In occupied West Bank, Jews and Arabs see different sides of justice

[Violet_Crumble]

The Israeli justice system in the occupied territories treats similar crimes committed by Jews and Arabs differently - impunity toward settlers, harsh repercussions for Arabs.

By Amira Hass

1. There is a law in Israel. It is the Dromi Law, named for the farmer Shai Dromi who in January 2007 shot to death Khaled el-Atrash, a Bedouin who broke into his farm in the Negev at night.

In June 2008, a law was passed that “a person will not bear criminal responsibility for an act that was required immediately in order to curb someone who breaks in, or tries to break in, in order to commit a crime.” The district court acquitted Dromi of manslaughter, however he was convicted of having an illegal weapon.

2. There is a judge in Israel. He is Colonel-Lieutenant Netanel Benishu, who is deputy president of the military appeals court in the occupied West Bank. He heard the case of three members of the Bedouin Ka’abneh family, who were arrested on July 19th of this year after Israelis attacked their tent encampment on the lands of the village of Mukhmas east of Ramallah.

No, we did not get this wrong. First the Israelis broke into the encampment and then some of its residents began throwing stones at them. And a clarification – the Bedouins did not use a gun. They also did not kill anyone.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/in-occupied-west-bank-jews-and-arabs-see-different-sides-of-justice-1.382656

[shira]

1. Abbas admits to disputed territories, not occupied...

Abbas said that the PA application to the UN calls for transforming the Palestinian territories from the status of disputed lands to a state under occupation.

<snip>

There are five benefits from such a declaration at this point, he said.

First, given that Palestine would then be a UN member state under occupation by another UN member state, Israel, the Fourth Geneva Convention could be clearly applied to the West Bank, he said.

“No Israeli official could claim that the land was disputed,” he said.

http://www.jpost.com/VideoArticles/Video/Article.aspx?id=236671

[Violet_Crumble]

2. Separate and unequal: Israel’s Discriminatory Treatment of Palestinians...

'The Israeli Supreme Court (which typically sits as the High Court of Justice when dealing with cases relating to state actions, including in the occupied territories) ruled in 1979 that settlements could not be established on land privately owned by Palestinians on the grounds of “military necessity,” as they had been previously.34 As a result the Israeli military began to transfer to settler control lands that had been declared “state lands.” The Court later refused to accept petitions against such settlement policies on the basis that the settlements issue was primarily political.35

The Court has never ruled that all civilian settlements are unlawful under the laws of occupation, although it overruled the Israeli government’s position that Israel’s obligations under the Geneva Conventions and customary international humanitarian law did not apply to the occupied West Bank.36

The Court has adopted a distinctly different approach to discrimination cases between cases inside Israel involving Arab (Palestinian) citizens of Israel and those in the West Bank.


http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/iopt1210webwcover_0.pdf