An Israeli soldier is being detained on charges of manslaughter after shooting a Palestinian man suspected of stabbing one IDF solider just outside of the town of Hebron.
It is another peak of confrontation and frustration- including the PLO.
Israel and Palestine must start a fresh peace policy in 2016 – why?
- This crime and the bitter confrontation with many Palestinians the last months show again that a fresh peace policy for Israel and Palestine is needed in the interest of the people on both sides of the long-time conflict. It must base on hawk and dove and include reconciliation too. A double-strategy to find peace in the Holy Land for all.
- Israel needs to come back to the wisdom of Hillel the Elder (picture below; Hebrew: הלל; variously called Hillel HaGadol,Hillel HaZaken, Hillel HaBavli or HaBavli) and practice a fresh “Israel Hillel Torah Peace Policy” with his “Golden Rule”: “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.” Without this number one core Jewish rule implemented, there will be no peace in the Holy Land for anybody. The government has forgotten this Jewish golden wisdom for too long, never implemented in its policy towards Palestine and will fail. Peace needs respect towards the other people and reconciliation and tolerance. Otherwise it is war of ceasefire only. Hillel was born in Babylon c. 110 BCE and died 10 CE in Jerusalem. He was one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He developed the Mishnah and the Talmud and was the founder of the House of Hillel school for Tannaïm (Sages of the Mishnah) and the founder of a dynasty of Sages who stood at the head of the Jews living in the Land of Israel until roughly the fifth century of the Common Era.
- The Palestine politicians and PLO need to promote reconciliation in the same way and contain the radicals. To honor fighters, who killed civilians against the rules of jihad in the Holy Qur’an, must end now and is a perversion too. There is a clear restriction of the use of violence for self-defence in the Qur’an, and only as long as the aggressor displays an imminent threat, and never against uninvolved civilians according to 2,190-192. “If any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people”, urges Surah 5,32. As soon as an aggression against a Muslim has ended, the defence needs to stop.
- The West Bank belongs to the Palestinians. The construction of houses for settlers must stop. To push the non-Jewish people out, is not only against international law of occupation and inhumane, but as well against the wisdom of the religious founders of Israel like Hillel the Elder.
What has happened in Hebron?
A video surfaced of the IDF soldier shooting the man in the head as he lay motionless on the ground and has aroused serious anger on social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. The Israeli military recognized the seriousness of its soldier’s action calling it a “grave breach” of Israeli military values and standards.
The ordeal began when an Israeli soldier was stabbed and wounded by two Palestinian men. Such events have become fairly regular occurrences in Hebron and its surrounding villages.
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After tweeting about the initial stabbing, the IDF followed with a tweet saying that Israeli forces had shot the assailants.
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The video that stormed the internet unleashed a virtual hailstorm on Instagram and Twitter and was immediately condemned by many pro-Palestinian human rights groups. It shows an IDF solider standing over the Palestinian man on the ground before cocking his gun and shooting him in the head. The man’s hand visibly twitches in the video and it can be reasonably assumed that he was still alive at the time of the second shooting.
Abed al-Fatah al-Sharif, age 21, was later identified as the Palestinian who was shot for a second time in the video.
In the Aftermath
The last six-months have seen an uptick in violence in the West Bank and Israel with a reported 30 people, two Americans and the rest Israeli, who have been killed by Palestinians since October when the violence first began escalating. An estimated total of approximately 180 Palestinians deaths have occurred in the same time period, all of which were carried out by IDF soldiers.
The New York Times quotes Lt. Col. Peter Lerner who said, “The I.D.F. views this incident as a grave breach of I.D.F. values, conduct and standards of military operations…a military police investigation has commenced and the soldier involved has been detained.”
The backlash from human rights groups has mainly focused on the use of disproportionate force displayed by the Israeli. Many groups claim that disproportionate force is standard procedure with IDF soldiers’ interactions with Palestinians.
Sarit Michaeli is a spokeswoman, for the Israeli rights organization B’tselem. She was quoted by The Times as blaming the “climate in Israel” with the escalation in the use of force for Palestinian attackers. Michaeli goes on to say that with “virtually every politician condoning the notion [that Palestinian attackers should be killed on sight]”. “You cannot but have an impact on the soldiers on the ground.”
Michaeli also sums up the sentiments of many observers, ““the most shocking thing about the video, aside from the action of the soldiers, is the callous indifference of the soldiers and officers and members of security forces around him.”
As a general rule, Israeli politicians and policy makers are viciously opposed to the idea that their soldiers use disproportionate force when dealing with Palestinian civilians and assailants. Many claim the use of legitimate force when it comes to the deaths of Palestinians at the hands of military personnel.
The video also shows various medical personnel milling about in the background, seemingly without much urgency. Their presence have given rise to questions over the lack of medical treatment for the two Palestinians after they were first shot.
Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz, the Israeli military’s chief spokesperson told Israel Radio, “As far as the orders given to soldiers are concerned, the moment terrorists have been neutralized they are supposed to give medical treatment to the injured, even if they are terrorists.”
Photocredit: Flickr, Link to Photo.
