Settlers' mosque-burning campaign expands into Israel

[xchrom]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/06/uk-palestinians-israel-arabs-idUKTRE7954EJ20111006

Reuters) - They strike in the dead of night, setting fire to mosques and daubing their walls with "Price Tag" graffiti, the defiant slogan of Israeli settlers waging a vigilante campaign branded as "un-Jewish" by President Shimon Peres.

The "price-taggers" have vowed to avenge any move by Israeli authorities to uproot settlement outposts built in the occupied West Bank without Israeli government permission.

Dozens of those outposts, which Israel has repeatedly promised its main ally, the United States, to remove, remain on lonely West Bank hilltops on land to which many settlers claim a Biblical right and where Palestinians want to build a state.

On some of the few occasions when Israeli army bulldozers have torn down structures at the outposts, Palestinian villagers have awoken the next morning to find a local mosque charred by fire and with the now-familiar graffiti on its walls.

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. The settlers are terrorists, plain and simple. nt

[peacetalksforall]

2. The leaders of Israel harbor terrorists. Not all Israelis are in favor.

[dtexdem]

3. Racists taking a page from American racists.

Only the targets and their places of worship change.

[oberliner]

4. Israel Police arrest suspect in Galilee mosque arson

Israel Police have arrested a man suspected of involvement in the torching of an Upper Galilee mosque earlier this week, it emerged on Thursday.

The suspect arrested just hours after the attack, but a gag order was slapped on all investigation details immediately following the incident. The suspect was brought before the court for a hearing on his remand Thursday, where an attorney representing the suspect said his client disavowed any link to the incident.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israel-police-arrest-suspect-in-galilee-mosque-arson-1.388563

[Jefferson23]

5. 100 olive trees set on fire near settlement of Kedumim

Published: 10.06.11, 17:55 / Israel News


Some 100 olive trees were set on fire Thursday morning near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim. Settlers claimed Palestinians were behind the arson, and that a similar incident happened earlier this month.


Israeli and Palestinian firefighting teams were called to the scene and extinguished the flames. (Yair Altman)


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4132369,00.html

[Jefferson23]

6. Lynch the leftists

Published: 10.06.11, 00:39 / Israel Opinion

Op-ed: Almost unnoticed lynching of leftist activists this week should alarm every Israeli

* (Professor Yishai Rosen-Zvi is the head of Talmud and Ancient Literature studies at Tel Aviv University’s Hebrew Culture Department)



So what happened around here this past week? Tnuva’s chairwoman quit, Merkel was insulted, the Quartet is nagging, and, oh yeah, some leftists were beaten up. No big deal. How easy it is to get used to it. And how much they help us get used to it.

“There are some guys who wish to come here and kick your ass,” “you dogs,” “you whores are sleeping with Arabs, “all the residents will come here,” “there will be death here.” What does it sound like? An angry mob marching with raised fists and yelling, with blazing eyes, “death to the Arabs.” A stone is hurled, a spike (knife?) is pulled out, people are lying on the road, bleeding; broken noses, shattered windows. What does it look like?

Friday evening, at the end of Rosh Hashana, a lynching was carried out outside the settlement of Anatot. No less. View the videos online and see for yourselves. Fortunately, the incident ended with only 26 people wounded and several razed cars, with no fatalities. However, those exposed to the story via the media heard at most about “clashes” between leftist activists and settlers. Three people were held by police for questioning – leftists, of course.


What characterizes cultures where lynching has become a permanent means of “punishment”, ranging from South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s to current-day Afghanistan, is not the level of public violence or the police’s helplessness – these can be found in restrained states as well – but first and foremost the public legitimacy.

in full: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4131946,00.html

[Jefferson23]

7. Jerusalem light-rail security guards use pepper spray on Palestinian passengers

Incident takes place amid growing number of reports concerning confrontations between Jewish, Palestinian passengers on the city's newly launched tram system.

By Nir Hasson

Security guards employed by Jerusalem's public transportation system used pepper spray on Palestinian light-rail passengers on Wednesday, amid growing reports of confrontations between Jews and Arabs on the recently launched municipal tram.

The incident occurred after Palestinian youths refused to heed the request of a light train conductor, who had asked them to take their feet off the seats of the train. Following their refusal, and a reported ensuing confrontation, light rail security was alerted.

Security guards arriving at the scene then used pepper spray against the Palestinians, and removed them from the train car; police officers called to the scene did not make any arrests.

Wednesday's incident came amid a growing amount of complaints concerning reported friction between Jewish and Palestinian passengers.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/jerusalem-light-rail-security-guards-use-pepper-spray-on-palestinian-passengers-1.388514