Tree-hugging Palestinian-killing olive tree-cutting jews rule in Israhell

[yankeedoodle]

So, we have the interesting situation where some crazed jewish "settlers" planted some trees, and this was ruled illegal, and IOF troopers went to cut the trees down, and the jewish "settlers" started hugging the trees, and the IOF troopers started treating them as if they were Palestinians protecting their olive trees.  That's right, the "settlers" say the IOF troopers were violent, and there was even a "rape" accusation.

The radical right-wing government in Israhell that hates and wants to kill Palestinians and cut down their olive trees is outraged that the IOF troopers would cut down trees planted by jewish "settlers."

Of course, Israhell has been cutting down Palestinian olive trees for many years.  A million Palestinian trees have been cut down by the jews, but the "goverment" in Israhell is in revolt because a few trees planted by "settlers" were cut down.

https://twitter.com/shilofreid/status/1625743902266335232

Violent confrontation between troops and settlers sets off tensions in Netanyahu's new government
https://www.jta.org/2023/02/15/israel/violent-confrontation-between-troops-and-settlers-sets-off-tensions-in-netanyahus-new-government

Two far-right ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government lashed out after troops had a violent confrontation with Israeli settlers.

The troops were removing Israeli settlers who were protesting on West Bank land where settlers had planted trees years ago. Palestinians in the region claim ownership of the land. The Israel Defense Forces' Civil Administration, which oversees civilian life in the West Bank, ordered the trees' removal several years ago — a decision upheld in 2021 by the Supreme Court, which the government is seeking to disempower.

Border Police troops who arrived Wednesday to carry out the uprooting were met by settler protesters, some of whom tied themselves to the trees. One video shows a protester resisting arrest; the border policemen kick and punch him while he is down. The Times of Israel reported that four border policemen were suspended after the action.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, expressed outrage at the confrontation. Smotrich demanded that Netanyahu give him control over civilian matters in the West Bank — something agreed to when their parties formed a governing coalition late last year. Smotrich, believing he already had such powers, had planned to keep the orchard in place.

"Not in our government!" Smotrich wrote on Twitter. "This can't continue," Ben-Gvir said in a video he posted to social media.

At a press conference, Ben-Gvir signaled that he was growing frustrated by working with Netanyahu, who suspended the uprooting after the complaints. "We joined the government on the basis of a commitment that it would be a completely right-wing government, and this policy cannot continue," he said.

Two lawmakers in the far-right Religious Zionism bloc, led by Smotrich, were on the scene and attempted to intervene. Video shows four policemen surrounding one of them, Limor Son Har-Melech, and not allowing her to advance, but taking care not to touch her. She later accused them of sexual assault. The Border Police denied the claim.

The violence comes the same week that another soldier was sentenced to 10 days detention for kicking a Palestinian journalist, an incident that also was caught on video.




Far-right MK accuses border police of sexual assault during tree removal protest
Limor Son Har-Melech's lawyer claims Border Police officers 'clung' to her
https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/far-right-mk-accuses-border-police-of-sexual-assault-during-tree-removal-protest-5eDRwlhIxvnvAY82DWH95K?reloadTime=1676651803441

Israeli MK Limor Son Har-Melech of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party has filed an official complaint against a group of police officers who she says sexually harassed her during a confrontation in the West Bank on Thursday.

The incident occurred as Son Har-Melech and other activists attempted to stop security forces from removing trees that were illegally planted by a settler in the northern West Bank. The officers huddled around the MK in a circle and, as she tried to break free, one of them allegedly sexually harassed her.

In a complaint submitted to the Police Internal Investigations Department in the Justice Ministry, Ms Son Har-Melech accused the officers of "serious abuse" and a "blatant violation of her parliamentary immunity."

Otzma Yehudit Party leader Itamar Ben Gvir MK seconded the complaint and accused Benjamin Netanyahu of reneging on his coalition promises by not referring authority for the West Bank border police to his national security brief.

She also accused the officers of carrying out "acts that reached the point of violence and sexual harassment." As an MK Ms Son Har-Melech would usually be exempt from movement restrictions ordinary citizens must abide by.

The incident was captured on video and occurred as cops attempted to hold onto the MK as she tried to wriggle out of their cordon. The far-right politician was one of two MKs who joined dozens of activists as they physically impeded security forces from carrying out their order.

A number of demonstrators were arrested as violence reportedly erupted between them and security forces in multiple confrontations. After the incident, police released a statement asserting that they had operated with "great sensitivity and determination while leading respectful dialogue and showing professional conduct during the incident."

However, in the same confrontation, police officers violently arrested a man during the protests, leading to the suspension of three Border Police officers. Video footage appeared to show several protestors forcefully detained in the ruckus, including one man being pushed to the floor by police with one officer punching and another kicking.

Head of the Border Police Amir Cohen has since said the incidents will be investigated.

On Thursday, more than 24 hours after the incident, officers appeared in the middle of the night to complete the removal of the trees from the plot. However, according to The Times of Israel, defence establishment sources told Channel 12 that the operation had resumed on Wednesday evening, after the confrontations with settler activists, and the remainder of the trees were uprooted at that time.

The MK's lawyer, Eladi Wiesel of the NYC-based pro bono Honenu firm, claimed that officers "used force that culminated in one of the officers clinging to the MK and sticking his leg between her legs in an offensive way, which, at the very least, is considered a prohibited assault and in some circumstances can be considered sexual harassment."

The complaint also said that security personnel used excessive force throughout the incident near the Shiloh West Bank settlement, and "severely infringed on" Ms Son Har-Melech's "privacy and modesty" as an Orthodox Jewish woman.

Responding to the MK's allegations, police said in a statement: "The Border Police commander was updated throughout the incident, and it is important to emphasise that in addition to the immunity and freedom of movement the MK enjoys, the forces acted with great sensitivity and determination while leading respectful dialogue and exhibiting professional conduct during the incident."





A Palestinan woman protecting an olive tree from destruction. Photo: intifada.de via Frank M. Rafik on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA).

Destruction of Palestinian olive trees is a monstrous crime
https://theecologist.org/2015/nov/07/destruction-palestinian-olive-trees-monstrous-crime

The uprooting and cutting down of over a million olive and fruit trees in occupied Palestine since 1967 is an attack on a symbol of life, and on Palestinian culture and survival, writes Dr. Cesar Chelala. A grave crime under international humantarian law, the arboricide is also contrary to Jewish religious teachings.
Resurgence - six issues squareish Nov 22
Resurgence - download squareish Nov 22
During the last few years, Palestinian olive trees - a universal symbol of life and peace - have been systematically destroyed by Israeli settlers.

"It has reached a crescendo", stated a spokeswoman for Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights organization monitoring incidents in the West Bank. "What might look like ad hoc violence is actually a tool the settlers are using to push back Palestinian farmers from their own land."

The tree and its oil have a special significance throughout the Middle East. The olive tree is an essential aspect of Palestinian culture, heritage and identity, and has been mentioned in the Bible, the Qur'an, and the Torah. Many families depend on the olive trees for their livelihood.

Olive oil is a key product of the Palestinian national economy, and olive production is the main product in terms of total agricultural production, making up 25% of the total agricultural production in the West Bank.

Palestinians plant around 10,000 new olive trees in the West Bank every year. Most of the new plants are from the oil-producing variety. Olive oil is the second major export item in Palestine.

Over a million trees destroyed in 40 years

Over the last 40 years, over a million olive trees and hundreds of thousands of fruit trees have been destroyed in Palestinian lands. The Israel Defense Forces have been accused of uprooting olive trees to facilitate the building of settlements, expand roads and build infrastructure.

The uprooting of centuries-old olive trees has caused tremendous losses to farmers and their families. At the same time, restrictions to harvesting have come through curfews, security closures and attacks by settlers. One such attack in the South Hebron Hills was documented on The Ecologist last February.

The uprooting of olive trees by the Israel Defense Forces and by settlers are done to protect the settlers, since they are supposedly used to protect gunmen or stone throwers. "The tree removals are for the safety of settlers ... No one should tell me that an olive tree is more important than a human life", declared an IDF army commander, Colonel Eitan Abrahams.

As a result of the attacks on farmers by the IDF and by settlers, declared B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, the farmers "can't get to their lands and work them. The settlers chase the farmers, shoot in the air, threaten their lives, confiscate their ID cards and damage the crops."

Practically none of the complaints filed during the past several years on damage to Palestinians trees in the West Bank has resulted on an indictment. The toll includes thousands of trees from several areas from Susya in the southern Hebron Hills to Salem in northern Samaria.

Last April, Israeli settlers from the Immanuel settlement uprooted some 450 olive trees and saplings from lands in Deir Istiya, northern Salfit. This followed the uprooting earlier of 120 olive trees in Wadi Qana.

Since 1967 some 800,000 olive trees have been uprooted by Israeli forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank alone, according to research from the Palestinian Authority and the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem. This has threatened the livelihood of 80,000 families.

A grave breach of international humanitarian law, and Jewish religious law

In a review he wrote on this issue, Atyaf Alwazir, a young Muslim American, stated that the uprooting of trees from Palestinian lands violates the Paris Protocols, The Hague and Geneva Conventions and the Covenant on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights.

The destruction of the olive trees is also a specific violation of Article 54 of the 1977 Protocol to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which prohibits the "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare". It states:

"It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive."

According to Sonja Karkar, founder of Women for Palestine in Melbourne, Australia, uprooting olive trees is contrary to the Halakha (the collective body of Jewish religious law) principle whose origin is found in the Torah: "Even if you are at war with a city ... you must not destroy its trees."

To some Jewish activists' credit, however, many of them are collaborating in the planting of new olive trees, to replace some of those uprooted by the Israeli settlers. On several occasions Rabbis for Human Rights has donated saplings to Palestinian communities affected by the uprootings.

What do settlers actually want? To continue destroying Palestinians' livelihood with impunity? To create a barren land, unfit for trees and people? To intimidate, terrorize and punish those who resist this tactic?

Perhaps they should be reminded of A. E. Housman's verses,

Give me a land of boughs in leaf,
A land of trees that stand;
Where trees are fallen there is grief;
I love no leafless land.