Project on Israel Settler Violence

Yousef Munayyer: As Israel moves toward another election on 22 January 2013, a right-wing Israeli government has announced even more colonial expansion projects in recent days. To better understand the reasoning behind this move, you have to understand the relationship Israeli political parties have with the settlement enterprise and the overlapping political interests they share.

Yousef Munayyer: I was happy to see the lengthy article by Daniel Byman and Natan Sachs on The Rise of Settler Terrorism in Foreign Affairs as well as seeing a condensed version of the same in The New York Times. Anything that can be done to shed light further on this under-discussed and persistent danger to Palestinian livelihood is a step in the right direction.

Earlier this week, an unarmed Palestinian was shot in the head by an Israeli from the settlement of Yitzhar in Nablus when a group of settlers, accompanied by soldiers from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), attacked the village of Asira al-Qibliya. Though horrific, it’s actually nothing new. B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights group who released the video and who regularly records incidents of violence in the Palestinian territories, said the occurrence itself was not unusual; what was unusual...

The Palestine Center presents a new comprehensive report on Israeli settler violence based on its database established in 2010. The report covers data spanning several years (2004-2011) and thousands of incidents and addresses why, how and when Israeli settler violence happens.

The Palestine Center report, When Settlers Attack, is comprised of data gathered over a span of seven years, from 2004 to 2011, that includes over 3,700 separate incidents of settler violence. It provides analysis as to why, how and when Israeli settler violence occurs.

Today the Palestine Center released a comprehensive report on Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians and their property in the West Bank.

Yousef Munayyer: The important news is this. A very strong, noticeable increase in Israeli settler violence over the past five years, and mind you 2011 is on pace to beat 2010.

Yousef Munayyer: Despite the fact that this research took months and that it will continue to serve as an important resource on this issue, Israeli settlers yesterday made my point in only a few hours.

Yousef Munayyer: "There’s been a remarkable increase in settler violence in the past few years. We weren’t able to see quite how significant this was in our last database but now with an expanded database, over time, we can see that clearly the past five years have seen a significant increase and it shows no signs of slowing down."

Yousef Munayyer: Does PETA have an international division? After reading this post in Mondoweiss this morning, I figured I'd add some context and numbers to the poignant images which captured events all too common and far too underdisscussed.

Yousef Munayyer: It's Monday and, like most days ending in the letter "y," this means there have been acts of settler violence against Palestinian civilians or their property in the West Bank.

Yousef Munayyer: When I heard the horrific news last night that 5 Israeli settlers were murdered in their home in the settlement of Itamar, I knew it would only be a matter of hours before a shoddy piece of journalism describes the murders as the end of a "lull in the violence."

Yousef Munayyer: There are somethings we can be certain of. The sun will come up tomorrow. What goes up, must come down. But it is safe to say we can add to these reliable astronomical and physical certainties the fact that Israeli settlers will attack Palestinian civilians and their olive groves during the annual fall olive harvest.

Yousef Munayyer: A well-known leader of an Israeli settlement in Jerusalem, who generally works to get rid of Palestinians by expanding his settlement onto Palestinian land, took his actions a step - or a step on the accelerator - further this morning.

Yousef Munayyer: Arsonists torched a mosque in a Palestinian village in the West Bank on Monday, scrawling "revenge" on a wall in Hebrew and charring copies of the Muslim holy book in a blaze that threatened to stoke new tensions over deadlocked Mideast peacemaking.

The Palestine Center presents an analysis of settler violence in the West Bank. We ask what type of violence occurs, who is most vulnerable and most targeted, where the violence is concentrated and what motivates it.

Yousef Munayyer: I presented our data on Israeli Settler Violence earlier today at the Palestine Center. A video is already available below and a transcript should be available soon. The data, included in this power point presentation below, is the most important thing.

Yousef Munayyer: This afternoon news began to break about the killing of 4 Israeli settlers near the Palestinian town of Hebron.

Yousef Munayyer: I've spent the past few weeks trying to understand the phenomenon of settler violence in the West Bank. Where does it happen, how does it happen, who is most vulnerable and how can this most effectively be countered.

Will Youmans: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday published a report listing Palestinian communities that are especially vulnerable to the settler strategy known as the "price tag."