Settler violence

Settler violence refers to the phenomenon of violence committed by Israeli settlers against Israeli security forces and Palestinians who live in the Palestinian territories. In recent years Israeli withdrawals from Gaza and Hebron have triggered settler rioting in protest. There is also continual conflict between settlers and Palestinians over land, resources and perceived grievances.
Causes
Settlers claim that the violence is in response to the Israeli government's evacuations of illegal outposts and in retaliation for past acts of violence by Palestinians. Many settlers also believe that their religion entitles them to the land of biblical Israel. According to a 2003 survey, nearly 40% of settlers in the West Bank "live there out of a belief in a divinely ordained mission to inhabit the land".
Critics, however, allege that the violence is a means to harass and intimidate Palestinians and that the evacuations are a necessary part of the peace process. Peace group B'Tselem claims that when a building is evacuated by the Israeli government, settlers lash out at Palestinians because they're "easy victims" and as a means to widen the area under settler control.
Differing legal status and treatment of Israeli settlers and Palestinians
Unlike Palestinians, Israeli civilians living in the Palestinian Territories are not subject to military or local law, but are prosecuted according to Israeli penal law. This originates in the Emergency Regulations bill enacted in 1967 and extended since which gives extraterritorial rights to Israelis in the occupied territories. B'TSelem has alleged that the difference in legal status of Israelis and Palestinians in the territories has led to a double standard in which Israelis are given more legal rights and are punished more lightly than the Palestinians who are subject to military and local law. B'Tselem notes the system violates the principles of equality before the law and territoriality.
Haaretz has stated "Israeli society has become accustomed to giving lawbreaking settlers special treatment", noting that no other group could similarly attack Israeli law enforcement agencies without being severely punished .
Inadequate law enforcement action against settlers
Palestinian rights organization Yesh Din has produced a report, "A Semblance of Law", which found serious problems with law enforcement actions against Israelis in the West Bank. According to Yesh Din's study, which was conducted in 2005, more than 90% of complaints against Israelis were closed without indictments, 96% of trespassing cases (including sabotage of trees) against Israelis led to no indictment, 100% of property offences against Israelis led to no indictment and 5% of complaints against Israelis were lost and never investigated.
As well as collecting statistcs, Yesh Din examined 42 closed investigation files and found a number of shortcomings, including the use of Hebrew rather than Arabaic, a lack of investigating alibis, polic rarely went to the scene of the crime. Many closed files had insufficient investigation and in serval cases closed files appeared to have sufficient evidence for indictment,
Only 8% of complaints resulted in indictments. The Israeli Justice Ministry responded by stating that legal authorities were closely following specific cases, but claimed that it was not in its authority to deal with every case.
Israeli army mutinies
The Israeli army is relied on as a means of last resort to control the settlers, yet soldiers have refused to carry out orders against settlers due to their personal beliefs. In 2005, when Israel evacuated thousands of settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip an entire army company refused to take part and was disbanded. Israel avoided further problems by appointing hand-picked officers as leaders. In 2007, 12 Orthodox soldiers were jailed after refusing to take part in a raid on settlers in Hebron.
Journalist Christopher Hitchens has accused the religious settlers of establishing an "army within the army so that one day, if it is ever decided to disband or evacuate the colonial settlements, there will be enough officers and soldiers, stiffened by enough rabbis and enough extremist sermons, to refuse to obey the order."
Settler riots
In August 2007, soldiers clashed with settlers during a raid in Hebron. Paint and eggs were thrown at the soldiers.
A violent settler protest at the Palestinian village of Funduk occurred in November 2007, in which hundreds of settlers converged at the entrance of the village and rampaged. The protest occurred five days after a settler was killed in response to settlers' illegal seizure of Palestinian land without Israeli government response to Palestinian complaints of the land seizure. The settlers smashed the windows of houses and cars. According to Funduk villagers, Israeli soldiers and police accompanied the protesters but mostly stood aside while the settlers rampaged.
In August 2008, settlers from Hebron attacked diplomats from the UK.
In December 2008 Hebron settlers angry at the eviction of settlers from a disputed house rioted, shooting three Palestinians and burning Palestinian homes and olive groves. Video footage of the attacks were recorded, leading to widespread condemnation in Israel. The attacks were characterized as "a pogrom" by then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who said he was ashamed "as a Jew".
Local sources and Palestinian activists claimed that once the disputed house was evicted, the IDF and the police were "indifferent" to the violence against the Palestinians, and have made no real attempt to stop the settlers from rioting.
Involvement of youths
Settler who attack or harass Palestinians in the West Bank are often disaffected youths, referred to in the Israeli media as "hilltop youths". Welfare minister Isaac Herzog has labeled them a "security threat" as well as a "societal and educational danger".
Attacks on Palestinian agriculture
Olive farming is a major industry and employer in the Palestinian West Bank and olive trees are a common target of settler violence. B'Tselem alleges that "olive pickers in areas near certain settlements and outposts in the West Bank have been a target of attacks by settlers, who have cut down and burned olive trees and stolen the crops" and that "security forces have not taken suitable action to prevent the violence." The IDF barred olive picking in extensive areas of land, claiming that the closures were to protect the olive pickers. The case went to the Israeli High Court in 2006 which found that, as a rule, lands are not to be closed because of settler violence, and that the IDF must enforce the law. However the IDF has worked around this by claiming the lands are closed to protect the settlers instead.
Amnesty International has alleged that scores of Palestinian owned sheep as well as gazelles and other animals were poisoned with 2-fluoracetamide near Tuwani on 22 March 2005, depriving Palestinian farmers of their livelihood .
Settler extremism
There are a number of extremist groups associated with the settler movement. Gush Emunim Underground was a terrorist organization linked to the settler activist group Gush Emunim. They carried out attacks against Jewish students and Palestinian officials, attempted to bomb a bus and planned an attack on the Dome on the Rock.
The New York Times has noted that the religious, ideological wing of the settler movement is growing more radical. It is widely suspected that a pipe-bomb attack on settler critic Zeev Sternhell was perpetrated by settler radicals, who left fliers at the scene offering 1 million shekels to anyone who kills a member of anti-settlement group Peace Now. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter condemned the attack, calling it a "nationalistic terror attack".
Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin warned that he has "found a very high willingness among this public to use violence -- not just stones, but live weapons -- in order to prevent or halt a diplomatic process." He also called settlers' mindest "messianic" and "Satanic".
IDF Major-General Gadi Shamni has warned that there has been an increase in the number of violent settlers from a few dozen to hundreds and that the increase is impairing the IDF's ability to deal with other threat. A UN report recorded 222 acts of violence by settlers in the first half of 2008 compared with 291 in all of 2007.
Haaretz has characterized settler violence at the "Federman Farm" near Kiryat Arba as "terrorism"
.
Funding of illegal settlements ostensibly halted
In response to settler violence directed towards Israeli security forces, Israel declared it would no longer fund illegal outposts from November, 2008. Settlers claim the violence was sparked by the beating of a settler child, while border police spokesman Moshe Pinchi said he had no knowledge of the alleged beating and accused the settlers of "cynically" sending minors to attack the police. However there is evidence that support continues unabated for illegal outposts. At one illegal settlement, Hayovel there has been recent work on a new road that cuts through Palestinian territory.
International reactions
The European Union has condemned "acts of violence and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank" calling on the Israeli government to put an end to it.
Statistics
According to B'Tselem 45 Palestinians were killed by Israeli civilians between 2000 and 2008 , of which the vast majority would be settler-related. B'Tselem also keeps a record of incidences of settler violence of which there have been 2 so far in 2009 .

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