Official PA daily makes excuses for kidnappers of Israeli teens while accusing Israeli government of complicity in murder of Palestinian teen
Op-ed by Adli Sadeq, regular columnist for Al-Hayat Al-Jadida
“When anonymous individuals, whom Israel assumed to be Palestinians, kidnapped and murdered the three settlers, there was a great gap between them and their authorities. No such gap can be discerned between the positions of those who kidnapped, tortured and murdered the Palestinian youth and Netanyahu’s government and the settler authorities, who fuel the conflict and promote violence. There is a big difference between the environments from which the perpetrators emerged. In the first case (i.e., the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teens), the anonymous perpetrators, who are always assumed to be Palestinians, emerged from a bruised and oppressed environment, whose land has been [declared] ownerless and whose people is under siege.
In the second case (the kidnapping and murder of the Palestinian teen), the perpetrators resided and continue to reside in an aggressive, parasitic, hostile and inhumane environment, supported by the state authorities, in the shadow of whose weapons they find shelter and the protection of whose army they enjoy.
If it is necessary to clarify the difference between the two motives for the kidnappings and murders , as lawyers do, and [to clarify] whether they were premeditated, [then] this [premeditation] is certain in the case of the torture and murder of the Palestinian youth, but it is not certain, and was not preceded by torture, in the case of the deaths of the settlers. This [is evident] since the assumption was and still is that the kidnappers wanted to imprison the settlers and exchange them for [Palestinian] prisoners, and the murder may have occurred when the Israeli army and its settlers went on a wild rampage during their search for the kidnapped [youths]…
Furthermore, there is a big difference between the nation from which the kidnappers of the three youths came, and the communities from which the abusers and murderers of the Palestinian youth came: for the first nation has no subjugation, settlement and aggression initiatives and its presence on its land is not a crime, whereas the presence of the settlers on Palestinian land constitutes a daily crime in itself…
In addition to the difference between the murderers, there is a notable difference between the number of individual murder victims and the number of the murder victims of the state and its official army. For when an Israeli is killed in a violent operation, the perpetrators are not the official armed forces and not even the forces of the Palestinian factions. Likewise, one cannot compare the number of Palestinian victims and Martyrs (Shahids) [killed] by occupation army fire and the number of Israelis killed…
Whatever [Israeli PM] Netanyahu’s government may do to throw dust in [our] eyes, the crime of the torture and murder of the Palestinian youth could never have happened without the aid of the atmosphere it [Netanyahu’s government] created. What happened to the youth is a part or example of the result of its policies, language, culture and intentions, whereas what happened in Halhul (i.e., the kidnapping of the three Israelis) had nothing to do with the PA or the political powers…
Do not take any [Israeli] statement of condemnation seriously, for whoever sincerely condemns cannot be a murderer, and these occupiers murder every day.”
Note: On June 12, 2014, Israeli teens Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel were kidnapped while hitchhiking in the West Bank. The boys' bodies were found by Israeli security forces near Hebron on June 30, 2014. They appeared to have been shot to death soon after the abduction. Two days later, Palestinian teen Muhammad Abu Khdeir was kidnapped and murdered in Jerusalem in a revenge attack by Israeli extremists. Following this murder, Palestinians took to the streets of eastern Jerusalem in violent and continuous protests. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli ministers immediately condemned the revenge killing in the strongest terms. Israeli police arrested six Israeli suspects on July 6th; under interrogation, three of the suspects confessed to murdering Khdeir.
“When anonymous individuals, whom Israel assumed to be Palestinians, kidnapped and murdered the three settlers, there was a great gap between them and their authorities. No such gap can be discerned between the positions of those who kidnapped, tortured and murdered the Palestinian youth and Netanyahu’s government and the settler authorities, who fuel the conflict and promote violence. There is a big difference between the environments from which the perpetrators emerged. In the first case (i.e., the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teens), the anonymous perpetrators, who are always assumed to be Palestinians, emerged from a bruised and oppressed environment, whose land has been [declared] ownerless and whose people is under siege.
In the second case (the kidnapping and murder of the Palestinian teen), the perpetrators resided and continue to reside in an aggressive, parasitic, hostile and inhumane environment, supported by the state authorities, in the shadow of whose weapons they find shelter and the protection of whose army they enjoy.
If it is necessary to clarify the difference between the two motives for the kidnappings and murders , as lawyers do, and [to clarify] whether they were premeditated, [then] this [premeditation] is certain in the case of the torture and murder of the Palestinian youth, but it is not certain, and was not preceded by torture, in the case of the deaths of the settlers. This [is evident] since the assumption was and still is that the kidnappers wanted to imprison the settlers and exchange them for [Palestinian] prisoners, and the murder may have occurred when the Israeli army and its settlers went on a wild rampage during their search for the kidnapped [youths]…
Furthermore, there is a big difference between the nation from which the kidnappers of the three youths came, and the communities from which the abusers and murderers of the Palestinian youth came: for the first nation has no subjugation, settlement and aggression initiatives and its presence on its land is not a crime, whereas the presence of the settlers on Palestinian land constitutes a daily crime in itself…
In addition to the difference between the murderers, there is a notable difference between the number of individual murder victims and the number of the murder victims of the state and its official army. For when an Israeli is killed in a violent operation, the perpetrators are not the official armed forces and not even the forces of the Palestinian factions. Likewise, one cannot compare the number of Palestinian victims and Martyrs (Shahids) [killed] by occupation army fire and the number of Israelis killed…
Whatever [Israeli PM] Netanyahu’s government may do to throw dust in [our] eyes, the crime of the torture and murder of the Palestinian youth could never have happened without the aid of the atmosphere it [Netanyahu’s government] created. What happened to the youth is a part or example of the result of its policies, language, culture and intentions, whereas what happened in Halhul (i.e., the kidnapping of the three Israelis) had nothing to do with the PA or the political powers…
Do not take any [Israeli] statement of condemnation seriously, for whoever sincerely condemns cannot be a murderer, and these occupiers murder every day.”
Note: On June 12, 2014, Israeli teens Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frenkel were kidnapped while hitchhiking in the West Bank. The boys' bodies were found by Israeli security forces near Hebron on June 30, 2014. They appeared to have been shot to death soon after the abduction. Two days later, Palestinian teen Muhammad Abu Khdeir was kidnapped and murdered in Jerusalem in a revenge attack by Israeli extremists. Following this murder, Palestinians took to the streets of eastern Jerusalem in violent and continuous protests. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli ministers immediately condemned the revenge killing in the strongest terms. Israeli police arrested six Israeli suspects on July 6th; under interrogation, three of the suspects confessed to murdering Khdeir.