avoid starting threads in these forums, I forgot to report a lot of these things happening in Israel, though I probably should. Anyway, we're producing a leaflet on this that will be translated to English in a few days.

I'd be interested in reading that. I know that the "freedom house" has been a point of contention for awhile (I remember at least 2 stories on this in the last year besides this one). But I haven't found any discussion of the "evidence of ownership" the settlers claim. Do you know anything about that?

Thanks.

[Yehuda Stern]

The settlers are bullshitting. The only thing that gives them any ownership of anything in Al-Khalil (Hebron) is the authority of the Zionist occupier, which to any revolutionary or even democrat worthy of the name means absolutely nothing. Most Palestinian peasants can prove their ownership of the land dating back to the times of the Ottoman Empire.

[Yehuda Stern]

Trying, and mostly succeeding, with the kind help of the Zionist state.

[benhur]

Many people say Palestinians lived there for a long time. But isn't it true that Jews also lived in the same area, during Roman rule? That would mean the land belongs to both, but I always find leftists saying the land belongs exclusively to the Palestinians. Why? Isn't that a bias against the Jewish people, who've been living there for many centuries?

Moreover, there's rampant anti-Semitism in both west/islamic societies. So isn't it good for the Jews to have a land to call it their own? Please don't think of this as some kind of zionist view, I am just wondering how else the problem can be solved if we keep saying Jews don't belong there. Where else could they go?

[Dean]

Many people say Palestinians lived there for a long time. But isn't it true that Jews also lived in the same area, during Roman rule? That would mean the land belongs to both, but I always find leftists saying the land belongs exclusively to the Palestinians. Why? Isn't that a bias against the Jewish people, who've been living there for many centuries?

Moreover, there's rampant anti-Semitism in both west/islamic societies. So isn't it good for the Jews to have a land to call it their own? Please don't think of this as some kind of zionist view, I am just wondering how else the problem can be solved if we keep saying Jews don't belong there. Where else could they go?

The Jews belong there as much as anyone else. Just not in the specific houses and land that they have taken by expulsion and murder. It would be just as ridiculous to say that an Irqi family deserved to take my home just because they had been expelled and oppressed by U.S. forces. The difference, of course, is that the Palestinians had nothing to do with the Pograms.

[Yehuda Stern]

isn't it true that Jews also lived in the same area, during Roman rule? That would mean the land belongs to both, but I always find leftists saying the land belongs exclusively to the Palestinians. Why? Isn't that a bias against the Jewish people, who've been living there for many centuries?

We must make a difference between Jews who came as part of the Zionist movement and Jews who lived in Palestine before Zionist colonization. I think even Palestinian nationalists would agree that the latter are as Palestinian as any Palestinian Muslim. The difference stems not from religion but from the colonialist nature of the Zionist movement as opposed to the nature of the native population.

BTW, I would argue that any Jew who is willing to let a Palestinian state (which today can only be a workers' state) exist peacefully has the right to stay in this land, let alone those who join the revolution.


there's rampant anti-Semitism in both west/islamic societies. So isn't it good for the Jews to have a land to call it their own?

Due to the nature of Zionist colonialism, we would oppose giving the right for territory to the Jews in Palestine. However, Trotsky certainly allowed the possibility of setting up a Jewish national state after the revolution - just not as part of the imperialist order, and not at the expense of another people.


The Jews belong there as much as anyone else.

No, they do not, and I say this as a Jew. The land belongs first and foremost to the Palestinian people, including the Palestinian Jews. The descendants of the Zionists have the right to live here only if they recognize this fact.