CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT - Part 1 of 4

JEWISH SETTLER TERRORISM AGAINST PALESTINIANS IN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA STRIP

Jewish settlers who have been living illegally on lands usurped from the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have committed, and continue to commit, terrorist acts and crimes against the Palestinian Arab population. The settlers who have immigrated since 1967 from the United States rank among the most fanatic and violent. They are incited and financially subsidized by the Israeli authorities and the World Zionist Organization.

In many cases the Israeli authorities fail to investigate crimes committed by settlers against Palestinians and attempt to cover up most reported cases. When Jewish settlers commit heinous crimes the charges are invariably reduced, for example, from "murder" to "manslaughter." On the rare occasions when a settler is convicted for a crime, his sentence is seldom commensurate to the gravity of the crime he committed, and that lenient sentence is usually suspended or drastically reduced. As soon as the furor surrounding a case has diminished the convicted culprit is often released from prison with his sentence commuted. The "double standard" of Israel's so-called justice, by which Palestinian Arabs received draconian punishments for minor offences while Jewish settlers receive a mere "slap on the wrist" for far graver offences, amounts to a licence to the Jewish settlers to perpetrate crimes, including murder and kidnapping, against Palestinian Arabs which would not be tolerated in any civilized society. Indeed, the Zionist authorities punish the victims more severely than they do Jewish settlers who commit the crimes.

On October 24, 1988 the United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories, reported, inter alia:

The settlers represent an invisible military wing of the occupation authorities. They have free rein to adopt any measures that they deem appropriate. Even their official circles have said that the Israeli settlements are storage areas against the Arabcitizens. Before the uprising the settlers used to resort to brutal and inhuman practices because they daily attacked the citizens without any reason and without any justification. They attempted to kill some of the Arab inhabitants, and this is what took place in the cities of Hebron, NablusandBethlehem. The settlers have amilitiaoramilitary group called the "Combating Vanguards." They are very dangerous. They train on racism and violence, and they are probably more fanatical than any Israeli circle. Therefore, the Israeli authorities want them to be the protectors of the i settlements. They want them to be the protectors of security, even more than the regular forces ...

The settlers kill in cold blood, as was the case of the citizen Al Ma'siri, A citizen is simply kidnapped from his place of work, taken to a settlement, beaten - beaten to death in some instances — strangled or shot, or they concentrate the beating on his head. There is no stopping these settlers ... They stop at nothing, and the Government provides no one to appeal to concerning the practices of those settlers. All the settlers are armed, even the children are armed and any child can use the weapon he is carrying ...

The Israeli settlers also come and kidnap the children. A week or two later some of the children come back, while others never return. They have been killed ...

One of the serious problems is that the settlers have taken actual power, actual authority, in some villages and camps, so that the population is dealing with armed settlers who are not under military regulations but acting according to their own whims, without discipline. (1)

Jewish settlers have engaged in the following types of terrorism against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the establishment of Jewish settlements in those areas: murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, assault, shootings, trespassing, theft, looting, arson, vandalism, provocation, attacks against public and holy places, harassment and intimidation. The number of these crimes has increased significantly since the mid-1970s, escalating with the attempted suppression of the Intifada after December, 1987.

These crimes are committed with the acquiescence and tacit encouragement of the Israeli occupying authorities, which amounts to the official sanctioning of the crimes committed by Jewish settlers. Evidence has surfaced concerning the interlocking relationships of Jewish settler terrorist groups and high circles in the Israeli government, military forces, and security services which indicates that Israeli officials have been accomplices in the commission of some Jewish settler criminal acts.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO JEWISH TERRORISM

There are several factors which have directly contributed to the rise and escalation of Jewish settler terrorism against the Palestinian civilian population. Among them are the following:

1. Some Jewish settlers who commit terrorist acts against Arab civilians might do so on their own as individuals or groups; however, their mere presence as settlers in an occupied zone on land forcibly expropriated by the Israeli authorities in contravention of international law, has led to the creation of a confrontational environment conducive to the use of violence to control an Arab population unwilling to acquiesce to the occupation and its objectives. Anthony Lewis commented on this subject by arguing that "The whole idea of taking land and putting settlements among an alien people under military occupation could only be done by force. Force was implicit in the enterprise, and it cannot be surprising that vigilantism -private terror - arose as a supplement to official compulsiion." (2)

Roy Isacowitz of the Jerusalem Post editorial staff also blamed Israel's occupation and settlement policy for serving as "the national breeding ground for terror." He described this policy as a "cancer" that has "spread with each underhanded land deal, each questionable expropriation, each instance in which we twisted the law to favor Jewish settlers .... When the government debases the law by treating Arabs and Jews on the West Bank unequally, how can it expect the settlers - not to mention the rest of the population- to have any respect for the law?..." (3)

The Israeli Government's financing of the settlers has contributed to their militancy and disregard for local and international law. Ze'ev Schiff argues that "the settlers are sustained by Israeli taxpayers and, indirectly, by American financial aid. Without this assistance and without the army, they cannot hold on."4 Indeed, in certain areas of the West Bank, Israeli government subsidies to new settlers average 75-100 percent of the total value of a housing unit. A Jewish settler can actually purchase an apartment in the Jerusalem area for about $2,500!

2. By defining Jewish settlements in the occupied territories as "border settlements." the Israeli government has authorized settlers to bear arms and resort to the use of force against Palestinians in specific situations of alleged selfdefense or guard duty. This authorization and access to arms has been intentionally abused by the settlers who view it as tacit approval of their vigilantism against the Palestinians. According to Meron Benvenisti, "All (settlers) carry personal arms and possess an arsenal ofweaponry. which, as they have declared on numerous occasions, they are ready to use if need be. Disarming them, especially in the light of the dangerous security situation, would be quite out of the question." (5)

Ze'ev Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz that "The State of Israel has lost control over the large quantities of weapons given to the settlers for self-protection .... As far as I can determine, the figures are unclear due to the double networks for weapon supplies which exist in various places in the West Bank. Some arms are supplied to the settlers through the network of regional defense, some are gotten through reserve army units, and some are obtained privately." (6)

The situation has got out of hand to the extent that the settlers feel politically and militarily capable of challenging perceived weaknesses in the Israeli government and threatening it with civil war. "The Council of Jewish Settlement in Judea and Samaria" met on 5 November 1985 at Ofra on the West Bank and issued a warning to the Peres government against entertaining any form of territorial compromise in return for peace with Jordan. The settlers declared that "Any Government that performs the aforementioned actions should be regarded as an illegal Government. We warn that any partition of the country will cause a rift in the nation." (7) The settlers' magazine AlefYod was more blunt in its warning: "In this hour of national emergency all means will be legitimate. We might witness a most frightful scene - mutiny in the Israel Defense Forces, an armed uprising in Judea and Samaria and finally - Jews fighting against Jews." (8)

3. The creation by Israel of a dual legal system in the occupied territories - one to be exclusively applied to Jews and the other only to Palestinians - resulted in the unequal application of the law to Arabs and Jews by creating confusion and inconsistencies in the fragmented legal system that allowed almost total impunity for settlers' terrorism against Palestinians. (9)

In addition to denying local courts jurisdiction over criminal acts committed by Jewish settlers residing in the occupied territories, the Israeli police and military authorities consistently failed to investigate, apprehend, charge, prosecute and convict Jewish terrorists. The Karp Report completed on 23 May 1982 by an investigative team appointed by the Israeli Attorney-General accused the military and police authority of negligence in dealing with offenses and acts of vigilantism committed by Jewish settlers against the local Palestinian population. According to the report, out of 70 cases examined by the commission, 53 have reached a "dead end," due to poor handling on the part of the Israeli authorities. (10)

The legal situation has been further complicated by the confused system of investigations and prosecutions in the occupied territories. The issue of jurisdiction over offenses committed by Jewish settlers has never been adequately settled between the settlers and the Israeli army on the one hand, and the police and the general prosecution on the other, thus leaving this crucial area of the legal system so loosely defined that Jewish settlers have been able to enjoy total immunity by manipulating the system in their favor to prevent any serious investigation of their criminal behavior. (11)

4. Widespread public support and sympathy for the settlers, including those convicted of murder and other terrorist activities, has been another source of encouragement for settler violence against the Palestinians. In spite of unequivocal condemnation of the settler terrorist network by key Israeli officials and public figures, a significant segment of Israeli society justified the existence and the criminal activities of the group.

Meron Benvenisti described the level of support for the Jewish terrorist network in these words: "The feeling gradually became pervasive among the settlers themselves and percolated to the general public, that although the accused had 'committed acts forbidden by law, morals and religion,' they ought not to be abandoned together with their families in their hour of need .... According to a poll carried out for a Jerusalem weekly newspaper, more than 50% felt the members of the underground had acted legitimately in their own self-defense." (12)

After the arrest of 30 members of the Jewish terrorist network in 1984, a lobby was formed in the Israeli Knesset including some 50 members of that 120-member body, to seek financial and political support for the terrorists and their families. Statements calling for amnesty for the terrorists were issued by many Israeli politicians and public figures including then Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, the chief rabbis of Israel and a host of Knesset members representing the Likud, Techiya, Kach, and several religious parties.

The Jewish religious establishment, which was always passive toward racist Jewish doctrines propagated by the Rabbis of Gush Emunim, remained silent. Amnon Rubinstein wrote that, "The loud silence of the heads of Yeshivot, religious teachers, spiritual leaders of the movement is more revealing than all of what is going on in the nationalist religious camp .... During the past two weeks I have spoken with hundreds of national religious Jews and most of them praised the members of the underground who are in their opinion fine guys and true pioneers, who may have taken a wrong step .... None of them spoke in terms of morality. None of them was sorry for the loss of human life, for murder...." (13)

The terrorist Rabbi Moshe Levinger called the Jewish terrorists "benevolent" or "charitable" persons (Gomlei Hasadim). He justified their criminal activity by explaining that "the government should have threatened the lives of the mayors, and since it failed to do so, the members of the underground did it instead." Similarly, Rabbi Levinger justified the attack on the Islamic College in Hebron where three Palestinian students were brutally murdered because the college is "a center of incitement.'' (14)

Knesset member Yuval Ne'eman also justified the attack which maimed Mayors Shak'a and Khalaf by arguing that they belonged to the National Guidance Committee. "They were PLO representatives in the territories and leaders of incitement against Israel ... (they) are guilty ..." he added. (15) Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir described the Jewish terrorists as "excellent boys who erred," and called for their pardon. (16) Others called them Israel's "finest boys" and "loyal sons."

Rabbi Israel Ariel refused to condemn the Jewish terrorists' attempt to blow up the Arab buses because this "will entail the condemnation also of Yitzhak Shamir, Geula Cohen, Menachem Begin and all the Lehi (Stern Gang) members who killed and slaughtered Arab civilians in Deir Yassin." The Rabbi added that "when Shamir headed Lehi, he ordered that explosives hidden in a can of olives be placed in a market full of Arabs in Jaffa. The can exploded killing 40 Arabs. Then too, it was a matter of killing innocent people created in God's image." (17)

Andy Green, a member of TNT - Kahane's terrorist organization - defended his group's activities by equating them with the terrorism of Israel's best known so-called heroes during pre-statehood (Yishuv). In an interview with Robert I. Friedman, Green stated that "Irgun leader David Raziel planted a bomb in an Arab market in 1939, killing 15 or 20 Arabs," then he proceeded to ask: "And do you know how many streets are named after Raziel in Israel'? If it was all right for him, how come it's not all right for us?" (18)

 

A CAMPAIGN OF TERROR

Between 1980 and 1984, according to Dr. Jan Abu-Shakrah, an authority on Israeli settler terrorism in the Occupied Territories, settler terrorism has resulted in 23 Palestinian deaths, 191 serious injuries, 38 abductions and hundreds of other serious injuries to life and property throughout the temtories. (19) Table I, based on Abu-Shakrah's research, summarizes reported and confirmed acts of violence committed by Jewish settlers against Palestinian civilians during the period 1980-1984.

The political objective of this campaign of terror is fourfold:

1. To harass and intimidate the Palestinian population of the territories to force as many as possible to leave their homes and lands as a prelude to taking over their property.

2. To pressure the Israeli government into committing itself to further settlement activity in the occupied territories.

3. To obstruct any form of territorial compromise in exchange for peace with the Arabs. Therefore, there has been a significant upsurge in Jewish terrorism during periods of intensive diplomatic activity involving the fate of the occupied areas.

4. To create an environment of political fear and blackmail, both in Israel and the territories, which is conducive to the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza and the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over them.

Upon examining various reports on settler violence, including those issued by the Palestine Human Rights Committee, the International Center for Peace in the Middle East and the Karp Commission, several points are brought out:

(a) Reported acts of settler terrorism are only a fraction of the total terrorist campaign waged against the Palestinians under Israeli occupation. Most Palestinian victims simply do not bother to file an official complaint with the Israeli military authorities, whose record on such matters has not increased Palestinian trust in the prevailing system of justice. In some categories, only 30 to 50 percent of all incidents are actually reported or documented.

In addition to fatalism and alienation from the occupation authorities, the Karp Commission, chaired by Judith Karp, assistant attorney general in the so-called Ministry of Justice, cited fear of incrimination in acts of resistance and fear of revenge by the settlers as further explanation for Palestinian failure to file formal complaints against the settlers after terrorist attacks. (20)

(b) Most reported acts of violence by Jewish settlers have remained uninvestigated and their perpetrators unpunished and free to continue their relentless campaign of terror against the indigenous Palestinian civilian population. Only a small number of cases have been investigated because of the fragmented and inconsistent legal system under Israeli occupation. the undefined matter of jurisdiction over illegal activities by Jewish settlers, and plain negligence and complicity on the part of the military and police authorities.

(c) The settlers and their supporters often claim that their vigilantism is necessitated by Israeli government apathy visa- vis Palestinian "terrorism." However, the pattern reflected in Table I, with the significant upsurge in Jewish terrorist activity in 1982-1983, indicates exactly the opposite. Violence against the Palestinians increased significantly in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon which devastated the Palestinian community in that country, and as the Israeli military authorities enforced their "iron fist" policy in the occupied territories. Thus, the settlers seem to get more aggressive and violent as Israeli policy toward the Palestinians becomes more oppressive and intransigent rather than lenient and permissive as claimed by settlers.

(d) As to the settlers' argument that "Arabs understand only the language of force," and that settler vigilantism is the only way to keepPalestinian nationalism at bay, the same data accumulated by the above mentioned reports suggest that increased oppression by the military government, such as its iron fist policy, and acts of vigilantism by Jewish settlers have been coupled with an undeniable increase in Palestinian resistance to occupation. Israeli official statistics acknowledge a pattern of growth in Palestinian resistance in 1983, 1984 and 1985 -the same years witnessing increased settler vigilantism and Israeli military crackdown on the Palestinians. This issue might require further research and documentation; however, it is clear from the existing data that settler terrorism has not succeeded in quelling Palestinian resistance or in subduing Palestinian nationalism.

Table I divides settler violence into two main categories:

The first includes incidents against persons such as murder, serious injury, abduction or kidnapping and harassment. The second category involves incidents against public and private property such as land, homes, businesses, cars, livestock, schools, public places and places of worship. The following are brief highlights of each major classification of settler terrorist acts:

Killings: As mentioned above, there were 23 incidents of murder committed by Jewish settlers in the occupied territories. The Palestinian victims included 11 children and 12 adults. Two thirds of the cases involved Israeli military weapons, the rest resulted from beatings, stabbings and other unspecified methods.

Until the 1985 conviction of members of the Jewish Terrorist Network, no settler had ever been tried and convicted of murder committed against Palestinians. Most of the attacks involving shooting occurred as settlers attempted to enforce "law and order" in the territories by dispersing demonstrations or avenging acts of resistance by Palestinians. Some of the apprehended Jewish terrorists are repeated offenders, for example, Natan Nathanson of Shilo, who was charged with murder in 1985 for planting a bomb in Mayor Bassam Shak'a's car in 1980, shot three Palestinian youths near the village of Sinjil on 17 March 1982, killing one of them. Charges against Nathanson for the 1982 attack were initially reduced from murder to manslaughter, then dropped altogether. He was released to pursue his leading role in the Jewish Terrorist Network until his arrest in April 1984.

Injuries: About 45 percent of all 19 1 reported injuries were the result of gunshot or hand grenade attacks. The majority of victims were males, of whom 25 percent were children. A large percentage of serious injuries occurred during attacks by settlers on public demonstrations, private property and holy places.

Abductions: Two thirds of the 38 reported cases of kidnapping by settlers were children. All victims were males. In many instances the abduction ended in physical abuse. One case, at least, ended in murder.

Harassments: Settlers engage in this type of terrorist activity on a routine basis throughout the occupied territories. These acts include threats, beatings, humiliations, illegal search and seizure, setting up checkpoints, rampaging through Arab neighborhoods and villages and other forms of intimidations and insults.

Attacks Against Property: Attacks covered under this category are the most frequent form of settler terrorism. They include seizure of farm land through the use of force or fraudulent means, the uprooting or destruction of crops, theft and destruction of livestock, vandalism, arson and trespassing. In the course of carrying out such attacks, settlers often resort to the use of firearms, hand grenades and firebombs. This form of settler violence illustrates the active and aggressive strategy of the settlers in "redeeming" land from the Arabs on the basis of what they perceive ideologically as a Jewish historic right to all of Palestine. In addition to land and homes, settlers have frequently targeted private businesses and automobiles.

Attacks On Public Places and Institutions: Armed attacks and bombings of public and holy places such as markets, public squares, churches, mosques, schools and colleges, coffee shops, municipalities, newspaper offices and charitable organizations have reached about 100 such incidents between 1980 and 1984.

In addition to seeking to inflict injury on the largest possible number of civilians, these attacks are ideologically motivated since the public institutions they target symbolize Palestinian nationalism or represent a challenge to Israel's unrelenting campaign to Judaize Arab land. The latter explains the deep hatred harbored by Jewish settlers for the very existence of Christian and Muslim holy places in "Greater Eretz Yisrael," particularly in key locations revered by all three religions — Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

TABLE I

REPORTED INCIDENCE OF SETTLER VIOLENCE AGAINST PALESTINIAN PERSONS AND PROPERTY IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES 1980-1984 (21)

Year	Incidents
1980	30
1981	48
1982	69
1983	119
1984	118
Total	384

These are the number of incidents reported to the press, and confirmed by at least one Israeli source.

CRIMES AGAINST PERSONS

Year	Deaths	Injuries	Abductions	Harassment
1980	1	11	2	8
1981	2	35	1	10
1982	7	40	22	22
1983	9	83	8	28
1984	4	22	5	31
Total	23	191	38	99

Deaths are the number of people killed by settlers in civilian roles.

Injuries are the number of people seriously injured in attacks by settlers in civilian roles.

Abductions are the number of persons abducted or kidnapped by settlers in civilian roles.

Harassment comprises the number of incidents and includes threats, gunshots, defilement, humiliation, beating, rampages, demonstrations, roadblocks, checkpoints and chasing.

 

CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY

Year	Land	Animals	Homes/Shops	Vehicles	Public Places	Schools	Religious Sites
1980	6	1	7	210	1	4	10
1981	18	1	13	35	3	1	5
1982	7	63	60	260	2	4	2
1983	12	0	75	110	7	14	14
1984	28	18	35	100	11	7	10
Total	71	83	190	715	24	30	41

Land Incidents comprise the number of incidents including seizures, settling, working, fencing, destruction, poisoning, land fraud, and other illegal or unauthorized actions.

Animals are the number of animals stolen, injured or killed.

Homes/Shops are the estimated number of affected private buildings, by demolition, vandalism, attempted or actual take-overs.

Vehicles are the estimated number of vehicles (cars, trucks, buses) and include arson, bomb/grenade attacks, and smashed bodies/windows.

Public Places are the number of attacks on public places, facilities and institutions (markets, public squares, municipality or court buildings, newspaper offices) by bombs, arson, vandalism.

Schools are the number of attacks on kindergartens, elementary and secondary schools and colleges.

Religious/Holy Sites are the number of attacks on religious institutions (mosques, churches, convents, monasteries) and holy sites (Haram al Sharif, Caves of Patriarchs) by unlawful trespass, bombs/ grenadesf gunshots, arson, vandalism.

Between 1984 and December, 1987, when the Intifada began, the same pervasive pattern of violent crimes committed by Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza continued. After the outbreak of the Intifada it escalated as the Israeli authorities utilized their settler mercenaries in their attempts to crush the Palestinian national uprising.

FINANCING THE JEWISH SETTLER TERRORISM

The Jewish settlements were established in the West Bank and Gaza by using money from two sources, namely from the Jewish Agency Settlement Department and from the budget of the Israeli government. The Jewish Agency Jerusalem Section obtains all of its budgets from the Jewish Agency in New York, which, in turn takes the money from the United Israel Appeal, which receives its funds from the United Jewish Appeal. In other words, tax-exempt contributions of United States citizens are being used for the establishment of settlements which, since 1967, the United States Department of State has consistently stated are in violation of international law. The other funds obtained for the establishment and maintenance of these settlements come from the budget of the Israeli government. which obtains massive financial aid from the United States Government.

The following statistics from the fiscal year 1980 —1981 indicate the huge amounts of money spent by the Israeli government on these settlements:

The settlements are worth a lot of money to the govemmenl. For the fiscal year 1980- 198 1 enormous sums of money were again made available for the establishment of new settlements. The Ministry of Agriculture's budget shows a doubling of the funds for settlements - 1.3 billion Israeli Pounds for settlement purposes. A further 1.6 billion was given to the Department of Housing for the completion of settlements. The expansion of existing settlements is also covered by an item in the budget of the World Zionist Organization; 2.6 billion Israeli Pounds is allotted for the "maintenance of equipment and temporary structures" in the occupied territories. The Defence Ministry estimates its expenditures for maintaining the military administration, security functions, troops, road construction, etc., at 1.5 billion Israeli Pounds. Experts estimate Israel's total expenditures for the territories - including amounts spent by various other departments - to be about 7 billion Israeli Pounds. These estimates do not include the substantial sums of money with which other organizations and associations -especial1 y Jewish communities abroad - support Jewish settlements: these sums may run into millions. (22)

On March 23, 1989 the Israeli government allocated part of its budget for establishing new Jewish settlements and strengthening existing ones. The Jerusalem Post of March 24, 1989, reported:

(Finance Minister) Shimon Peres allocated 35 million Israeli shekels for new settlements on March 23, 1989 after almost two weeks of protracted negotiations between the Likud and Labor factions of the Knesset finance committee. This was slightly over half the 64 million shekels asked for by Prime Minister Shamir. The funds are to be taken from existing budget reserves and given to the new Housing Minister where they are to be used for "strengthening existing ... settlements and for establishing new ones. Despite this apparent victory, Gush Emunim and its Knesset allies have begun lobbying the government for additional funds, ostensibly to offset the ''hardships" suffered by the settler community as a result of the uprising. In reality any new funds raised through this lobbying effort will most likely be used to finance the building of additional settlements.

Contrary to the image projected in the United States by the Israeli government and Zionist organizations, the Jewish settlers are hardly self-sacrificing pioneers of virgin lands. In fact they are paid mercenaries, albeit ideologically motivated to commit crimes without any qualms of conscience.

Without the massive subsidies. translated into providing housing and employment for the settler terrorists, there would be no settler terrorism in the West Bank and Gaza. Criminal acts committed by Jewish settlers against Palestinians do not deprive their perpetrators of material subsistence, but are financially rewarding in that economic subsidies are always continued to settlements whose members commit such crimes.

Thus Jewish settlers commit arson in order todestroy proof of Arab land ownership and then commit extortion in order to force Arab landowners' acquiescence to the transfer of their properties to the Jewish National Fund and Israeli companies.

The United Nations Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories, confirmed in its 1985 report:

It was reported that the fire at the Court of First Instance in Nablus, which had destroyed most of the land registration records, was followed by renewed activities by settlers and Israeli companies. A number of Arab landowners reportedly filed complaints with the court and the police concerning the renewed assaults by these companies on their lands. (23)

The Jewish National Fund which is also a tax-exempt organization in the United States, collecting annual tax-deductible contributions from citizens of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, is an agency of the Israeli government. All the lands which were usurped from the Palestinian Arabs since 1948 in the areas of so-called Israel today were registered in the name of the Jewish National Fund. All the lands usurped from the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza from 1967 until 1989 were registered in the name of the Jewish National Fund. The Jewish National Fund establishes subsidiaries to administer these settlements.

Another United Nations report shows how Jewish settlers destroy the crops of Palestinians and how subsidiaries of the Jewish National Fund subsequently work the land:

Five landowners from the village of Haris and four from Qarwat Beni Hassan were reported to have requested a ruling from the Nablus Court in January 1984 after settlers from Netafim settlement (Nablus district) had destroyed crops and ploughed up the area. The court ruling instructed the Israeli land company HIMANUTA (a subsidiary of the Jewish National Fund) to stop working on the land and authorized a magistrate toexecute the ruling. According to the same report landowners and surveyors were subsequently chased away by the settlers and prevented from approaching the land. Qalqilya police had allegedly refused to help them unless they brought an official translation of the court ruling into Hebrew and a map of land in question. (24)

Thus the Jewish settlers act with strong-arm gangster methods of intimidation and extortion on behalf of the Jewish National Fund. Directors of the Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Agency are accomplices of these criminal acts committed by Jewish settlers. The American Jews who contribute to the Zionist organizations sponsoring the Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza are willfully or unwillfully aiding and abetting the commission of crimes. As many of the settlers are fanatic American Jews, there is very little excuse for pleading lack of knowledge of the criminal use of their contributions.

 

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