Israel-Palestine: ‘Under Attack’: the Golani Brigade’s treatment of Palestinians in Al-Khalil/Hebron

[Elvis]

This is a new report put out by the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in Hebron. CPT is a non-violent solidarity activist group. They send teams to various countries (that are listed on their website) and assist the local human rights NGOs in their work. In this case, they assist B'Stelem and ISM.

Brief description:

CPT places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations and militarized areas around the world at the invitation of local peace and human rights workers. CPT embraces the vision of unarmed intervention waged by committed peacemakers ready to risk injury and death in bold attempts to transform lethal conflict through the nonviolent power of God’s truth and love.

The report covers Jan. 2012 to some of Feb. 2012 AFAIK.

Intro:

Since the arrival of the Golani Brigade in Hebron on December 27th, international accompaniment organizations (Christian Peacemaker Teams, International Solidarity Movement, and others) have documented an increase in the number of serious human rights violations against the Palestinian people, particularly youth and children in the Old City and Tel Rumeida.

All recorded incidences have been documented through first-hand observation and/or the victims’ testimony. The following report demonstrates a sharp increase in harassment, violence, and human rights violations by the Israeli military towards the Palestinian population of Hebron. Contrary to given justifications, none of those involved were observed to voice or pose any threat to the soldiers. As the Golani Brigade is expected to remain in Hebron another two to five months, members of these international observer organizations fear that such abuses will escalate and make life unbearable for the Palestinians living under occupation in Hebron.

Excerpts:

Saturday, January 21st: Eight Golani soldiers invaded the offices of the Youth Against Settlements organization in Tel Rumeida. They arrested a human rights defender, who is also the leader of the organization. The soldiers blindfolded him, bound his hands, put him against the wall, and hit him twice in the stomach.

Later they took him to the military base where they held a gun to his head and told him, “You are not safe here and next time we will shoot and kill you.”

Afterwards, they marched him through Beit Hadassah, allowing settlers to kick and spit on him, while chanting, “Each Arab dog will have his day.” The soldiers then took him back to an abandoned house where they released him.

About Youth Against Settlements.

This is the leader of the organization, Issa Amro, being arrested/blind-folded for no apparent reason.



He was released without charge.

Background info on Amro:

Spoiler: show

In 2008, DemocracyNow! featured an interview w/ Amro and B'Tselem worker, Mich'ael Zupraner, on the then-riots in Hebron in the aftermath of an Israeli High Court ruling that said that 250 settlers must be evacuated from a Palestinian home (that they were occupying on for a year).

The riots prompted then-Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, to condemn the actions of the settlers as a 'pogrom' against 'innocent Palestinians.'

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday called arson and shooting attacks by settlers against Palestinians in Hebron last week a "pogrom" and said that "as a Jew, I am ashamed that Jews could do such a thing." The violence followed Thursday's eviction of settlers from the city's four story apartment building known as Beit Hashalom.

"Immediately after the eviction, there were acts that cannot be described other than as an attempted pogrom by Jews from the Hebron area, and other areas, against Palestinian residents in Judea and Samaria," Olmert said at the start of Sunday's cabinet meeting. "I say this after much thought," he continued. "I formulate these words with the greatest care that I can. We are the children of a people whose historic ethos is built on the memory of pogroms. The sight of Jews firing at innocent Palestinians has no other name than pogrom. Even when Jews do this, it is a pogrom."

Source: Olmert calls settler violence a 'pogrom' - The Jerusalem Post

I remember these events as they were happening 3+ years ago, and I saved this video.

Jamal Abu-Sa'ifan, a Palestinian resident of Hebron, films a settler shooting two members of his family. The event occurs following the erection of a new settlement in Hebron.

Settlers attacked the nearby house of the Abu-Se'ifan family, and during ensuing clashes, a settler fired his handgun at Hosni Abu-Se'ifan (40), who was hit in the chest and is in stable condition, and his father, 'Abd al-Hai Abu-Sa'ifan (65) who was moderately wounded in his arm.

The video shows other members of the family manage to overcome the shooter, then a security guard from the nearby settlement Kiryat Arba arrives and the scene, and fires his weapon in the air.

Excerpt:

Sunday, January 15th: Six Golani soldiers entered a home in Tel Rumeida at 12 a.m., forcing the father outside in the cold, while pointing the gun at his head. They then forced the seven other family members, including three children, into one room. The soldiers searched the house for about an hour. Before leaving the Golani told the family, “Next time, look behind you. We will kick you out from the house, and we will take it.”

Two nights later on Tuesday, January 17th, around 1 a.m., eight Golani soldiers shot three sound bombs at the outside walls of the same house.

Sunday, January 15th: In the early morning, Golani soldiers sat in a jeep and watched as settlers torched a Palestinian family’s car, parked in a lot behind Tel Rumeida near the family’s home. Neighbors witnessed the vandalism from their apartment building, situated uphill from the parking area about 100 yards away and with a clear view of the lot. They report that soldiers did nothing to intervene or prevent the settlers from completely destroying the car.

Excerpts:

Thursday, January 12th: In the morning, soldiers dragged a developmentally disabled young man into an alley and hit him repeatedly after he knocked on the mechanized Qitoun checkpoint door, which they kept closing in front of him to tease him. When his father ran to the alley to help him, the soldiers stopped and released the boy.

That same evening, the Golani soldiers entered the family home next to the checkpoint, attacked his mother and beat the boy with nightsticks and fists. The boy’s brother, hearing a noise, came downstairs, where he was grabbed and beaten in the same way.

The soldiers then threw him to the ground, searched him and beat his head with rifles. Both boys were brought to the police station where they held were for an hour and a half.

They then released the developmentally disabled young man to his home and transported his brother to Jabara prison, from which he was released later that night. His family took him to the hospital to receive care for a cracked skull, sutures, and care for his hands, which he could not move.

[Lucavi]

Here's a question. Do Israeli's count as white people? The average white Christian is obsessed with the "master race" Israeli because their name shows up in the bible, and the average white Christian will essentially bend over and take whatever Israel is giving out, and I simply cannot imagine white people doing all of this for a non-white race.

Can somebody help me out here?

[BaneTheBrawler]

Here's a question. Do Israeli's count as white people? The average white Christian is obsessed with the "master race" Israeli because their name shows up in the bible, and the average white Christian will essentially bend over and take whatever Israel is giving out, and I simply cannot imagine white people doing all of this for a non-white race.

Can somebody help me out here?

lol wat

[Dimmauk]

lol wat

I think yeah. Jews are pretty much considered Anglo-Saxon?

[Lucavi]

Thank you, Dimmauk. I was gonna say, I simply can't imagine White Christians bowing down to any non-white race, even if the bible did trump up that race to be superior (or something).

[solanis]

...we're not anglo-saxon lol

[Pirian]

...we're not anglo-saxon lol

Yeah, whoever said that doesn't know Jew

[solanis]

Yeah, whoever said that doesn't know Jew

[Dimmauk]

Maybe not be Anglo-Saxon, but Jews are considered Caucasian.

[Dimmauk]

Wait, I should say most American jews.

[solanis]

[BaneTheBrawler]

Here's a question. Do Israeli's count as white people? The average white Christian is obsessed with the "master race" Israeli because their name shows up in the bible, and the average white Christian will essentially bend over and take whatever Israel is giving out, and I simply cannot imagine white people doing all of this for a non-white race.

Can somebody help me out here?

is what i was referring to. just... wat.

[Elvis]

is what i was referring to. just... wat.

The point I think Lucavi was getting at - in spite of his broad generalization - was to differentiate attitudes toward the conflict based on religion and race. In 2005, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life conducted a poll on the attitudes of American evangelical Protestants toward the conflict.

They explained the importance of the poll, saying:

This group is important both because it constitutes a large share of the American population - about 26% - and because it provided President George W. Bush with 40% of his total votes in the 2004 presidential election.

It's still relevant past/present/future so let's look at the data.

In June-July 2003, the Forum and the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press conducted a joint nationwide survey of Americans' views on religion, politics, and public policy. Concerning Israel, people were asked...

• whether they sympathized more with Israel or the Palestinians in their longstanding dispute;
  
• whether religious beliefs or other factors had the biggest influence on their thinking on this issue;
  
• whether they believed God gave the land that is now Israel to the Jewish people;
  
• whether they believed the state of Israel fulfills the biblical prophecy about Jesus' second coming.

Summary of the results:

Compared to other Americans, the survey found that white evangelical Protestants were...

• significantly more sympathetic to Israel than to the Palestinians - 55% sympathized more with Israel, only 6% with the Palestinians (versus 41% and 13%, respectively, of all those surveyed).
  
• significantly more likely to say that religious beliefs were the single biggest influence in leading them to sympathize more with Israel - 46% versus 26% of all those surveyed.
  
• significantly more likely to believe that God gave the land of Israel to the Jews - 72% versus 44% of all those surveyed.
  
• significantly more likely to believe that Israel fulfills the biblical prophecy about Jesus' second coming - 63% versus 36% of all those surveyed.

http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedimag...ngelicals2.gif

http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedimag...ngelicals1.gif

Link the the entire survey:

American Evangelicals and Israel
Public Opinion on Religion and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

[Elvis]

Whoops, the first poll was carried out in 2003 and the 'report' was put out in 2005, comparing one survey of Evangelical Christians to a nationwide poll on attitudes toward the Israel-Palestine conflict. There were different questions asked in each poll.

The 2004 nationwide survey:

More recently, in March-May 2004, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life sponsored a nationwide survey in which people were asked: "Should the U.S. support Israel over the Palestinians?" Unlike the questions in the 2003 survey, this one specifically asked Americans what they think about U.S. policy towards Israel and the Palestinians. The complete results are provided in the table below.

• As the table indicates, Americans overall were fairly evenly divided as to whether the U.S. should support Israel over the Palestinians: 35% agreed, while 38% disagreed, with 27% expressing no opinion.
  
• If anything, slightly more Americans believe that the U.S. should not support Israel over the Palestinians than believe that it should.
  
• As one would expect from the 2003 survey results, the picture is dramatically different for white evangelical Protestants. Overall, more than twice as many white evangelicals agreed that the U.S. should support Israel over the Palestinians than disagreed: 52% agreed, while 25% disagreed, with 23% expressing no opinion.
  
• The survey also found that "traditionalist" evangelicals - who are characterized by a high level of orthodox belief and a high level of church attendance, and who are the largest subgroup of evangelicals - are even more likely to agree that U.S. policy should tilt towards Israel: 64% agreed, while 18% disagreed, with 18% expressing no opinion. (According to a post-election analysis sponsored by the Pew Forum, "traditionalist" evangelicals provided Bush with 27% of his vote total in 2004.)
  
• Pew Forum-sponsored surveys show that, between 2000 and 2004, evangelicals showed the greatest increase in support for Israel of any religious group: up 14% since 2000, to 52%.
  
• The survey found that white evangelicals are virtually the mirror opposite of "secular" Americans in their attitudes towards Israel: only 23% of seculars agree that the U.S. should support Israel over the Palestinians, while 51% disagree, with 26% expressing no opinion.

http://www.pewforum.org/uploadedimag...ngelicals3.gif

Same source.

[Lucavi]

is what i was referring to. just... wat.

Read a book, or watch the news. Israel gets away with anything it wants to, because of the Bible. White people love the Bible, and the Bible essentially proclaims that Israel is the master race; the race that will lead the world during Revelations. As long as those in power (White Christians - don't delude yourself into thinking that any other race has any sort of real power) are bound to the Bible, Israel will get a free pass in regards to whatever policy they enact, even if those policies involve the persecution and oppression of other nations (IE: Palestine). Of course, it doesn't help that Palestine is everyone's favorite nation to hate since they were the "bad guys" in the Bible.

Yes, there are sweeping generalizations in this post, but the core of the post rings true. Obviously not everyone supports the bible; obviously not every white person is religious, much less christian, and yes, not every christian is a blind zealot towards the chosen ones, but on the whole, the statements ring true, no matter how senseless they may be in this day and age.

Edit: Thank you, Elvis, for providing statistics.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Oh man, the generalizations, they are enormous. Setting aside your extreme hyperbole,

Bible essentially proclaims that Israel is the master race; the race that will lead the world during Revelations.

Most biblical scholars agree that in that context, the "nation of Israel" is not actually a nation, but merely a way of saying "All believers." Makes no sense, otherwise. Why would Jews, people who have chosen not to accept Christ as their messiah, be the chosen people of Christianity?

I find it amusing that someone who is ranting about Bible thumpers taking the Bible literally... is taking the Bible literally. And Revelations, no less. That book is convoluted and weird.

Also, when you say "Yes, there are sweeping generalizations in this post, but the core of the post rings true" you're essentially saying "I know I'm exaggerating but I'm still right about it somehow" which makes even less sense than Jews leading Christians into Kingdom Come. It also doesn't make your exaggerations any more acceptable in a rational argument conducted entirely in text where sarcasm is difficult to detect. Unless you're trolling. Then it's perfect.

[Lucavi]

Biblical scholars =/= the average idiot that takes anything their local pastor says at face value. I'm not taking anything at face value; I'm asking the question of why so many in the U.S., including its Christian Leaders, constantly allows Israel to get away with anything and everything they want to do on the global scene? You want to provide examples of the U.S. not supporting Israel in any modern setting?

[Elvis]

Oh man, the generalizations, they are enormous. Setting aside your extreme hyperbole,

Most biblical scholars agree that in that context, the "nation of Israel" is not actually a nation, but merely a way of saying "All believers." Makes no sense, otherwise. Why would Jews, people who have chosen not to accept Christ as their messiah, be the chosen people of Christianity?

I find it amusing that someone who is ranting about Bible thumpers taking the Bible literally... is taking the Bible literally. And Revelations, no less. That book is convoluted and weird.

Also, when you say "Yes, there are sweeping generalizations in this post, but the core of the post rings true" you're essentially saying "I know I'm exaggerating but I'm still right about it somehow" which makes even less sense than Jews leading Christians into Kingdom Come. It also doesn't make your exaggerations any more acceptable in a rational argument conducted entirely in text where sarcasm is difficult to detect. Unless you're trolling. Then it's perfect.

He should have clarified it to, 'within the Evangelical movement'. Then it wouldn't be sensationalist.

The survey also demonstrates that there is a substantial demographic within the Evangelical movement that takes the Bible literally on the second coming. (Anyone here know anything about Christianity and can explain?)

It doesn't make sense but this is about politics too. The Zionist movement in this country has no problem taking money from CUFI (Christians United for Israel). The evangelicals are their strongest supporters (outside of American Jewry).

[BaneTheBrawler]

I'm asking the question of why so many in the U.S., including its Christian Leaders, constantly allows Israel to get away with anything and everything they want to do on the global scene?

I'm not disputing that, although I would guess it probably has something to do with the common religious heritage, along with similar basic ideals... with a healthy dose of "Aww, Holocaust." What I'm saying is: your massive generalizations are stupid and make you look stupid.

Also, what do you think local pastors base their sermons on? Concepts that have been drawn from the Bible by, say, Biblical scholars of their particular sect? Sure, I will grant that a small portion may just make shit up as they go, but then we're dealing with one of your stupid generalizations. You see, the thing about organized religion is that it's organized. There's even a name for people who make shit up, or otherwise disagree with accepted doctrine: Heretics.

You proclaim that you don't take anything at face value, then make wild claims that you expect us to take at face value. Ridiculous.

[Elvis]

Oldie but a goodie.

Max Blumenthal's latest takes us on a shocking and at times bizarre tour of right-wing Pastor John Hagee's annual Washington-Israel Summit, blowing the cover off the Christian Zionist movement in the process. Starring Joe Lieberman, Tom DeLay, Pastor John Hagee, Ambassador Dore Gold and a host of rapture-ready evangelicals praying for Armaggedon.