Posted on 04/11/2010 by reham alhelsi
On 08.10.2010, Al-Jazeera showed footage of an Israeli settler run over Palestinian children in Silwan in occupied Jerusalem. In the footage, the car is seen swerving towards the children, hit them and throw one over the windscreen.
The driver, recognized by the locals as Zionist colonist David Be’eri, drove off without stopping. Be’eri is a well-known leader of the settler organization Elad which plays a major role in the ethnic cleansing of Silwan.
After being held for questioning by the Israeli occupation police for a couple of hours, Be’eri was released on bail despite the horrific video that is to be seen all over the internet. 12 years old Omran Mansour, one of the Palestinian boys hit by the settler, had to be treated at hospital and was later kidnapped from his home by the Israeli occupation police and taken to a detention centre.
The Israeli police refused to let Mansour’s parents accompany him to the detention centre. He was released on 17.10.2010 on bail and is placed under house arrest.
After the video was released, comments followed from everywhere. Zionists were as usual defending the settler and blaming the victim, the little child, even after seeing that horrible scene of him flying in the air and hitting the ground after being hit. It truly amazes me how a human being can see such a video and still condemn the child, but it is Zionists we are talking about and their history has proven they know no humanity.
The Zionists justified the settler’s behaviour with him being “attacked by little kids throwing stones”. They are children for God’s sake! Children! And children of an occupied oppressed people, watching everyday how colonists drive through their neighbourhoods, steal their homes, kill their neighbours, speak openly of expelling them and their siblings and parents and you don’t want them to feel angry? You want them to welcome the fully armed settlers who are stealing their homes, stealing their land and who have made their lives and that of their families a living nightmare with flowers? And as usual, the Israeli TV tried to justify what the settler did by showing images of settlers whining after being hit by tiny stones. Funny how tiny stones are presented as weapons of mass destruction when they are used by unarmed Palestinians while no mention is ever made of the automatic machine guns that every settler owns and carries with them wherever they go, that decorate their cars and they readily use against Palestinian civilians whenever they feel like it!
Source: AFP
I also read comments of some Israeli “activists” who are okay with Palestinians standing still while the killing machinery of the Zionist entity, i.e. the IOF and the settler militias, kill them, and these same “activists” turn into raving dogs and call Palestinians “terrorists” when Palestinians practice their legitimate right to defend themselves, their families and their land. Many of these Israeli “activists” even considers “throwing stones” not “good”: “Yes, Palestinian friends, when the Israeli soldiers or the settler militias shoot at you, just stand still, don’t bend down to grab that tiny stone, it’s a lethal weapon and we don’t like “violence”, just stand still and welcome that bullet to show the world that you are “non-violent” and so we can continue supporting you because we don’t like supporting stone-throwing terrorists”. By the way, many of these so-called activists would easily use the word “terrorism” to describe Palestinian armed resistance, a legitimate right of every occupied and oppressed nation, but would never use it to describe the state-terrorism of the Zionist entity or that of its settler militias.
They just prefer us to stand still and wait for the Israeli humiliation, oppression and bullet. But I won’t be writing here about the hypocrisy of such so-called activists and their setting criteria and conditions to their support of Palestinian struggle for freedom. I will leave that for another time, for I have much to say on the topic. Anyway, these Israeli “activists” were defending the armed settler who was driving through Palestinian neighbourhoods on a Friday in what is clearly a provocation.
They said that he had his child with him and had to defend his child and they would have done the same. They added that it’s the Palestinian child’s fault for throwing stones, i.e. he got what he deserved. What twisted way of thinking is this? It is the settler to blame, and this for many reasons: for bringing his child, as old as the boy he ran over, to join him in a provocative drive through Palestinian neighbourhoods despite the tension in the area, for colonizing lands that don’t belong to him and stealing Palestinian homes, and for being part of the Zionist killing machine.
The situation had been tense in the area since years and increased after the murder of Samir Sarhan, a Palestinian father of 5, some weeks earlier by a Zionist settler. Everyone in occupied Palestine; Palestinians and Zionist occupiers know that the people in Jerusalem are angry and that the situation is about to explode and he, a settler leader known to all Jerusalemites for his role in the ethnic cleansing of their village, the expulsion of their families, the theft of their homes and lands, brings his boy and drives through Palestinian streets, homes and neighbourhoods on a Friday after prayer, and you want to convince me he was just driving through? And you want to convince me, were you in the shoes of these Palestinians, you would have welcomed him with flowers? Give me a break, so-called peace activists, and spare us your hypocrisy! Unfortunate for you, we are not as stupid or as naive as you wish us to be!
In addition to the comments of the Zionists and some of the Israeli so-called “peace activists”, I read comments of disgust and shock at the settler behaviour. Disgust is understandable, but why shock? How many times how we seen, heard or read of such Zio-Nazi behaviour? Often enough not to shock us anymore. “Shock follows the footage of a settler running over a Palestinian”. “Shock follows the footage of a settler running over Palestinian children”. “Shock follows ……” shock… shock… shock…. I suppose, Palestinians steadfast in occupied Palestine, are never shocked by any behaviour of the Zionist entity, because an entity that is built on ethnic cleansing and murder can only produce violence and horrors. And to me personally, as a Palestinian from occupied Palestine, the “shock” isn’t in the running over of little children in that most horrific way.
No, because from the Zionist colonists, terrorists par excellence, I expect everything that is inhumane, I expect what no human mind can imagine nor comprehend. To me, the “shock” lies rather in the number of times we have seen or heard of such “shocking incidents”, the number of times they have been caught on camera or on video, and yet the Zionist entity gets away with terrorism, ethnic cleansing, massacres and murder every single time. It would have been a shock were it the first time, the second time or even the third time that something like this happens, but when it happens for the Xth time, you are not shocked anymore, you are outraged at the world that keeps silent, that turns a blind eye whenever a new Zionist crime is committed. On second thoughts, yes, it is a shock that this happens often enough and nevertheless passes unpunished, but it is shocking only for a few minutes, and then comes a moment when you realize that we live in an inhumane world, a world where there is much talk of and little real action in solidarity and support of the occupied and the oppressed.
Iyad I'weisat executed after a car accident
But this is not an “isolated incident”, as the Zionist entity labels every recurring crime its colonists and army commit. It was only one of the very few caught on camera. And you would think, with such evidence, the Zionist entity would find no excuse to justify the barbaric way in which the colonist ran over a child, a child no less. Wrong: The unarmed Palestinian children “attacked” the armed militia leader. The armed settler who ran over the little boys was released, while at least two of the little boys, including the one severely hit by the car, were detained by the Israeli occupation police.
The Zionist entity is truly one of a kind: it excels in terrorism, war crimes and inhumanity. It wasn’t the first time Zionist settlers commit such atrocities and as long as Zionism occupies Palestine it unfortunately won’t be the last. Usually, such and similar regular settler attacks are labelled as “traffic accidents” by the Zionist army to protect it colonists. Such “traffic accidents” are deadly in occupied Palestine, but only for Palestinians. Whether the “traffic violator” is a Palestinian or an Israeli, it is always the Palestinian who gets to pay a dear price; often with their lives. The latest execution of Ziad Al-Julani is only one example: What started as a traffic accident ended with the execution of the father of 3. Other Palestinians were executed on the spot without questions after car accidents.
To name a few:
Iyad I’weisat, 20 years old, or Husam Dwayat, 30 years old, or Mir’i Radeideh, 26 years old. Alone, the sheer joy of murdering a Palestinian which we saw, caught on camera, on the faces of these killers should send them behind bars for ever. A 17 years old who had just bought a dozen new jeans and T-Shirts, a family father who wakes up early to go to his work, a young man on his way home from a hard day’s work: what gives the Zionists the right to judge that what happened was a “terrorist act” and not a mere traffic accident? Aren’t Palestinians allowed to make driving mistakes? Or are traffic mistakes only preserved for Zionists? How is it that a car that swerves and hits a WALL is considered a “terrorist act” because the driver is a Palestinian, but a car that deliberately hits a Palestinian teacher in broad daylight is a mere “traffic accident” because the driver is a Zionist settler?
How is it that when a car that swerves at a turn in the middle of the night after a rainy evening is not considered a traffic accident because the driver is a Palestinian, but a settler driving along a highway in the West Bank and hitting a Palestinian boy walking on the dirt road BESIDE the WIDE highway is considered a traffic accident and the settler is free to go home? How is it that wide roads with enough space for manoeuvres and avoiding hits (built on the destroyed fields of Palestinians and are wide for the comfort of Zionists) become suddenly very narrow when Zionist settlers kill Palestinians on them, while the narrow roads of occupied Jerusalem are not supposed to be reason enough for a traffic accident? – except of course when the driver is Israeli and the victim is a Palestinian.
Why are Palestinians who cause traffic accidents executed on the spot, their homes get demolished and their family members detained while Zionist settlers who run over Palestinian children and elderly deliberately, killing many of them, are free to roam our roads and kill more of us? But for the Zionist entity, every Palestinian is a “terrorist”, every Palestinian is to be killed on the spot without why and how. A “who” is enough: if it’s a Palestinian, then it’s a “terrorist act”, so shoot to kill, if it’s an Israeli, then it must be a traffic accident despite evidence of a deliberate hit. And after such “traffic accidents” Zionists are free to go and drive and run over more Palestinians, while Palestinians involved in real traffic accidents (often it was proved to be traffic accidents by eyewitnesses and experts brought by families to investigate the murder) are executed. As I said before; the Zionist entity is one of a kind: blame the victim and celebrate the killer.
One other example of these shocking “isolated incidents” that was caught on video took place on 26.11.2009 when a Zionist settler repeatedly ran over a wounded Palestinian. The Palestinian man was shot several times after an alleged knife attack at a gas station in Hebron. He staggered to the ground when a settler in a silver Mercedes ran him over, stopped, reversed and ran him over again. The man was transported to hospital in serious condition and underwent surgery.
At the time, the Israeli occupation army merely reported that a Palestinian was shot and wounded after he allegedly stabbed and lightly injured 2 settlers. No mention of the attempted murder of the Palestinian, which the Israeli occupation soldiers witnessed and did nothing to stop, was made. Only after the gruesome video appeared a week later did the “incident” become known.
The video shows several Israeli soldiers standing by as the man is run over again and again by a Zionist settler. The Palestinian man is seen screaming beneath the car. The Zionist driver is a settler from Kiryat Arba’, home to some of the most fanatic of all Zionist terrorists. The settler was sentenced to house arrest. Just watch the Israeli soldiers and the settlers walk around while the Palestinian man is under the car.
Another example of such “incidents” is that of Mohammad Al-Qunbar, a 14 year old boy from Ras Il-‘Amoud in occupied Jerusalem. On 12.03.2010 Mohammad was run over twice by an Israeli police car and sustained several injuries after which he was kidnapped by the policemen and beaten despite his injury. The Israeli occupation police rushed to claim that Mohammad was hit by an “Arab” car that escaped after the hit, but photos taken by Palestinian photojournalist Ata I’weisat proved otherwise.
Source: Ata I’weisat
The boy was taken to Al-Maskubiyyeh, despite his injury, and was left lying on the ground in a cell for a whole hour without medical help before his family was allowed to see him. Mohammad’s leg was broken in 3 different places and I’weisat, the photojournalist who took the photos, was summoned by the Israeli occupation police for interrogation. Later, the boy testified that an Israeli car came towards him and his friend, hit him the first time, turned and hit him a second time. Those inside the car came out, detained him and dragged him into the car where they started beating him while he was crying. He was threatened by the Israeli investigators in Al-Maskubiyyeh with prison in case he revealed what has been done to him.
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) one category of known and often used form of settler violence against Palestinians is running down Palestinians by cars.
These deliberate attacks are often labelled “traffic incidents” by the Zionist entity and the settlers are rarely prosecuted for them and if they are, the sentences are very lenient (I couldn’t find one single incident in which the settler who ran over a Palestinian killing him was sentenced to prison). Palestinians on the other hand are often executed on the spot after traffic accidents. Following is a list of some of these “traffic accidents”. If these are all “traffic accidents”, how come settlers hitting and killing/injuring Palestinians are set free? If it ever happened and a settler hit and killed/injured another settler, would he be set free? If these are all “traffic accidents”, how come a Palestinian hitting and killing/injuring a settler is either shot dead on the spot or detained? We all know the answer.
Partial List of Zionist settler car attacks on Palestinians
1997
Sameh Ayesh Al-Aimawi (27 yrs) from Qarara, was injured on 12.06.1997 when a Zionist settler hit him with his car.
1988
Hani Salah Abu Hajaj (18 yrs) from Khan Younis, Gaza, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 01.05.1998
Lina Abu Arram (5 yrs) from Yatta, Hebron, was killed when a Zionist settler ran her over on 20.10.1998
1999
Mohammad Ali Al-Baddarin (12 yrs) from As-Samou’, Hebron, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 27.2.1999
On 10.05.1999 Hamoud Salim Abu Holi (19 yrs) from Gaza, was hit by a Zionist settler car and suffered multiple broken bones.
On 15.05.1999 Ahmad Majid Mohammad, from Khan Younis, was hit by a Zionist settler car and suffered multiple broken bones.
On 10.10.199 Othman Ahmad El-Abdallah (70 yrs), Abdel Hamid El-Abdallah (51 yrs), Faris El-Abadlef (19 yrs) and Mohannad El-Aqad (15 yrs) were injured after being hit by a Zionist settler car.
2000
Mohammad ‘Udwan (39 yrs) from Kufl Harith, Nablus, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 11.10.2000
Mohammad Ghassan Buziyyeh (49 yrs) from Salfit, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 11.10.2000
Ahmad Amin Abdel Min’im Al-Khuffash (7 yrs) from Salfit, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 07.11.2000
Mohammad Abdallah Diriyyeh (70 yrs) from Nablus, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 08.11.2000
Shadi Ahmad Zaghloul (14 yrs) from Husan, Bethlehem, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 30.11.2000
Mahmoud Mustafa El-Aqra’ (7 yrs) from Habla, Qalqilya, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 15.05.2000
Mohammad Mustafa El-Aqra’ (6 yrs) from Habla, Qalqilya, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 15.05.2000
On 07.09.2000, Saleh Khalil El-Amoudi (13 yrs) from Khan Younis, Gaza, was run over by a Zionist settler. He suffered injuries in the head, the back and the right hand and went into a coma for two days.
2001
Ahmad Mahmoud Mohammad Ash-Sheikh (70 yrs) from Nablus, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 18.06.2001
Fatima I’layan Abu Farwa (71 yrs) from Qalqilya, was killed when a Zionist settler ran her over on 19.06.2001
Ibrahim Mousa Yousif Hanani Ghalmi (80 yrs) from Beit Fourik, Nablus, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 28.11.2001
20002
Ata Mahmoud Ibrahim Nimir (68 yrs) from Al-Jib, Jerusalem, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 29.07.2002
Jihad Mousa Mohammad Al-‘Athra (6 yrs) from Yatta, Hebron, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 26.08.2002
2003
Khleif Abdil Rahman Khleif (85 yrs) from Azzoun, Qalqilya, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 02.01.2003
Hamdan Mahmoud Hindi Al-‘Arramin (81 yrs) from Si’ir, Hebron, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 14.11.2003
2007
PCHR documented 100 attacks by Zionist settlers, 2% of which were running down by cars.
Mohammad Nasim Salim Abu Yacoub (14 yrs) from Kufl Haris, Salfit, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 17.09.2007 (Israeli police investigation showed that the settler “did not attempt to avoid the boy or use the brakes”)
Kamal Mohammad Hamed Abdel Qadir (40 yrs) from Tulkarim, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 21.10.2007
Wasfi Al-Khatib (27 yrs) from Qibya, Ramallah, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 29.12.2007
2008
PCHR documented 170 attacks by Zionist settlers, 5 of which were running down by cars.
Sharif Bajjas Farid Shtayyeh (15 yrs) from Salim, Nablus, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over on 07.04.2008
2009
PCHR documented 233 attacks by Zionist settlers, 6 of which were carried out with cars
On 18.02.2009 Islam Adli Al-Ja’bari (8 yrs) from Hebron, was struck by a Zionist settler car and was moderately injured by the settler who fled the scene. Eyewitnesses reported that just prior to the settler running over the child, a group of settlers from Kiryat Arba’ was present and was attacking Palestinian residents.
On 20.04.2009 Mohammad Ibrahim Sheikh Ali (27 yrs) from Shu’fat, Jerusalem, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over. Israeli occupation police dismissed the murder saying it was “an ordinary traffic accident.”
On 20.11.2009 a Zionist settler ran over Kifaya Najjar (9 yrs) from Nablus, causing her various injuries.
2010
On 01.03.2010, Dalal Abu Sa’da (6 yrs) from Beit Dajan, Nablus, was hit by an Israeli military jeep and sustained moderate to serious injuries. Israeli army said it was a “car accident”.
On 02.04.2010, Summar Saif Radwan (21 yrs) from Nablus, was killed when a Zionist settler ran her over. This alleged “traffic accident” took place amidst a series of violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians as part of the “price tag policy”. Reports said that settlers often shut down that particular road and attack Palestinians.
On 29.04.2010 Jannah Foqaha (8 yrs) and Masa Foqaha (10 yrs) from the Palestinian Ghor area, were killed when an Israeli military jeep hit the tractor they were riding. Their father and brother were injured. As usual, Israeli occupation police termed the killing “an unfortunate accident”. Again, prior to the “unfortunate accident”, residents and international activists reported that the soldiers involved in the killing had just intervened in a confrontation between locals and settlers. “Locals told the regional popular committee that the incident was an “act of wilful killing by the occupation forces,” reporting that the tractor was in fact 15 meters away from the highway where the Israeli military vehicle was driving.”(1)
On 30.05.2010, Fatima I’layyan Sabarnah (55 yrs) from Beit Ummar, Hebron, was killed and her husband injured when a Zionist settler ran them over.
On 02.06.2010,Mazen Al-Jamal (48 yrs) from Hebron, was killed when a Zionist settler ran him over.
On 14.06.2010, Yousif As-Sa’id (10 yrs) from Hebron, was run over by a settler and sustained injuries.
On 11.07.2010, Mahmoud Judah Sbeih (85 yrs) from Al-Khadir, Bethlehem, was hit by a Zionist settler car.
On 18.07.2010, Abdallah Al-Mohtasib (11 yrs) from Hebron was run over by a Zionist settler and sustained injuries.
On 19.07.2010, Mustapha Daraghmeh, from Jenin, was run over by a Zionist settler and sustained injuries.
On 04.09.2010, Zionist settler crashed into a tractor carrying a Palestinian family on their way to their vineyards in Al-Khadir, Bethlehem. 7 members of the family were injured, including one in serious condition. Among those injured were 2 women and 3 children. Eyewitnesses and some of the injured testified that the Zionist settler was driving at high speed and they “were shocked at the speed the car was travelling at, accusing the driver of either deliberately attempting to crash into them or having lost consciousness behind the wheel.”(2) The settler was not injured.
On 30.09.2010, Mahmoud Muhammad Al-Haj Jum’a (32 yrs) from Qalqilya, was run over by a settler while standing near the road. Jum’a said that the car swerved towards him and hit him.
On 03.10.2010, Samir Abu Mariya from Beit Ummar was struck by a settler car and sustained injuries.
On 19.10.2010, Ra’fat Ibrahim Suleiman (25 yrs) from Taqu’, Bethlehem, was run over by a Zionist settler and sustained injuries.
On 19.10.2010, Imad Ahmad (26 yrs) from Al-Khadir, Bethlehem, was injured after his tractor was hit by a Zionist settler.
Footnotes:(1) www.tinyurl.com/2utrazy
(2) www.zajel.org/article_view.asp?newsID=11298
Sources:
http://www.pchrgaza.org/
http://www.imemc.org/
Uprooted Palestinian
No comments:
Post a Comment