Reply #19: Historically speaking Israeli authorities do not have the best record

[azurnoir]

of arresting Israeli's for offenses against Palestinians in the OPT let alone trial and conviction

When Palestinians harm Israeli citizens, the Israeli authorities use all means to arrest suspects and prosecute them, including measures that do not comport with international law and that flagrantly breach human rights. The military courts impose maximum sentences on those convicted. However, when Israelis harm Palestinians, the authorities implement an undeclared policy of forgiveness, compromise, and leniency in punishment.

This policy is evident from the start, in the actions of law enforcement authorities in the field – the IDF and the Israel Police – which fail to take the necessary actions to prevent harm to Palestinians and to their property, and to stop attacks by settlers in real time. The arms of government and of the law, jointly and separately, tend to belittle Israeli civilians' violence against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

Israeli security forces have done little to prevent settler violence or to arrest offenders. Many acts of violence have never been investigated; in other cases, investigations have been drawn out and resulted in no action being taken against anyone. According to B'Tselem's follow-up with the Israel Police on incidents in which settlers injured Palestinians or Palestinian property in the years 2007-2010, 67 percent of investigation files opened have been closed date; indictments were filed in 8 percent of cases regarding which B'Tselem wrote to the police. In cases where settlers were tried and convicted, they were generally given extremely light sentences – in stark contrast to the policy of law enforcement and punishment where Palestinians harm Israelis.

Many Palestinians avoid filing a complaint with the police for injury at the hands of settlers, among other reasons, because they do not trust the Israeli legal system. The police usually refuse to investigate an incident unless a complaint is filed, even if they are informed of it by other sources.

http://www.btselem.org/settler_violence/law_enforcement

now as pointed out in this story and the original from AFP the same young women were also involved in damaging IDF equipment in which case the arrests are not so shocking at all

Seven young Israeli women, six of them minors, have been arrested on suspicion of participating in the destruction of hundreds of Palestinian olive trees

The women are also accused of taking part in demonstrations against the dismantling of illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank, during which Israeli army equipment was damaged, a police spokeswoman told AFP.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iw2_XPMjRkQv9QVSig1FtZ4v_b3A?docId=CNG.5b3137d37ca033f82d1946db0c21911c.2d1