Friday, August 20, 2010

Here's Comes The Violence

My Right Word

Gee, I haven't received an invitation...yet.

(Kippah Tip: Here)


When Settlers Attack

Where:
The Palestine Center
2425 Virginia Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20037
202.338.1290
202.333.7742 (fax)
info@thejerusalemfund.org

When:
Sep 15 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm

"When Settlers Attack: Understanding Settler Violence
against Palestine's Civilians"

with

Mr. Yousef Munayyer
Executive Director, The Palestine Center

Wednesday, 15 September 2010
12:30 – 2:00 p.m.
The Palestine Center


The Palestine Center presents an analysis of settler violence in the West Bank. We ask what type of violence occurs, who is most vulnerable and most targeted, where the violence is concentrated and what motivates it. We will present the results of an analysis spanning over 1000 events of settler violence, as well as trends in the violence over time, to better understand how these attacks affect Palestinians.



What's the ideological background to this?

Here:

It is easy to say that settler violence is a result of Israeli occupation and it's illegal settlements. That's because it is. But settler violence against Palestinian civilians is a daily event in the occupied West Bank and it deserves more acute attention.

Many Palestinians have had their lives affected by settler violence. More often than not, the victims are the most vulnerable in society...Many Palestinian civilians have been attacked by militant Israeli settlers and these attacks are on the rise. The Palestine Center initiated a research project to understand patterns of settler violence and we have coded over 1000 incidents of settler violence from January 2009 until today that will be part of an analysis presented here at the Center on September 15th.

Settler violence is varied, sometimes we see personal attacks, sometimes we see attacks on property like the uprooting of trees or arson. But the truly under-reported aspect of settler violence is the frequency with which it takes place. We hear about every single one of the rockets that come out of Gaza but rarely do we hear about the regular occurrences of settler violence in the West Bank. Statistically speaking, attacks take place every day.

I will be the last to pooh-pooh the problem.

And I will not take the very easy and correct way out: 95% of this "violence" done by "militants" is either a direct reaction to or and result of Arab violence done to person and property of Jews.

I will condemn, again, the so-called "price-tag" policy. It is immoral, criminal, wrong and counterproductive, in that order. I have tried to stem its spread.

But if the purpose of the above deliberation is overarching against the entire Jewish population of Judea and Samaria - Munayyer's research is in political repression and ethnic cleansing and he insists that there exists "an infrastructure of apartheid"-, I would suggest that those who live in glass houses not be too quick to throw stones. The Arab population has a long way to go to reach a proper level of behavior and attitude.

This conference might be verbal violence galore.

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