Police investigate Hebron settler filmed attacking Arabs

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"The Hebron police opened an investigation Thursday into Jewish Quarter resident Yifat Alkobi's assault of her Arab Neighbors. Alkobi was documented on video cursing and attacking the Abu-Aisha family in the city.

Alkobi is well known to Hebron police for her alleged attack of a 10-year-old Palestinian child in March 2005, for which she is to be tried on February 1.

The boy, Yusuf Aza, told investigators from the human rights organization Yesh Din that he was walking the path between his home and Alkobi's with two friends, when she began pelting him with stones. Aza, whose two friends fled the scene, said, "I tried to run away but I couldn't because she blocked the way."

Aza added that Alkobi "grabbed me by the shirt and pushed me up against
the wall. A soldier named Ofer tried to help, but she pushed him away, and he fell down. She held me with one hand and with the other pushed a rock into my mouth and forced my mouth closed. I felt my teeth breaking." Aza said the soldier got up and called for help on his radio.

Yesh Din has protested the fact that, nearly two years after the attack, Alkobi is not under arrest."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/812582.html

[Scurrilous]

1. Police official: Hebron incident reflects reality

Senior official in West Bank Police responds to video clip revealed in Ynet showing settler cursing Palestinian family. Settler summoned for police investigation, but doesn't show. B'Tselem, of all groups, asks not to turn her into scapegoat

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3351255,00.html

<snip>

"A senior official in the West Bank Police said Thursday to Ynet, "The event in which a woman settler is seen cursing a Palestinian family in Hebron reflects the reality in the city, and is being taken care of."

The senior official added, however, that "there has been a recent decline in the number of incidents between Palestinian and Jewish residents in the city."

Defense Minister Amir Peretz responded to the settler harassment of Arabs in Hebron during a strategic assessment in his office. According to him, these images are "disgraceful and are turning into material for incitement against Israel all over the world."

A video clip was published in Ynet Tuesday showing Ifat Elkobi, a West Bank resident in Hebron, cursing her Palestinian neighbor. She was slated to report to the police station in Hebron for investigation Thursday, but didn't show up."

[Tom Joad]

3. It's worse than Apartheid.

[Tom Joad]

2. It should be noted that the Hebron police hdqtrs are in the middle of a Jewish settlement.

A Palestinian would have to have no regard for his/her safety to go there, at least not without being accompanied by an international activist. Another note is that Hebron police refuse to do an investigation at the scence, so if a Palestinian does not make that effort, then there is no hope for justice (and even then there is little hope that anything will be done).

I expect many apologists for Israeli policy to praise that something is being done in this case, but it is not over, even for this one incident. No one has been arrested, no one has been convicted, no one has been sentenced, and no one has served a significant term.

[Shaktimaan]

5. I'm curious Tom,

what are your views on Hebron?

[Tom Joad]

8. Not much different that the rest of the conflict

It should be resolved by all parties respecting international law, and human rights.

The Geneva Convention is explicit and applicable here:
Article 49

"The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies. "

International law. Not Just the law, but a good idea.

[Shaktimaan]

12. One could make a legal argument for either side

regarding most facets of this conflict. I was more interested in your personal views. Who do you feel Hebron should rightly belong to, Israel or Palestine? And why? I'm curious to hear the reasoning behind why you feel either group has an overwhelming claim to any specific parcel of land. Hebron is just an interesting example.

Should it be based on history? Modern "facts on the ground?" UN rulings?

[newyorican]

4. When you want to maintain the status quo...

investigate.

[breakaleg]

6. This is so disturbing. I commend one person who commented at the end

of that article who said this:

"Title: Guilty
Name: Dan
City: Tel Aviv State:
She is guilty of one thing at least .... making me embarrased to be an Israeli.

I am by no means left wing but this goes far beyond anything , it is pure and utter hatred/racism/despicable behaviour. How can any Jew support this kind of behaviour , did we forget how the Germans behaved towards us when we were put into "cages" in much darker times . I loves Israel it is my homeland and i believe 100% in its complete existence as a Jewish state but when I see things like this Im just not sure anymore.

And as a soldier in these territories I can tell you this isnt a once off occurence either."

[Tom Joad]

10. It seems like the israeli soldiers are literally pushovers when it comes to

Israeli settlers.

"A soldier named Ofer tried to help, but she pushed him away, and he fell down."

[breakaleg]

11. It makes you wonder who's in charge? Why do these settlers have so much

power or influence when they are probably the largest obstacle to peace?

[Scurrilous]

7. Rights group: Soldiers obligated to prevent abuse of Palestinians

<snip>

"The human rights group Yesh Din on Sunday lambasted Defense Minister Amir Peretz's claim that the Israel Defense Forces soldier who was on duty when a Jewish resident of Hebron allegedly hit and cursed a local Palestinian family did not have the authority to intervene in the attack.

According to Michael Sfard, the group's legal adviser, IDF soldiers have all the authority needed to prevent abuse of Palestinians at the hand of settlers. Both international law and previous cabinet decisions support Sfard's position.

"Soldiers can't claim that it is not within their authority to arrest Israeli citizens who are harming Palestinians or their property," Sfard wrote to Peretz. "Not only are they authorized to do so, they are obligated to do so."

An amateur video recording showing Jewish resident, Yifat Alkobi, verbally and physically attacking members of the local Abu Aysha family was broadcast in the media last week.

The defense minister called the attack "shameful and humiliating" but said the soldier on duty at the time did not have the authority to intervene in the event."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/813228.html

[Tom Joad]

9. The occupying power, in this case Israel, is obligated the Geneva

convention to protect the people under its rule.

Yifat Alkobi will never suffer any consequences for her actions.
Though Israel is a signatory to the Geneva Convention, it has never taken it very seriously.
Amir Peretz protects these lawbreakers, that much is clear.

[Englander]

13. From Haaretz -

Disgraceful, but nothing new
By Danny Rubinstein

Last week, Israel's Channel 10 aired a short video clip that had been filmed in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron, in which Jewish settler Yifat Alkobi can be seen roughly pushing and cursing her neighbors, members of the Palestinian Abu Aisha family. A few months ago B'Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, gave the Abu-Aishas a camera in order to document what was happening near their home, and they now have many video clips of a similar nature. What is interesting about this particular one is that the pushing and cursing took place while a few meters away Israel Defense Forces soldiers observed the incident without lifting a finger.

Nobody was particularly exercised by these images, and that included Alkobi herself, who was called in for an interrogation and did not even show up. There is a group of international observers in the city, called TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron), and they published an announcement to the effect that the film contained nothing new. "For years we have been publishing information about harassment, damage to property, destruction of buildings, stone throwing and the breaking of windows, carried out by the settlers against the Arab residents, and in the past we have often turned to the IDF and to the police, and nothing happened," said the observers. Their reports are sent to the Israeli government, the Palestinian Authority and the governments of the six countries that sent the observers (Norway, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland and Turkey). B'Tselem also hastened to warn about turning Alkobi into a scapegoat; the fact is that responsibility for what happens in Hebron belongs to all the Israeli governments that have allowed and continue to allow such disgraceful sights to take place.

The statistics are familiar. Of the thousands of Arabs who lived in the part of Hebron under Israeli control (according to the agreement of the government of Benjamin Netanyahu), few remain. The Abu Aisha family of Tel Rumeida lives in a house that has been dubbed the "cage house" because of the bars surrounding it, which are meant to protect it from harassment by the settlers. The other isolated Arab families who have remained in the area near the settlers tend to hide in a similar manner. In other words, the Hebron settlers have succeeded in getting rid of almost all of their Arab neighbors, something the IDF and the police have done nothing to prevent, which means they are in effect helping the settlers.

The Israeli right, which supports the Hebron settlers, has long since slid down the slippery slope of racism. In a meeting in Jerusalem recently, a senior (Jewish) police officer who has left the service told guests from abroad how he had to deal with settlers in the Arab neighborhoods of the city who refuse to obey Arab policemen. "You are Arabs, and we don't talk to you. Bring a Jewish policeman," they say. The guests from Canada were shocked. One of them, a senior official in the Canadian government, said that anyone daring to make such a remark in Canada would be immediately thrown into prison. Here it passes quietly.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/813377.html

[Scurrilous]

14. Press relieves Palestinian family in Hebron

Publication of Hebron family’s confrontations with Jewish neighbors from near by settler community helps alleviate situation

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3367206,00.html

<snip>

"The Abu Aisha family in Hebron has not experienced any confrontations since the press revealed their story several weeks ago.

“Since the publicity in the press, the situation has improved. We no longer have fights and we have more mobility,” said Taiseer Abu Aisha, the head of the Palestinian family that until recently suffered daily at the hands of their neighbors in the nearby Jewish settler community of Tel-Rumeda.

The Hebron police are still investigating the incident in which Yifat Elkobi was caught on tape harassing the family. Abu Aisha’s son, nine year-old Sharif, was summoned to the police station on Wednesday in order to give his testimony of the incident."

<snip>

"Abu Aisha told Ynet that the situation used to be worse a few years ago.

“We have many windows at the front of the house, and the settlers used to throw rocks at them and break them. A few years ago the late Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat visited Hebron. We told him about the problem and he ordered our home to be shielded. Since then our windows haven’t been broken,” Abu Aisha said.

“The situation is better, thank God. I just returned from my shop in town and there are no problems,” Abu Aisha concluded."

[breakaleg]

15. One family has received a little relief. That's good, but I've seen numerous videos

of other similar incidents. What is it going to take for all of these things to stop?

The implication here is that top brass in Israel new nothing about this. I find this hard to believe.

[Scurrilous]

16. Court convicts Hebron settler for stoning Palestinian homes

Yifat Elkobi convicted for harassing her Palestinian neighbors; severity of her actions requires harsh punishment, judge says

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3376671,00.html

<snip>

"The Jerusalem Magistrates Court convicted Wednesday Yifat Elkobi, resident of the Jewish settlement in Hebron , for inappropriate conduct in public and causing damage to the house of a Palestinian family in 2001.

Elkobi recently made headlines when Ynet exposed an incident documented by B'Tselem showing her harassing a Palestinian family in Hebron.

Justice Rivka Friedman-Feldman said that Elkobi's actions were severe and that luckily she only smashed windows and didn't cause any bodily harm.

According to the indictment, in 2001 Elkobi was throwing stones at the homes of Palestinians in Hebron, damaging one house."

<snip>

"The court sentenced her to four months of community service, a suspended sentence of 6 months and either a NIS 300 fine (about $71) or a 10-day jail sentence. She was also instructed to pay the Palestinian family NIS 1000 ($237) in compensation."

[breakaleg]

17. I'm curious to know what the community service will be. Hopefully it will be something

that involves working with Arabs in a way that will benefit them.

[Shaktimaan]

18. Believe me, the last thing you want to do

is to put this person somewhere that she'll have to interact with Arabs. There's no reason to give any extremist on either side more opportunities to kick up dust. Besides, it isn't like there is any sort of community service on the planet with the power to actually alter this person's outlook. They could put her in a hospital tending to greviously wounded Palestinian infants and she would take satisfaction, rather than empathy, home as the lesson learned.

For balance though I'd like to point out that this video was all over the news in Israel and internationally, and she was roundly condemned everywhere. They made fun of this woman on "A Wonderful Country," which is sort of the Israeli version of SNL, (back when it was decent.) Remember that settlers are generally not held in high esteem by mainstream Israelis.

Hebron is a flashpoint for the conflict and everyday abuse and occasional atrocities are committed by both sides. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad are very active in Hebron, I believe they even have official chapters there. My point is that we seldom see any outrage directed at Palestinians who throw rocks at Israelis, which is somewhat understandable considering its frequency and unimportance relative to suicide bombs. But I would ask those who use incidents like the one cited here as evidence to support their negative theories about Israeli culture to recognize that none of these incidents occur in a vacum. It would be refreshing, once in a while, to see an unbiased application of the kind of criticism usually reserved for settlers alone. Rocks is rocks after all.

[breakaleg]

19. Let's not go down the throwing rock road.

If she choses to live in Hebron, and treat her neighbors the way she does, then community service would service the community, which is primarily Arab. I know it won't change her outlook. But perhaps they could focus on the punishment aspect of her sentence rather than rehabilitation. Either way, it's her choice.

[Shaktimaan]

24. I agree she should be punished.

In fact I think everyone who acts violently or abusively towards their neighbors should be arrested and prosecuted. I realize that the authorities do not apply the law evenhandedly. But it is important to remember that the settlers do not have an exclusive contract on harrassment in Hebron. It goes both ways, and the PA is just as lax (if not more lax) about prosecuting their own as the Jewish police in Hebron.

My point is that you often frame this as a one way street, where abuse flows from settlers to the Palestinians. In reality it is a thoroughfare with traffic flowing in both directions.

[Violet_Crumble]

26. Got any links to back up yr claim?

But it is important to remember that the settlers do not have an exclusive contract on harrassment in Hebron. It goes both ways, and the PA is just as lax (if not more lax) about prosecuting their own as the Jewish police in Hebron.

I'd be interested in seeing all these examples of Palestinian residents of Hebron harrassing the Hebron settlers....

[pelsar]

21. i dont believe you going to get a "rock vs rock view....."

the last attempt came up with this (as far as i can recall)

rocks thrown by settlers is equal to terrorism

rocks thrown by palestinians at soldiers is understandable (and the soldiers shoot back) and its not really considered violent.

______

now granted i'm making some conclusions based on previous posts that are somewhat vague...and as usual when i ask for clarification (something simple like, are rocks thrown by palestinians considered violent and to be condemned?).....i get the usual "non answers."

personally, if posters here think its the palestinians right, then I see no problem, it doesnt take much to write it, if they think its non violent. again just write it. I think all the word games are rather pathetic myself.

the choices are rather simple in this case:
one can even choose:

israeli, rock throwing (at palestiniains): violent / non violent / to be condemed / not condemed
palestinian rock throwing at israeli citizens: violent / non violent / to be condemed / not condemed
palestinian rock throwing at israeli soldiers: violent / non violent / to be condemed / not condemed


granted it does mean making a non vague stand which may or may not expose the double standard..but then one can argue that such a standard is acceptable given the situation...but at least then it will be clear that the double standard exists.

or it would also clarify ones "non violence" stand, or at least a new definition for it, either way its would serve to clarify things.

how can one have a discussion if simple definitions cant even be clarified?

[breakaleg]

22. As usual, you missed the point of the other thread you are referring to.

And you again chime into another thread to push a topic you wish to discuss, even when it doesn't go your way.

And you have yet to comment on this thread.

You seem to have an agenda. Why not create your own thread and push it there?

[pelsar]

23. i do have an agenda...

1) back up any and all allegations.....

2) be able to answer questions with those allegations, clearly and definitively (notice the word questions is plural)

3) be able to make a conclusion or an intelligent guess from "cause and affect" as well as the history of the region



and since you asked (notice how i am answering...and if its not clear and you ask me to clarify i shall do so and continue to do so until you feel you understand..something that many others fail to do here....)

the settlers in Hebron, like those in several other settlements (as in tapuach) house the fringe extreme elements of the religious right. I have no sympathy for their views what so ever. Their views are very similar to those you find in Irans govt, the Hamas, muslim brotherhod, hizballa etc. A group that must be secluded from society.

and for those who do break the law, be it verbal, or physical....they should be punished/jailed/moved etc and in some case even have their children taken from them.

[Tom Joad]

20. What a joke. Token fine... and then she will continue to do this.

I'd be surprised if she even pays it.
Most of the settler community supports this violence and terror.

http://www.telrumeidaproject.org/

[Shaktimaan]

25. so then what do you think

would be an adequate punishment?