Motasem A. Dalloul
Middle East Monitor / August 10, 2023
Israeli occupation authorities use strict and usually illegal mechanisms to suppress the legitimate Palestinian resistance, and take unprecedented measures to inflict suffering on the Palestinians in Occupied Palestine, Occupied Territories, the refugee camps and even in prisons.
Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation is guaranteed by international laws and conventions; however, any Palestinian reported involved in the resistance against the illegal Israeli occupation is deemed to harsh punishment. He must be detained, and if he refuses to turn himself in to the Israeli occupation authorities, he could be subject to a military detention raid that might lead to his death, not only detention.
Whenever such an incident happens, it is widely applauded by the Israeli officials, who get international support for all of their acts, which have been described as acts of self-defence. For example, Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, hailed the murder of three Palestinians while driving their car near Jenin refugee camp by the Israeli occupation forces early this week.
Meanwhile, two extremist Israeli Jewish settlers, Yehiel Indore and Elisha Yered, a former spokesman for the far-right Otzma Yehudit party’s MK Limor Son Har-Melech, who were accused of killing the 19-year-old Palestinian youth, Qusai Jamal Matan, in the West Bank village of Burqa on Friday, were released from prison.
They did not throw stones at an armoured military vehicle which is able to survive rocket attacks. They did not use fireworks to show their opposition to the occupation military vehicles, but they killed a human. This is the point.
If the killer is a Palestinian and the victim is an extremist Israeli Jewish settler, the Palestinian would be detained for life, his close relative would spend much time in prison, his whole village or town would come under collective punishment and his house would be demolished.
However, the killer of the Palestinian youth was a settler; the Israeli occupation police detained several Palestinians just over their presence during the incident, where one of the settlers was hit with a stone and had a light bruise in his head.
Palestinian MK, Ahmad Tibi, asked for permission to visit the Palestinians in detention in relation to this case, but Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir refused and demanded that Attorney- General, Gali Baharav Miara, remove Tibi’s parliamentary immunity so that he can be charged with incitement to terror.
Meanwhile, Ben-Gvir gave permission, on Wednesday, to two Jewish MKs, who hold the same parliamentary status like Tibi, to visit the wounded extremist Jewish settler at hospital. This incident brought Ben-Gvir to criticism over discrimination, but he insisted that it was not an act of discrimination.
On Wednesday, Ben-Gvir tweeted that he “does not intend to apologize” for the discrepancy over the visits, stressing that Tibi “cannot visit rioters in the middle of an investigation” and reiterated his “full backing” to the police decision. He accused the Palestinians as “rioters” and declared his “full backing” to the murderous settlers.
Commenting on such discrimination, which is one of the foundations of the Israeli policy, Tibi said: “There are two kinds of members of Knesset — Jews with parliamentary immunity and rights, and Palestinian Knesset members without. This is further proof that we have a Chief of Police who is utterly subservient to a racist Minister.”
However, the Israeli Supreme Court and the Israeli police said that the murderer settlers must remain in prison, but the Magistrate Court, lower court than the Supreme Court, decided that they be released. A police representative told the Court the two suspects should not be released, saying that they “took the law into their own hands.” Judge Zion Saharay denied the police request, saying “the intelligence material is not sufficient.”
An extremist Israeli Jewish settler who kills a Palestinian, does not stay one full week in prison, and a settler who suffered from light bruises receives high-quality treatment at a very high-tech hospital, while Palestinians, who are sent to jails for throwing stones or protesting against the occupation, endure harsh detention conditions and are banned from family visits or making telephone calls.
Palestinian prisoners, who suffer from serious diseases, including cancer, are denied appropriate treatment. Walid Daqqa, a Palestinian from Israel, despite ill health, completed his 37-year prison term, was prevented from leaving prison and was banned from receiving appropriate treatment and early release due to his deteriorating health.
Take another example – the 13-year-old Palestinian boy, Ahmad Manasreh, who was run over by an Israeli settler, shot and seriously wounded and his cousin killed. It is not the Israeli occupation military, but the bodies working for humanitarian aid who discriminate between Israelis and Palestinians.
Videos showing a Magen David Adom ambulance driving past Manasreh as he lies bleeding on the street. Despite being a young boy, he was left bleeding, even by the Israeli paramedics, who considered him a criminal just because he was shot by the Israeli occupation forces.
Israeli people shouted at him and verbally attacked and abused him while bleeding just because he was a Palestinian shot by the Israeli occupation forces. I cannot believe that only Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are racist; most Israelis are racist and racism is a culture. The verbal attack and abuse of Manasreh proves that.
For Israelis, a Palestinian MK who stands beside people of his nation against the Israeli occupation is considered in Israel as inciting violence, while a Jewish MK who calls for killing Palestinian and burning their homes and villages are nationalists.
An Israeli who kill a Palestinian is considered a hero, while a Palestinian boy who throws a stone at an armoured military vehicle during an incursion into his village or city and home to detain his father, brother or mother, or kill them is a criminal.
Motasem A. Dalloul is Middle East Monitor’s correspondent in the Gaza Strip
