Israel turning blind eye to settler violence: NGO
Thousands bury 3 Palestinians shot by Israeli troops
JERUSALEM, Nov 27, (Agencies): Israel is failing to penalise Jewish settlers for attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank who enjoy “virtual impunity” from prosecution, Ramallah-based rights group Al-Haq said on Wednesday.
In a 40-page report, Al-Haq also called on the international community to avoid funding settler groups, a day after Israel and the European Union reached a compromise deal over funding for bodies operating in the occupied West Bank or east Jerusalem.
Settlers carrying out attacks, which involve the use of “live ammunition” and “the destruction and denial of access to property” have been left unpunished by the Israeli authorities, Al-Haq charged.
“Settlers involved in the planning and perpetration of such acts have remained largely immune from the enforcement of the law and, in some cases, have even benefited from official support from state authorities,” it said.
“Israeli settlers enjoy virtual impunity for crimes against Palestinians, and benefit from the protection of Israeli domestic laws.”
The report was referring specifically to so-called “price tag” attacks, a euphemism for hate crimes by Jewish extremists which often involve vandalism and in some cases physical injury.
Such attacks initially targeted Palestinians in retaliation for state moves to dismantle unauthorised settlement outposts but later became a standard response following any anti-Israeli violence.
Price tag attacks “facilitate the transfer of Palestinians off their land to make way for the construction of settlements,” Al-Haq said.
The report also called on the international community not to fund any organisations or individuals associated with Israeli settlements.
And it urged the EU to avoid “lending recognition, aid or assistance to Israeli state and private actors operating in or benefiting (from) settlements,” and to ensure “that public and private entities and individuals are not lending support to set- tler groups.”
Meanwhile, thousands of mourners attended the funerals Wednesday of three suspected Palestinian militants who were killed in an Israeli army raid in the West Bank the day before.
The three were jihadi Salafis, or followers of a violent stream of puritanical Islam, and had planned attacks on Israelis and on the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian selfrule government in the West Bank, said Lt Col Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman.