Israeli Army 'Discovers' Settler Violence, Decades After Palestinians Did
According to The New Arab, the Israeli military has finally noticed a 'surge' in Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank, particularly during the olive harvest. This sudden awareness, generations after the 1967 occupation and subsequent colonization, calls into question what exactly 'oversight' entails. These aren't isolated incidents; they're the predictable outcome of a
system that arms settlers, grants them impunity, and expands illegal settlements. Since 2008, 93% of Israeli police investigations into settler violence ended without indictments, as documented by Yesh Din. (Yes, those 'isolated incidents' almost never saw justice.) This 'recognition' is less an admission of guilt and more a soft-pedal for an ongoing land grab sanctioned by the state. When the
'army' only now reports on violence that has been a daily reality for decades, one might wonder about the timing – perhaps it’s now inconvenient for their international PR campaign. How many generations of olive trees need to be torched before it's officially a 'surge' instead of 'state-backed ethnic cleansing'?