Published time: June 07, 2013 14:23
Mounting violence in the occupied territories between Israeli settlers and locals has forced the UN to consider compensating Palestinians who are driven off their land. Current Israeli law protects settlers, while depriving natives of their rights.
Rarely does a day pass without at least one report of violence
between Israeli settlers and Palestinians. The Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is believed to
be working on a plan to compensate Palestinians harmed by Israeli
settlers in the West Bank. The plan could help offset the
apparent bias in Israeli law concerning settlers and
Palestinians.
Israeli settlers have forced the government to enact the ‘Dromi
Law’ in the West Bank — Shai Dromi was an Israeli farmer who, in
an act of self-defense, shot and killed a trespasser and wounded
13 others. He was eventually acquitted of manslaughter. A law was
later named after him, one which supports the notion that any
actions taken against intruders are considered self-defense.
Now, the question of when Israeli settlers can and cannot legally
use a gun to protect themselves and their property are being
reconsidered: The Dromi Law has the potential to make pulling the
trigger an even more attractive option for settlers.
Many fear these tensions could even result in a Third Intifada,
especially since settlers have apparently been given the right to
shoot first and ask questions later.
In the West Bank, armed Israelis and Palestinians were never
equal before the law, but now even less so: “A settler and a
Palestinian living side-by-side who commit the same crime are put
through entirely different legal systems,” lawyer Emily
Schaeffer told RT.
Two decades ago, Israeli settler Jacob Taylor moved to the
disputed Hebron Hills from South Africa along with 74 members of
his family. Jacob claims that more than 600 of his pedigree sheep
have been stolen from his farm by Palestinians.
“I have got a rifle that the army supplies me with, but I
don’t go out and walk with a rifle, except at nighttime like when
they stole my sheep. I took the rifle and went out, but it’s for
self-protection,” Taylor told RT.
The Palestinians see things differently: “I was in the
mountains feeding my sheep in our land and the settlers attacked
me and hit me on my back,” Palestinian shepherd Hammed Ali
Shawahen said. “They did not just attack me, they attack
everybody every day, they attack people and trees and animals.
They are trying to take our lands but we will not let them.”
Under current Israeli law, Taylor’s case will be heard in civil
court, while Hammed’s must be heard in a military count. “The
Palestinian could be barred from seeing a lawyer up to 30 days.
The Palestinian could be held and interrogated for 8 days before
got to a judge, after which the detention could be extended over
and over again,” Schaeffer explained.
By comparison, an Israeli settler would be allowed to consult
with his lawyer immediately, and “would have to be brought
before a judge in order to continue interrogating him within 24
hours. And he would have all the sets of due process that we
don’t see in the military courts,” Schaeffer said.
The Israeli colonization of the West Bank has seen countless
incidents of violence over the years, and the settler population
has always been well-armed. With this new law enshrining
Palestinians’ inferior status in the legal system, the scales may
tip even further in favor of the Israeli settlers.
This article originally appeared on: RT