UN Report: Settler Violence Increased by 40% in 2011

The United Nations Office for Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) in the Palestinian territories published a report on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank which non-surprisingly, reveals a drastic rise of 40% in Palestinian casualties and property damage in 2011 compared with 2010.

The report covers not only physical harm to Palestinians, but also property damage, which can often be just as bad or worse than physical harm, as the impact of uprooted olive trees, damaged tractors or murdered sheep on Palestinian livelihood can be so grave that it ultimately costs lives.

"Violence by "Israeli" settlers undermines the physical security and livelihoods of Palestinians living under "Israel's" prolonged military occupation. This violence includes physical assaults, harassment, takeover of and damage to private property, obstructed access to grazing and agricultural land, and attacks on livestock and agricultural land, among others," the report read.

The report also shows how such violent behavior leads to the displacement of Palestinian communities such as gradual cleansing and land grab, as these Palestinians are forced to leave their homes and move towards larger urban areas of the West Bank.

According to the UN report, the root cause of the settler violence phenomenon is "Israel's" decades-long policy of illegally facilitating the settling of its citizens inside occupied Palestinian territory.

"This activity has resulted in the progressive takeover of Palestinian land,
resources and transportation routes and has created two separate systems of rights and privileges, favoring "Israeli" citizens at the expense of the over 2.5 million Palestinian residents of the West Bank, the report further explained highlighting the racist practice of the "Israeli" entity against Palestinians.

Not only that, but also recent official efforts to retroactively legalize settler takeover of privately-owned Palestinian land actively promotes a culture of impunity that contributes to continued violence, said the report.

According to statistics is that 90% of complaints filed with "Israeli" police by Palestinians of such incidents have been closed without any indictments.

The report is a confirmation and testament to the horrid and illegal behavior that has become an epidemic known as "price tags," and it does not even include those acts of violence happening inside the Green Line.

Source: OCHAOPT- UN Report, Edited by moqawama.org