This paper takes a look at historical and current Human Rights violations and terrorist actions

committed in Israel/Palestine by both Israelis and Palestinians. Human Rights violations and

terrorist actions predating the foundation of the State of Israel to Human Rights violations and

terrorist actions currently being committed are discussed. Throughout the paper it is postulated

that Human Rights violation and terrorist actions operate interchangeably in Israel/Palestine, this

is founded in international covenants on Human Rights and international legal definitions of

terrorism. The paper also postulates that what the Western media calls Israeli actions of self-

defense, or neglects to report, are in fact violations of Palestinian Human Rights and terrorist acts.

As well it is argued in this paper that Palestinian terrorist actions violate Human Rights. Human

Rights violations and terrorist actions committed by both Israelis and Palestinians are treated

equally in this paper.

Peggy Morton | A New Middle East? | Spring 2016

The Unending Cycle HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND TERRORISM IN ISRAEL/PALESTINE

PAGE 1

Section One: Introduction and Historical Background

We like to think that “the time of barbarism has passed,”1 that the time of so

called modern nations violating Human Rights has passed, that the time of settler

colonialism has passed, we like to think that we live in a world where horrific actions are

not taken every day. But barbarism lives on, Human Rights are continually violated,

settler colonialism is alive and well, and horrific actions happen almost daily. Human

Rights are the “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights

of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the

world.”2 Human Rights are the foundations of justice and peace in the world and they are

still violated, if that is not barbarism then I shudder to think what is. Human Rights need

to be protected and those violating Human Rights should be held responsible for their

actions. This is not always what happens, frequently Human Rights violations are ignored

because of the amount of power the country committing them has, or the amount of

power that country’s close allies have. Terrorist actions are treated very differently. The

United Nations defines terrorist actions as

Any action... that is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or

non-combatants, when the purpose of such an act, by its nature or context, is to

intimidate a population, or to compel a Government or an international

organization to do or to abstain from doing any act.3

1 Mahmoud Darwish, "State of Siege," University of Ohio, accesses April 15, 2016.

http://www.ohio.edu/people/hartleyg/poems/state_of_siege.html 2 "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights" United Nations, accessed April 15, 2016.

http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights. 3 "Terrorism," United Nations, 2005, accessed April 8, 2016.

http://www.un.org/News/dh/infocus/terrorism/sg%20high-level%20panel%20report-terrorism.htm

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The most frequent response to terrorist actions often punish wide swaths of people,

including people who had nothing to do with the action and were as shocked by it as

those it was directed at. To most people the violation of Human Rights and a terrorist

attack seem to be horrifying but completely different actions; this is not always the case.

Violations of Human Rights and acts of terrorism operate interchangeably in

Israel/Palestine. Many actions taken by governmental and non-governmental

organizations in Israel/Palestine that are labeled Human Rights violations could also be

labeled as acts of terror and vice versa, though some are shockingly not labeled either.

Terrorist acts and Human Rights violations happen with startling frequency in the

territory. To understand why this happens one must first understand the history behind

the creation of modern day Israel/Palestine.

This story of modern Israeli statehood begins with the Ottoman Empire. In 1858

a new land code was created: under this code land owners would have to pay taxes and

males in the family would be eligible for military draft.4 The peasants living on the land

had no interest in suddenly paying taxes for the land they had been living on for

centuries, or losing their sons to war, so they did not buy the land they lived on. Instead,

wealthier city dwelling people bought the land and allowed the peasants to remain where

they were. Meanwhile in Europe, Jews were finding themselves less and less welcome.

Anti-Semitism was growing rampantly and even those Jews who had fully integrated into

European society found themselves unsafe. To many the Dreyfus affair, when a French

4 David Waldner, "Land Code of 1858." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. 2004.

Encyclopedia.com, accessed April 15, 2016. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3424601631.html

PAGE 3

Jewish military officer was accused and falsely found guilty of treason, signaled the end

of their safety in Europe. These Jews turned towards the creation of a national home for

the Jewish people, Zionism. With the publication of Theodor Herzl’s The Jews’ State the

idea of a national home for the Jewish people was brought to the attention of non-Jewish

people, and to many anti-Semitic European leaders it was a pleasant solution. A Zionist

congress was formed to work on the creation of a Jewish state. The only problem was

that no one could agree on where to create the new Jewish state. Many different

locations were on the table from Kenya, to Australia, to Cyprus,5 but eventually the

location of Palestine was chosen as it was in the eyes of the Zionist leadership “A land

without a people for a people without land.”6 Quickly a Jewish national fund was

created to finance the emigration of Jews from Europe to Palestine, and to pay for land on

which the Jews could live. One of the largest backers of the migration of Jews to

Palestine was the Baron de Rothschild, who provided a large portion of money to buy

several patches of land from the city dwellers who owned it7. When Jews started arriving

in Palestine they forced the Arab people who had been living there to leave in order to

create all Jewish communities.8 The Jewish Agency was also set up in Palestine as an

almost secondary government for Jewish people in Palestine. This community building

continued under the Ottoman government until the course of history was changed by

World War One.

5 Ian Bickerton and Clara Klausner, A History of The Arab-Israeli Conflict (New York: Pearson) 31. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid, 32. 8 Ibid, 32.

PAGE 4

By the end of the First World War millions were dead, the Austro-Hungarian

Empire had disappeared, Russia no longer had a Czar, and the Ottoman Empire was

crippled. As so many things were, the fate of the Jewish people living in Palestine was

forever changed in the course of the war. In siding with the central powers in the war the

Ottoman Empire unknowingly signed its death warrant. Even before the war was won

the British had been planning for what to do with the lands that the Ottoman Empire

controlled in the Middle East. The British had dispatched T.E. Lawrence to the Arabian

Peninsula to stir up a revolt of the people living there to distract the Ottoman forces.

Lawrence also made promises to the Arab leaders that they would be allowed to rule

themselves. Meanwhile the British had their high commissioner of Egypt Sir Henry

McMahon write to King Hussein of Mecca to assure him that he would be allowed to rule

all of Arabia, with some exceptions: “The districts of Mersin ad Alexandretta, and

portions of Syria lying to the west… of Damascus, Homs, Hama, and Aleppo…” which

apparently could not “…be said to be purely Arab.”9 The exceptions on a map seem to

suggest only modern day Lebanon, there was no mention of Palestine belonging to

anyone other than the Arabs. Unbeknownst to anyone living in the Middle East, there

was a third set of negotiations going on between the British represented Sir Mark Sykes

and the French Georges Picot. These two men came to an agreement of how to divide

what would become Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan in to spheres of French and British

influence.10 This agreement left the governing of the area of Palestine to the international

community. But as evidenced by the Balfour letter which states “His Majesty’s

9 Peter Mansfield, A History of The Middle East (New York: Penguin) 175. 10 Ibid, 178.

PAGE 5

Government view with [favor] the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the

Jewish People, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this

object”11 it was clear that the British had no intentions of leaving Palestine alone.

Once the Great War was won, the Sykes-Picot agreement was enacted, and

Brittan was given control of the Palestinian territory by the League of Nations. “When

the British government undertook the mandate of Palestine in 1919, it was unaware that it

was taking on and impossible task.”12 The British, in taking on the control of Palestine,

took on the role of battered moderator between two factions who equally feared and hated

one another. The Arab population of Palestine thought that the Jewish migrant

population would continue to grow exponentially and they would be forced from their

land. The Jewish population was afraid of having non-Jews in their supposed Jewish

national home, and following the slaughter of Jewish colonists in Hebron being killed in

the land that was supposed to be safe. All of the British government’s attempts to

mediate and equitable peace were met with strong rejection from one side or the other.

The first attempt, a “…White Paper declaring Britain’s intention to hold the balance

between the Arab and Jewish communities”13 was rejected by the Arabs on the grounds

that they wanted the ability to self-govern that they were promised during the war. The

second attempt came in 1930 in the form of another White Paper, this one “…gave some

priority to Britain’s obligations to the Arabs by restricting Jewish immigration and ending

Jewish land purchases.” This was of course met with massive resistance by the world

11 Ibid, 181. 12 Ibid, 230. 13 Ibid, 231.

PAGE 6

Zionist organization, and the British government was soon pressured into recalling it.

Then by 1935, following fear of Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and growing European

anti-Semitism, the rate of Jewish migration to Palestine grew to more than fifteen times

what it had been in 1930.14 This spike in the Jewish population was met with outrage at

the British by the Arab population who felt their country was being taken over. The

result was a six month general strike and a two year rebellion which culminated in a full

scale Arab uprising.15 Once the revolt was put down, the British government shifted

most of its focus towards the growing possibility of war with Germany, so when they

issued the White Paper of 1939 which limited the number of Jewish immigrants to

“75,000 over the next five years” they were not overly worried with the response from

the Jews living in Palestine. David Ben–Gurion, who was a Leader in the Jewish

community at the time and would become the first Prime Minister of Israel when it

became a state, is often quoted as having said of the 1939 White Paper “We shall fight

the War as if there was no White Paper, and the White Paper, as if there was no War.”

Indeed a large number of Jews who lived in Palestine served in the British army during

the war, but as soon as they could the Jewish Agency declared the State of Israel in 1948,

the state was quickly recognized by the international community and the newly founded

United Nations. The new country also received an influx of European Jews who had

survived the Holocaust and were eager to live free of anti-Semitism and fear. Then in

1965, during the Six Day war, Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza, it still controls

both of those territories and it is there where most of the human right violations and

14 Ibid, 232. 15 Ibid, 233.

PAGE 7

terrorist actions occur. It is important to remember both the means by which and how

recently it was that Israel became a country. With this knowledge, it becomes clear that

ancient enmities are not at play in Israel/Palestine, but that the Human Rights violations

and terrorist acts that are committed today spawn from similar acts committed in the

twentieth century around the creation of the State of Israel. This turbulent period was

also when Human Rights violations and terrorist acts started to operate interchangeably in

Israel/Palestine.

Section Two: Notable Historic Terror Attacks and Human Rights Violations by

Palestinians

What is labeled as ‘Palestinian terrorism’ started as a fight for recognition that the

Palestinian refugees had lived in mandatory Palestine, a fight to be compensated for the

homes they were kicked out of in the creation of Israel, and to be allowed to live in peace.

Palestinian terror organizations were started by people who just wanted to go home. The

young men who took up the fight had seen their whole families pulled screaming and

crying from their homes, they had been forced to leave almost all their possessions

behind. They were forced out of their country and in to new counties where they were

treated as second class citizens at best, and at worst they were on their own for

everything. These people wanted to go home and they would use any means necessary to

get back. Unfortunately, when people are willing to do anything to obtain their goal

horrific things can and will happen. When people decide that any means are justified for

the sake of their end goals, Human Rights can easily be violated and terrorist acts are

willingly committed. When the decision is made, even by just a few, that anything goes

PAGE 8

the fight for recognition, compensation, and peace becomes a fight to the death, and that

is what happened to the groups working for the liberation of the Palestinian people.

The most well-known organization that worked for the liberation of Palestine

including carrying out terrorist actions and Human Rights violations was the Palestinian

Liberation Organization. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was created in

1964 by the leaders of the Arab League in the build up towards the 1967 war. The PLO

was created “to represent the Palestinian people” and would have its own army, but it was

importantly not to be treated as a “government in exile” and it would have no authority in

any other sovereign nation.16 The leader for the PLO that the Arab League chose was

Ahmed Shukairy, a “flamboyant Palestinian lawyer.”17 Shukairy served as the head of

the PLO until 1969 when he was ousted. 18 There were originally, and still are, many

separate groups working of the liberation of Palestine, though eventually a large

percentage of them joined together under the official banner of the PLO. One such group

was the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a semi-militant socialist

organization led by George Habash and Ghassan Kanafani. The PFLP was founded in

1967 and was fighting for Palestinian liberation in the West Bank and Gaza, following

the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza during the 1967 Six Day War.19 The

PFLP quickly became part of the PLO as the PLO’s power, influence, and international

credibility grew. Another group that had been founded independently but became

subsection of the PLO was the more militant group Al-Fatah. Al-Fatah had been founded

16 Mansfield, “A History of the Middle East” 304, 313. 17 Ibid, 304. 18 Ibid, 304. 19 Amjad Faur. “Rise of the PLO and Other Resistance Groups” Lecture for A New Middle East program at

the Evergreen State College, Olympia WA, January 2016.

PAGE 9

1959 and operated independently until they became part of the PLO in 196920. Al-Fatah

joined the PLO when their leader, Yasir Arafat, was elected to be the head of the PLO.21

There was, and to some extent still are, a wide range of organizations working toward

Palestinian liberation, and while they were not all violent it was the organizations that

were willing to commit violent acts that gained international attention.

The Palestinian liberation groups found that if they wanted to get anywhere with

their fight for liberation they had to capture the Western world’s attention, imagination,

and sympathy. The easiest way to gain attention was through hijacking planes, and it was

not hard to do. “There was virtually no security at airports you could literally walk

through the terminal, sometimes even on to the plane, without anyone checking your bags

of your person.”22 It was also not hard to pick targets. Planes were, in the eyes of groups

who wanted Western media attention, “…nationally labeled containers of potential

hostages at 35,000 feet.”23 With two or three people a group could take a plane, and they

very frequently did. Hijackings happened extremely frequently, sometimes one every

day for a few days in a row, and sometimes more than once a day.24 One of the most

notable plane hijackers was Leila Khaled, one of the first female members of the PFLP

and the first female hijacker. Following her first successful plane hijacking in 1969, she

became a media darling, a photo of her taken after the hijacking was completed made her

so famous that she had to have plastic surgery in order to continue fighting for her

20 Ibid. 21 Ibid. 22 "Terrorism at Home and Abroad." The Seventies. CNN. 30 July 2015. Television. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid.

PAGE 10

cause.25 She was also a sympathetic character for the media; she made the plane fly over

Haifa “…so that she could look at the home town she was not permitted to visit.”26 In the

eyes of the media and women all over the world, she was something different and at the

same time something similar: Leila Khaled was a young attractive woman terrorist, but

also a young attractive woman who just wanted to go home. Leila Khaled was someone

who could be both feared and related to. Another notable hijacking event was the

Dawson’s Field plane kidnapping. On September 6th 1970 the PFLP successfully

hijacked three planes, and made all three land on Dawson’s Field, an airstrip in the

Jordanian desert. There were 298 people on the planes who were subsequently held

hostage on the planes for six days before they were released.27 During the six day

hostage situation, the PFLP took advantage of the media coverage. They allowed the

media to come to film the situation and, from a distance, interview some of the hostages.

The PFLP used the Dawson’s Field media coverage to ask the world why they have so

much pity for these few hundred people in the desert, but not for the millions of

Palestinians who for 20 years, at that point, had been forced in to the desert.28 In a final

spectacle on September 12th, after the hostages had been removed, the PFLP blew up the

planes.29 Dawson’s Field was a clear sign to the Western world the Palestinians were

not going away, and the west could no longer ignore them.30 The relative success of the

25 Katharine Viner, “I made a Ring from a Bullet and the Pin of a Hand Grenade.” The Guardian. January

26, 2001, accessed March 21, 2016, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/26/israel. 26 Ibid. 27 “Terrorism at Home and Abroad." The Seventies. 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid. 30 Ibid.

PAGE 11

campaign of hijackings emboldened some to attempt more daring and potentially deadly

actions to bring to light the Palestinian plight.

Hijacking multiple planes is both a terrorist action and a Human Rights violation.

It is a terrorist action in that it is “…to intimidate a population, or to compel a

Government… to abstain from doing any act.”31 Through hijacking planes, organizations

were trying to compel the Israeli government to remove their military occupational forces

from Palestinian land in the West Banks and Gaza, as well as trying to weaken

international support for Israel. The policy of kidnaping planes full of people violates

Articles Seven and Nine of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Article Seven provides that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or

degrading treatment or punishment”32 and surely being kidnapped for and indeterminate

period of time, not knowing if or when you might see your family again, as well as

having to live with the knowledge that anytime anyone you knew or loved might be

kidnapped if they dared to fly had to be a torturous experience. Through hijacking planes

and kidnapping the passengers the Palestinian terror groups violated the Human Rights of

the Israelis. Article Nine provides that “Everyone has the right to liberty and security of

person.”33 Through hijacking planes and holding the passengers of the planes hostage,

the Palestinian terror groups violated the Israeli people’s Human Right of security of

person. Hijackings were not the only actions that violated the Human Rights of and

terrorized the Israelis that some Palestinian groups enacted.

31 "Terrorism" 32 “International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” United Nations, accessed May 1,

2016. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx 33 Ibid.

PAGE 12

The level of intensity of the attacks only grew following the successful plane

hijackings. Following a violent crackdown by the Jordanian government over the

Dawson’s Field incident, some members of resistance organizations turned to more brutal

means. The terrorist group Black September was one of the groups to take a more brutal

tact. Black September turned the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich Germany, the first

Olympics to be televised live, from “…the Olympics of serenity…” to “…the Olympics

of terror” over the course of one day.34 Sometime before five in the morning, members

of Black September climbed the fence in to the Olympic village and took over the

apartments of the Israel team.35 They took 11 members of the Israeli delegation

hostage.36 Two of the hostages were killed early in the day, it is believed that they were

killed when the terrorists broke in to the apartments.37 The group had intended to barter

the remaining hostages for the release of Palestinian prisoners, and to “…shower

unprecedented attention on the Palestinian cause.”38 The hostage situation televised live

around the world did just that. “An estimated 900,000,000 people that had tuned in to

watch the Olympic games around the world where now transfixed watching this grizzly

terrorist drama play out in front of them.”39 It was truly spectacle television something

from which no one could look away, but it was not a spectacle that would bring light to

the plight of the Palestinians as other terrorists had intended. After hours of negotiation,

the terrorist’s demands for escape were met and they were allowed to, with their nine

remaining hostages, make their way to an air strip that had three helicopters waiting to

34 “Terrorism at Home and Abroad." The Seventies. 35 Ibid. 36 Ibid. 37 Ibid. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid.

PAGE 13

make their escape.40 This did not go as the terrorists had hoped. “The German police

were set up at the nearby airbase to neutralize the terrorists and their by rescue the

hostages.”41 Unfortunately for everyone involved: the police, the hostages, and the world

watching in fear, a smooth rescue was not what happened. Instead “All hell [had]

broke[n] loose out there.”42 The police force were not adequately trained for what

happened “…they didn’t expect people who were heavily armed, who were willing to

sacrifice their lives for a cause.”43 The terrorists killed all nine remaining hostages

during the struggle before they themselves were killed.44 People were horrified at the

conclusion of the crisis; millions around the world had spent all day and well in to the

night glued to their television hoping and praying for the safe release of the hostages,

only to be more horrified as the situation came to an end and it was announced that all 11

of the hostages had been killed. The horror of the Munich Olympics did not bring

positive attention to the plight of the Palestinian people: it instead fixed the Palestinian

people in the role of the savage terrorist in the mainstream Western imagination. The

horrific situation also failed to dissuade other Palestinian organizations from using

hostage taking as a tactic in the future.

The Black September attack was both a terrorist action and a Human Rights

violation. It was a terrorist attack in that it was “…intended to cause death or serious

bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants… to intimidate a population, or to compel a

40 Ibid. 41 Ibid. 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid. 44 Ibid.

PAGE 14

Government… to abstain from doing any act.”45 The Black September group was trying

to compel the Israeli government to remove their military occupational forces from

Palestinian land in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as gain the release of people who

were imprisoned by the Israeli government. The policy of taking athletes hostage and

subsequently killing them violates Articles Six, Seven, and Nine of the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article Six provides that “Every human being

has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be

arbitrarily deprived of [their] life.”46 By killing 11 people, the terrorists deprived them of

their right to life thus violating their Human Rights. Article Seven provides that “No one

shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or

punishment.”47 Surely the hours of being held hostage was tortuous for both the athletes

and their families watching it happen live on television. Article Nine provides that

“Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person.”48 Through breaking in to the

Olympic village, holding athletes hostage and subsequently killing them, the Palestinian

terror group violated the Israeli athletes’ security of person. However the Black

September attack was not the most brutal action taken by Palestinian terror groups that

violated the Human Rights of Israelis.

The scale of violence unfortunately did not decrease following the Munich

hostage crisis and resulting massacre. In May of 1974, the Democratic Popular Front for

the Liberation of Palestine (DFP) decided to attack an Israeli school. Around four in the

45 "Terrorism" 46 “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” 47 Ibid. 48 Ibid.

PAGE 15

morning on May 15, 1974, three armed members of the DFP stormed a school building in

which “…more than a hundred Jewish Israeli teenagers for nearby towns were encamped

for the night.”49 The teenagers were staying in the school as part of a “…premilitary

training of youths…” the program was designed to encourage “…good citizenship,

physical training, and endurance and imparts preliminary technical training to youths

planning to enter… the air force, navy, signal corps, and armored troops.”50 When the

DPF members were taking control of the building, 17 teenagers, along with two

instructors and a driver, managed to escape.51 Within the next few hours, the DPF

members released their demands in the form of letters to the Israeli government; they

demanded the release of more than two dozen prisoners held by Israel. The letters also

set a deadline of 6pm, at which point the building would be blown up.52 The Israeli

government held to their policy of refusing to release prisoners and instead attempted to

storm the school and free the hostages that way.53 “At 5:40pm, Israeli armed forces

stormed the school” in storming the school they successfully killed all three the DFP

members.54 Tragically 25 of the hostages, the majority of them teenagers, died when the

DFP members shot into the crowd of gathered hostages and set off the explosives planted

around the school when the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) stormed the school.55

49“Ma'alot: An Account and an Evaluation” Middle East Research and Information Project 29 (1974): 22.

doi:10.2307/3011682. 50 Ibid. 51 Ibid. 52 Ibid. 53 Ibid. 54 Ibid. 55 “Terrorism at Home and Abroad." The Seventies.

PAGE 16

The attack on the Ma’alot school during which teenagers were hostage and

subsequently killed was both a terrorist action and a Human Rights violation. It was a

terrorist action in that the goals of the group were “…to cause death or serious bodily

harm to civilians or non-combatants… to intimidate a population, [and] to compel a

Government… to abstain from doing any act.”56 In this case, the organization was trying

to compel the Israeli government to release prisoners the group felt were held illegally.

The policy of attacking a school kidnapping and killing teenagers violates Articles Six,

Seven, and Nine of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article Six

provides that “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be

protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of [their] life.”57 Through

detonating explosives, and firing indiscriminately in to a crowd of teenagers the group

intended to, and did, kill people thus depriving them of their right to life and violating the

Israeli people’s Human Rights. Article Seven provides that “No one shall be subjected to

torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”58 surely being held

hostage for a day and then surviving an explosion and mass shooting was a torturous

experience for those who survived, as well being a parent of a hostage would have been a

torturous experience. Through taking a school hostage and then blowing it up, the

Palestinian terror groups violated the Human Rights of the Israelis. Article Nine provides

that “Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person.”59 Through blowing up a

56 "Terrorism" 57 “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” 58 Ibid. 59 Ibid.

PAGE 17

school and killing the teenagers within, the Palestinian terror group violated the Israeli

people’s security of person.

These violent attacks, when coupled together, instead of meeting the goals of the

groups, further cemented the architype of the evil Palestinian Arab in the minds of

Western media viewers. These attacks were also spurred on by, and happened in reaction

to, attacks against the Palestinian people by Israelis, but those attacks were usually given

less media attention – if any. The terrorist actions and Human Rights violations

committed by Palestinians discussed here, and the hundreds of other similar but less well

known actions like these, are part the reason for the ongoing conflict in Israel/Palestine

and part of the reason that Human Rights violations and terrorist actions operate

interchangeably in Israel/Palestine today.

Section Three: Notable Historic Terror Attacks and Human Rights Violations by Israel

While most of what the Western world labels Palestinian terrorism happened after

the creation of the State of Israel, all of what the Western would labels Israeli terrorism

happened in trying to bring about the creation of the State of Israel. Like Palestinian

terrorists, Israeli terrorists saw themselves as people trying to secure the future of their

homelands. Israeli terrorists were also willing to take any means necessary to insure the

existence of their homeland, and the safety of their people. Israeli terrorism did not stop

with the creation of the State of Israel, Israeli terrorist actions became state sanctioned

military policy. Following the creation of the State of Israel actions that should have

been labeled terrorism or Human Rights violations were passed off as necessary self-

defense, or simply ignored by the Western world.

PAGE 18

The two most notable Israeli terrorist groups were the Irgun and Stern Gang.

Originally both groups were part of the Haganah, the Jewish Agency’s military force.

The two groups originally broke off from the Haganah, in 1937, as one group the

National Military Organization in the Land of Israel, or Irgun Zevi Leumi be Erz Israel in

Hebrew, when the Jewish Agency would not allow them to retaliate “…against the Arab

community whenever Jewish settlements were attacked by Arab Marauders.”60 Then in

1940, the Stern Gang, who take their name from their original leader Abraham Stern,

then broke off from the Irgun because they “…wished to use the Irgun as a Nucleus of a

Jewish anti-British rebellion”61 while the Irgun proper wanted “…to demonstrate the

strength of the Jews in Palestine and the Military possibilities of a friendly Jewish force

safeguarding British interests in the Arab world.”62 For the next decade the two

organizations worked, sometimes in tandem and sometimes against each other, towards

the creation of a Jewish state. Both groups’ tactics, cooperation with the Jewish Agency,

and public support varied wildly.

The main tactic taken by the Stern Gang was assassinations of British officials

and police officers in Palestine. In trying to push the British out of Palestine, the Stern

Gang faced strong resistance from the British, so much so that “… the members of the

group became convinced that they would be killed if captured by the police, and therefore

decided to be armed at all times and to ‘take on with them’ if stopped by the security

forces.”63 This led to many deadly clashed between Stern Gang members and British

60 Y.S. Brenner, “The ‘Stern Gang’ 1940-1948,” Middle Eastern Studies 2 (1965): 2 61 Ibid, 3. 62 Ibid, 3. 63 Ibid, 6.

PAGE 19

police, though early on the majority of these clashes ended in the deaths of the Stern

Gang members. The most famous successful assassination by Stern Gang members was

that of “… Lord Moyne, the British Minister-Resident for the Middle East…”64 who was

shot and killed by two members of the group on November 6th, 1944 in Cairo.65 The

assassination of the British Minister-Resident was shocking global news. The Stern

Gang and their exploits stayed in the news when, during the trial, the members of the

group who had committed the crime claimed that “In fact we represent, and we are, the

real owners of Palestine and as such we are engaged in a struggle to free our country

from the alien rulers who have taken possession of it.”66 This opinion of the terrorists

was not shared even in Palestine; the area’s most important paper said that “…the

terrorists had destroyed the hopes of the Jewish people”67 To the general public, the

Stern Gang was “…nothing better than a band of senseless assassins.”68 The Jewish

Agency took the opportunity that followed “… to launch a large-scale attack, (which was

given the code name ‘open season’) on the Irgun.”69 Despite the fact that the Irgun were

not responsible for the assassination, “…had not even been informed in advance of the

[Stern Gang]’s plan to assassinate Lord Moyne, and had indeed dissociated itself from

it…”70 the Haganah and the Jewish Agency went after them brutally. All the while the

Stern Gang continued “…walking the streets of Tel-Aviv and other towns undisturbed.”71

Notable British politicians were not the Stern Gang’s only targets for assassination; they

64 Ibid, 12. 65 Ibid, 12. 66 Ibid, 12. 67 Ibid, 14. 68 Ibid, 5. 69 Ibid, 14. 70 Ibid, 14. 71 Ibid, 15.

PAGE 20

also target local British military officers. In less globally notable instances the Stern

Gang frequently attacked British military personal to discourage their continued control

of Palestine. During one of these attacks on the British military “…army personnel off

duty were attacked in Jerusalem and suffered twenty-eight casualties.”72 In another

instance, 35 soldiers were injured and 25 soldiers were killed.73 The Stern Gang was not

afraid of killing or being killed to get their message across to the British authorities.

The use of assassination as a tactic is not only a gruesome terrorist action it is also

a violation Human Rights. Assassinations are in their nature “…intended to cause death

or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants… to compel a Government… to

abstain from doing any act”74 and the Stern Gang used them for specifically this reason.

The Stern Gang intended to intimidate the British population into pulling out of Palestine

with the frequent, often public, killings. The tactic of assassination is a violation of the

Third Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which provides for “…the

right to life, liberty, and security of person.”75 Therefor in assassinating people the Stern

Gang was not only terrorizing the British Government in Palestine but also violating their

Human Rights. The tactic of assassination is also a violation of the Sixth Article of the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that “Every human

being has the inherent right to life… No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of [their] life.”76

Obviously by assassinating people the Stern Gang was violating this Human Right.

Assassinations were not, though, the only tactic taken by the Stern Gang to dissuade the

72 Ibid, 23. 73 Ibid, 23. 74 "Terrorism" 75 "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” 76 “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”

PAGE 21

British government from staying in Palestine. The group also attempted to besiege the

local British government with disruptive internal attacks that would cripple their

capabilities to successfully control Palestine.

The Stern Gang also undertook the tactic of consistent disruption of British

interests in Palestine. Everything from oil, to military bases, to banking establishments

were targeted in their attempt to push the British out of Palestine. From the start, the

Stern Gang relied on robberies to support their interests as they “…had no sources of

income…”77 other than themselves, while the Irgun had support from sections of the

Jewish Authority.78 Eventually, the group got quite good at robbing banks: they

“…robbed the Tel-Aviv Branch of the Discount Bank of £27,000”79 in March of 1947,

then in September of the same year robbed the Tel-Aviv Barclays of £45,000.80 That was

not the last time they would rob that branch of that bank either; seven months later in

April of 1948 they “…robbed the Tel-Aviv Branch of Barclay’s Bank of £200,000.”81 In

one of the Stern Gang’s first large-scale attacks, and one of their many joint operations

with the Irgun, 30 members of the group took part in an attack on three R.A.F. bases and

helped to destroy 30 planes.82 In an extremely well organized mission, the group

assembled and was set to work.

The men were divided into three groups of about ten each. One group wore

British uniforms and drove in a stolen army truck into the airbase, taking up

positions close to the arsenal and billets of the three hundred personnel stationed

there. A second group took up positions at a point outside the airfield, close to the

77 Brenner, “The Stern Gang,” 5. 78 Ibid, 5. 79 Ibid, 22. 80 Ibid, 22. 81 Ibid, 23. 82 Ibid, 17.

PAGE 22

runways. The ten remaining men, carrying… explosives, crawled under cover of

darkness to the airplanes on the runway... Each of the men picked a Spitfire and

tied his explosives to it. When… all was ready [the commander] gave the order to

light the fuses and retreat. As nine of the planes blew up, the unit which had been

posted next to the army billets opened fire to cover the retreat of the saboteurs.

The moment they had reached safety, the second cover-unit outside the fence

opened fire to cover the retreat of the first cover-unit near the billets. When the

two units rejoined each other, the general retreat… to a pre-arranged checking

point continued. There was little risk of the assailants meeting any civilians…

who might identify them, as the country had been under dusk-to-dusk curfew for

some days. At this point the… men, dispersed, and when morning came,

separately joined the general rush of people going to work.83

This attack and others like it brought the Stern Gang international press, particularly in

Russia, which they used to try and garner support for their opposition to British control

over Palestine and their fight for independence.84 While not as successful as the Stern

Gang would have hoped, the international attention and pressure was a small factor in

Great Brittan’s eventual withdrawal from the country. The Stern Gang continually

carried out attacks on British controlled oil in hopes of adding further and further

disturbances to the beleaguered British. On a single day in March of 1947 the Stern

Gang “…set fire to 300,000 tons of fuel oil…”85 at a refinery in Haifa. The group

repeatedly destroyed oil transport trains, and train tracks to slow down oil production,

and harass the British. The Stern Gang tried to, in concert with their assassination

attempts, inflict a never ending stream of problems for the British rulers of Palestine.

These acts are less easily quantifiable as Human Rights violations, but there were

moments in the evolution of Human Rights violations and terrorism in Israel/Palestine

when the two did not operate interchangeably. If one is willing to take the perspective of

83 Ibid, 17-18. 84 Ibid, 18. 85 Ibid, 22.

PAGE 23

international law and say that states are legal persons, then the Stern Gang would be

guilty of arbitrarily depriving a legal person of their property, which Article 17 of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights protects against, though it would be hard to argue

that the states were on the minds of the creators of the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights.86 The Stern Gang was also not the only group terrorizing the British government

in Palestine, the Irgun also shifted its focus to ousting the British in the middle of the

1940s.

While when the Stern Gang had split from the Irgun it was only the Stern Gang

who wanted to fight back against the British, this did not remain the case. By 1944, the

“…Irgun, under the command of [Menachem] Begin, formally declared was on the

British administration in Palestine and resumed attacks on British installations”87 but the

Irgun made it clear they were “…only fighting the British policy of suppression in

Palestine.”88 The Irgun also tried to separate itself from the Stern Gang in that they tried

to ensure that all British buildings they attacked or demolished were free of people; in

fact, the Irgun “…went out of their way to make sure that no British lives were lost in

these operations.”89 The destruction of buildings in this manner, where everything went

to plan and no people were killed, is not why the Irgun is remembered as a major Israeli

terrorist organization. The Irgun are remembered as a major terrorist organization

because of the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. “The southern wing of

the King David Hotel in Jerusalem had served since the war as military G.H.Q., and

86 "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” 87 Brenner, “The Stern Gang,” 9. 88 Ibid. 89 Ibid.

PAGE 24

Secretariat of the Civil Government.”90 The Irgun had decided to blow up the building in

a joint effort with the Stern Gang, who were going to attack another building nearby at

the same time. It was agreed upon in advance that “…thirty minutes should be allowed

between the introduction of explosives and their detonation to permit the evacuation of

the building.”91 At 12 o’clock in the afternoon, on July 22nd, the explosives were placed

and three phone calls were made “…one to the management of the King David Hotel, a

second to the editor of the ‘Palestinian Post’ newspaper, and a third to the French

Consulate…”92 which was the adjacent building. The warnings were ignored, and no

evacuation took place. “…More than two hundred people were killed or injured in the

explosion.”93 Both the British government and the Irgun were horrified.

Blowing up a building and, even accidentally, killing people inside of it is an

obvious violation of Human Rights. Through committing a terrorist action “…intended to

cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants… to compel a

Government… to abstain from doing any act.”94 The group also violated the Human

Rights of the buildings inhabitants. Through blowing up a building and killing a large

number of its occupants the group violated Article Three of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights which provides “…the right to life, liberty, and security of person.”95 The

group also violated Articles Six of the International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights which provides that “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right

90 Ibid, 26-27. 91 Ibid, 27. 92 Ibid, 27. 93 Ibid, 27. 94 "Terrorism" 95 "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

PAGE 25

shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of [their] life.”96 Terrorism

and Human Rights violations by Israeli’s did not stop when the British removed

themselves from power, it simply redirected its main focus to the Palestinian people.

The 1948 war between the fledgling State of Israel and the surrounding Arab

states is remembered as a David and Goliath level triumph. No one expected the State of

Israel to survive, not with “…40 million Arabs confronting some 600,000 Zionist

Jews.”97 This prevalent idea of what would happen did not take into account the

staggering lack of unity in the Arab forces, or the 60,000 highly trained, though not

officially recognized, Israeli troops and lead to “Some of the Arab leaders, especially in

Syria and Iraq, [being] so ignorant of the situation that they expected a walk-over.”98 A

walk-over was not what happened, by the end of the war in “…January 1949 the Jews

had occupied all of the Negev up to the former Egypt-Palestine border except for the

Gaza Strip.”99 The new State of Israel had also captured “…Nazareth and western

Galilee, which had been allotted to the Arabs.”100 In trying to force the collapse of the

new Jewish state the surrounding Arab countries managed to instead allow it to expand.

The invasion by Arab forces was not the only front of the war for Israel, though it is most

commonly remembered this way. The new Israeli government was also fighting to expel

most of the non-Jewish Arabs from Palestine to seize as much of the land as possible.

The “…Irgun and the Stern Gang were now collaborating with the Haganah, and the

master-plan, known as Plan Dalet, for the seizure of most of Palestine was put into

96 “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” 97 Mansfield, “A History of the Middle East,” 266. 98 Ibid, 266-267. 99 Ibid, 268. 100 Ibid, 268.

PAGE 26

effect.”101 Under this plan all three of the groups attacked towns and expelled the Arab

occupants. The most infamous of these attacks was the attack on Deir Yassin by the

Irgun, which ended in a massacre instead of an expulsion. On April 9th, 1948, the village

of Deir Yassin was attacked by the Irgun and “… 250 inhabitants of the village…”102

were slaughtered in the streets and in their homes. Men, women, and children, even the

elderly were killed indiscriminately. Word of this gruesome massacre spread quickly and

soon “…some three to four thousand refugees streamed in terror towards neighboring

Arab countries.”103 Most, if not all, of the people who fled without being forced thought

that they would see their homes again. Dr. Ghada Karmi writes of what he remembers of

his own family’s evacuation of Jerusalem, he recalls in the days leading up to their

leaving that his parents “…thought then in terms of two or three weeks, for there was no

suspicion at that time that the Jews would win of that we could lose our country and our

homes.”104 He also recalls that

when my mother packed for our journey, she took only one suitcase, certain we

would be back soon. She would not even let me take my bedraggled by much

loved teddy bear named Beta… All our belongings, papers and documents, family

photographs and momentous – our whole history – was left behind forever.105

This situation was sadly not at all uncommon. Many Palestinian people who were forced

out, whether directly by soldiers or indirectly by the threat of violence, left with little

more than what was on their backs. By the end of 1949, the people who had forced to

101 Ibid, 266. 102 Ibid, 266. 103 Ibid, 266. 104 Ghada Karmi, “The 1948 Exodus: A Family Story” Jouranl of Palestine Studies 23 (1994): 35, accessed

April 4, 2016. 105 Ibid, 36.

PAGE 27

leave their homes and become refugees accounted for “Half of the Palestinian Arabs.”106

The 1948-49 war was a catastrophe for both the surrounding Arab countries and the non-

Jewish Arab population, but while the surrounding countries only lost the chance at land,

hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their homes forever.

The massacre at Deir Yassin and the mass expulsion it was part of were both

Human Rights violations and terrorist actions. First and foremost, the mass expulsion of

Palestinian people violates Article Nine of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

which stipulates that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”107

Secondly, the circumstances of the forced expulsion lead to a violation of Article 11 of

the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This article

provides for the continued improvement of living conditions, and adequate “…clothing

and housing.”108 By forcing people out with little more than what was on their backs the

Israeli soldiers violated this human right. The Deir Yassin massacre and other less

deadly town evacuations that happened under Plan Dalet were textbook examples of

terrorist actions at they were “…intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to

civilians or non-combatants…” and “…intimidate [the] population.”109 This side of the

1948-49 Arab-Israeli war is largely ignored by the Western world, the Palestinian

catastrophe is written out of most history books in favor of the David and Goliath

narrative. While the exile of half of the Palestinian Arab population from the newly

106 Mansfield, “A History of the Middle East,” 268. 107 "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights." 108 “International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” United Nations, accessed May 1,

2016. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx 109 "Terrorism."

PAGE 28

created state of Israel is the largest in numbers of people affected, it is not the most

gruesome.

The most brutal, shocking, and horrific policy that Israel enacted in the twentieth

century has to be the so called Broken Bones Policy. The Broken Bones Policy came in

to existence as a response to the first Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, which took place

from 1987 until 1992. The most iconic and widely spread feature of the Intifada was

Palestinian children and adolescents throwing stones at Israeli soldiers and tanks.110 In

the first two years of the Intifada over “… 50,000 Palestinians had been arrested… half of

those arrested were under the age of eighteen.”111 Very soon after the start of the Intifada

it became clear that the arrests did nothing to stop the stones from being thrown and the

Intifada from continuing. So the Israeli government and the IDF resolved to break the

will of the Palestinians by breaking their bones, and especially Palestinian children’s’

bones. While there is “…no comprehensive data on the West Bank…” the data compiled

by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the Palestinian Human

Rights Information Center (PHRIC) makes it clear that “…children were increasingly

injured by Israeli gunfire and beatings coincident with escalations of targeting them in

Gaza.”112 In Gaza alone the IDF beat roughly 70,000 children “…between the ages of

eight and fifteen. They would have ‘broken the bones’ of 6,000 of those children.”113

Around 11,883 children aged 15 and under were treated for injuries sustained from IDF

110 Mansfield “A History of the Middle East,” 356. 111 Ibid, 357. 112 James A. Graff, and غراف جيمس. “Crippling a People: Palestinian Children and Israeli State Violence /

.Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, 13 (1993): 51 .”اإلسرائيلية الدولة وعنف الفلسطينيون األطفال :شعب تعويق

doi:10.2307/521791. 113 Ibid, 48.

PAGE 29

beatings, 969 of those children were five years old or younger.114 The gruesome beatings

were usually carried out by “…two, four or more soldiers… using their rifles or army

issued 60 cm. plastic or fiber glass truncheons. They usually strike their victims with

these weapons ‘all over the body.’” Some beatings that are more brutal but still

considered standard by the IDF include “…repeatedly smashing the victim’s head against

walls or striking the victim on the forehead in order to cause hairline fractures at the base

of the skull.”115 A four year-old boy named Ali had both of his arms broken in multiple

places for pointing a toy gun at Israeli soldiers, the soldiers held him down and hit his

arms with their rifles, while his mother watched in horror unable to do anything.116 The

broken bones policy did not end with beatings though, the IDF also frequently shot

people of all ages. During the first four years of the Intifada alone over “…5,315 [Gazan]

children [were] treated for gunshot wounds.”117 The compiled data “…indicates that

Israeli soldiers have inflicted well over 110,000 beatings or gunshot injuries since the

beginning of the Intifada. This means that almost one-third of the children in Gaza,

fifteen years or younger have been injured by [the] IDF.”118 Despite the wide spread

brutality against every Palestinian person who was resisting the occupation, even

toddlers, the Broken Bones Policy did not stop the Intifada, people continued to resist.

Sadly the appalling and ineffective Broken Bones Policy is not an often remembered part

of the first Intifada, it is relegated to little or no mention in this annals of history as

recorded by the Western world. The Israeli government and the IDF are let of the hook

114 Ibid, 48. 115 Ibid, 48. 116 Ibid, 48 117 Ibid, 49. 118 Ibid, 50.

PAGE 30

for beating and shooting one third of the children in Gaza, and a presumably similar

number of children in the West Bank. The policy was the source of a massive number of

Human Rights violations and was a terrorist act by the Israeli government.

The policy of brutally beating people is without a doubt a terrorist action and a

Human Rights violation. Beating civilians in an attempt to dissuade and intimidate them

against participating in an uprising is absolutely terrorism by the United Nations own

guidelines.119 The policy of beating civilians also violates Articles Six, Seven, Nine, and

Twenty-Four of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article Six

provides that “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be

protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of [their] life.”120 By

indiscriminately shooting people and beating people with the intention of breaking their

bones the IDF certainly killed people and deprived them of their right to life violating the

Palestinian people’s right to life. Article Seven provides that “No one shall be subjected

to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”121 and surely

seeing ones child beaten in from of them is torture, as well as the degrading torturous

treatment of being beaten. Through beating children in front of their parents, and beating

people generally the IDF and the Israeli government violated the Human Rights of the

Palestinians. Article Nine provides that “Everyone has the right to liberty and security of

person. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention.”122 The mass number

of imprisonments during the Intifada suggest that the IDF and the Israeli government

119 “Terrorism.” 120 “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” 121 Ibid. 122 Ibid.

PAGE 31

were arbitrarily arresting anyone it saw as not obedient, thus violating the Human Rights

of the Palestinians. Article 24 provides for the safety of children saying “Every child

shall have, without any discrimination … the right to such measures of protection as are

required by his status as a minor, on the part of his family, society and the State.”123 It is

obvious that the IDF and the Israeli government had no qualms in violating the Human

Rights of Palestinian children when faced with the staggering numbers of just how many

children were shot or beaten by the IDF with the approval of the Israeli government.

The terrorist actions and Human Rights violations committed in the hopes of

creating the State of Israel by future Israelis, and the terrorist Human Rights violating

actions that were taken and the policies enacted by the Israeli government following the

creation of the State of Israel should be remembered as such. The Western world should

not look at the historical terrorist actions and Human Rights violations committed by the

Palestinians without also remembering those committed by the Israelis. Looking at the

conflict through the lens of only the Palestinians have done been terrorists and committed

Human Rights violations, absolves the Israeli government of all guilt and allows them to

continually terrorize, and violate the Human Rights of, the Palestinian people. This view

that only the Palestinians are at fault also ignores a large part of the Palestinian people’s

history, and erases many of the Palestinians people’s reasons for resistance. It should be

understood that both sides are at fault, that many people on either side have the blood of

innocent civilians and of children on their hands. Now that the evolution and

intertwining of how Human Rights violations and terrorism came to operate as

123 Ibid.

PAGE 32

interchangeably in Israel/Palestine is understood, we can begin to unpack how they

operate interchangeably in the twenty-first century.

Section Four: Palestinian Human Rights Violations and Terrorist Actions in the 21st

Century

At the beginning of the twenty-first century there was hope that with the signing

of the Oslo Accords peace would be reached. In 1993 when the first Oslo Accord was

signed it had been 45 years since the mass expulsion of the Arabs from Palestine in 1948.

The young men who had taken up the fight, who had seen their whole families pulled

screaming and crying from their homes, who had been forced to leave almost all their

possessions behind were now old men. They were no longer just young rabble rousers

but fathers, grandfathers, organization leaders, and community leaders. They still were

people who wanted nothing more than to go home and they were still committed to the

use of any means necessary. The means of internationally negotiated peace agreements

seemed like a turn for the better over having to kill and be killed, but the peace

agreements were not universally upheld. Despite signing an agreement saying they

would cease settlements and shrink their military occupation Israel continued to settle and

militarily occupy the entirety of the West Bank and Gaza. This did not sit well with the

Palestinians and soon a second Intifada, or uprising, was started. Unlike its predecessor

which was a largely non-violent movement on the part of the Palestinians, the Second

Intifada brought mass numbers of suicide bombings and other extremely violent attacks.

The Second Intifada also brought some new groups to the forefront of the struggle for

Palestinian freedom.

PAGE 33

The twenty-first century was a time of change in regards to the groups committing

the terrorist actions and violating Human Rights. While some groups like the Democratic

Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of

Palestine (PFLP) continued acting as they had historically, other groups including the

Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) changed their operation procedures. The PLO

which had negotiated on behalf of the Palestinians in the Oslo accords even went so far as

to change their name becoming the Palestinian Authority (PA). The late twentieth, and

early twenty-first century also saw the rise of a new player Hamas. Hamas is in its

origins an activist off shoot from the Muslim Brotherhood, the name is an acronym of the

longer “…Harakat al-Muqawwama al-Islamiyya (Islamic Resistance Movement)" and

has presented itself as a Palestinian nationalist movement with an Islamic tint.124 Hamas

operates throughout Israel/Palestine but its largest center power is in Gaza where the

group is a large part of the democratically elected government. Other groups, including

the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, whose main objectives centered on violently disrupting the

status quo sprung up in resistance to the continued brutal Israeli occupation. These

organizations, while they are the most internationally recognized, represent only a small

number of the groups operating on the Palestinian side and their tactics are only

representative of themselves and not the Palestinian people as a whole.

The most widely used tool in the arsenal of groups resisting the continued military

occupation and growth of settlements was suicide bombing. Suicide bombings were so

frequently used in the Second Intifada that there were only two months, January and

124Wendy Kristianasen, “Challenge and Counterchallenge: Hamas's Response to Oslo,” Journal of

Palestine Studies 28 (3) (1999): 19–36. doi:10.2307/2538305.

PAGE 34

February of 2001, in the first four years of the Intifada that they did not occur.125 There

were a total of 135 suicide bombings in the first four years alone.126 The bombings took

place all over Israel/Palestine from Tel Aviv to West Bank check points no area was safe

from the potential of a suicide bombing. The bombings that happened in the first four

years of the Intifada killed at least 501 people and injured over 2,823 people.127 Of the

135 bombings, 13 bombings killed 15 or more people not including the attacker, and four

bombings killed more than 20 people.128 Suicide bombings were a man-made epidemic,

and while the Intifada continued there seemed that no cure could be found. While most

groups made used of the tactic of suicide bombing, most frequently suicide bombers were

from Hamas. Of the 135 suicide bombings between 38 and 44 of those were committed

by Hamas, killing between 245 and 297 people.129 The sheer number of Hamas suicide

bombings meant that the group usually committed one or more suicide bombing a month.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade were also responsible for a number of the suicide

bombings, the group committed between 21 and 25 of the attacks and killed

approximately 70 people.130 The PFLP were involved in the campaign of suicide

bombing to a lesser extent, the group was responsible for seven to nine of the bombings

and the deaths of 10 or 11 people.131 Unfortunately for the Palestinian people the rise in

suicide bombings did not correlate to, or cause, a decrease in Israeli brutality or

125 M. K. Esposito, “The al-Aqsa Intifada: Military Operations, Suicide Attacks, Assassinations, and Losses

in the First Four Years,” Journal of Palestine Studies, 34 (2) (2005): 85–122.

http://doi.org/10.1525/jps.2005.34.2.085 126 Ibid, 108. 127 Ibid, 108. 128 Ibid, 105-108. 129 Ibid, 108. 130 Ibid, 108. 131 Ibid, 108.

PAGE 35

settlements. Instead “…polls indicate that Palestinians [were] worse off” after the start of

the Second Intifada and the suicide bombing epidemic “…than they were before…

according to every indicator (economic, social, health, etc.).”132 The tactic of suicide

bombing was a horrendous and commonly used terrorist action and Human Rights

violation that did not help the Palestinian groups perpetrating it achieve their goals or any

goals of the Palestinian people.

The tactic of suicide bombing is both a terrorist action and a Human Rights

violation. It is a terrorist policy in that it is “…intended to cause death or serious bodily

harm to civilians or non-combatants… to intimidate a population, or to compel a

Government… to abstain from doing any act.”133 In the case of the suicide bombings the

organizations were trying to compel the Israeli government to stop the policy of

settlements and remove their military occupational forces from Palestinian land. The

policy of randomly blowing up civilians and military personal alike violates Articles Six,

Seven, and Nine of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article Six

provides that “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be

protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of [their] life.”134 By

indiscriminately detonating explosives these groups intended to, and successfully did, kill

people and deprive them of their right to life violating the Israeli people’s Human Rights.

Article Seven provides that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or

degrading treatment or punishment”135 and surely being injured but not killed in an

132 Mia M. Bloom. “Palestinian Suicide Bombing: Public Support, Market Share, and Outbidding,”

Political Science Quarterly, 119 (1) (2004): 62. 133 "Terrorism" 134 “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” 135 Ibid.

PAGE 36

explosion is a tortuous experience, seeing the explosion of a suicide bomb would also be

a torturous experience, as well as having to live with the knowledge that there was going

to be a suicide bombing every month, and most months more than one would happen.

Through indiscriminately blowing up so called targets the Palestinian terror groups

violated the Human Rights of the Israelis. Article Nine provides that “Everyone has the

right to liberty and security of person.”136 Through causing explosions in public areas the

Palestinian terror groups violated the Israeli people’s security of person, thus violating

the Human Rights of the Israeli’s. Suicide bombings were not the only actions that

violated the Human Rights of, and terrorized the Israelis that some Palestinian groups

enacted.

The other violent attacks carried out during the Second Intifada are referred to as

a group as non-bombing suicide attacks. These attacks range from stabbings, to

shootings, to running people over with cars in all cases the “…perpetrators knew they

themselves would be killed” and “…usually involved infiltrating settlements or IDF

posts.”137 These attacks were also by and large less frequent and less deadly. These

attacks, like the suicide bombings, occurred across the country of Israel and within the

occupied territories. There were 81 non-bombing suicide attacks in the first four years of

the Second Intifada and they resulted in 149 fatalities.138 Only one of the attacks killed

more than 10 people it was an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade – Hamas joint attack on the

Emmanuel settlement in December of 2001.139 The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade was

136 Ibid. 137 Esposito, “The al-Aqsa Intifada,” 104. 138 Ibid, 111. 139 Ibid, 109.

PAGE 37

responsible for 22 of the non-bombing suicide attacks that took place during the first four

years of the Intifada, killing 57 people.140 Hamas utilized this tactic significantly less

then they utilized the tactic of suicide bombings, they were held responsible for 16 of the

attacks and the deaths of 46 people.141 Large organizations were not the only ones

carrying out these attacks though, 33 of the attacks were unclaimed or perpetrated by

unaffiliated people, often at check points or settlements.142 Of these unclaimed acts two

were perpetrated by teenagers. The first was a knife attack by a 15 year-old girl in

February of 2002 that resulted in no fatalities or injuries.143 The second by a group of

three 14 year-old boys in March of the same year which also resulted in no fatalities or

injuries.144 The number of unaffiliated attacks, the fact that some of the attackers were

teenagers, along with the fact that the majority of unaffiliated attacks happened at

settlements or check points suggests people living with anger, frustration, and inability to

change their lives for the better that they see lashing out at the physical manifestation of

their problems the only option even if it means their death.

The non-bombing suicide attacks are both terrorist actions and Human Rights

violations. These attacks are terrorist attacks in that they are “…intended to cause death

or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants… to intimidate a population, or to

compel a Government… to abstain from doing any act.”145 The organizations, and

individual people, were trying to compel the Israeli government to stop the policy of

140 Ibid, 109-111. 141 Ibid, 109-111. 142 Ibid, 109-111. 143 Ibid, 109. 144 Ibid, 109. 145 "Terrorism"

PAGE 38

settlements and remove their military occupational forces from Palestinian land. The

policy of randomly attacking civilians and military personal alike through any means

possible violates Articles Six, and Nine of the International Covenant on Civil and

Political Rights. Article Six provides that “Every human being has the inherent right to

life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of [their]

life.”146 By indiscriminately attacking settlements, checkpoints, and random human

targets in some towns and cities these groups killed people and deprived them of their

right to life, thus violating the Israeli people’s Human Rights. Article Nine provides

that “Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person.”147 Through attacking

people in public areas at random the Palestinian terror groups, and individuals, violated

the Israeli people’s security of person, thus violating the Human Rights of the Israeli’s.

The beginning of the 21st century brought about the birth of the Second Intifada

which solidified the standing of Palestinian terrorist attacks in Israel/Palestine as both

terrorist actions and Human Rights violations. The one sided mainstream Western media

coverage of the Second Intifada further solidified the Western view of Palestinians as

inherently violent terrorist, who were not willing to make peace. Despite the fact that it

was the Israeli governments continued policies of settlements and violence against

Palestinians that spurred on the Second Intifada. Now let us turn to Israeli Human Rights

violations and terrorist actions committed in the 21st century, which both spurred on the

Second Intifada and were reactions to it.

146 “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” 147 Ibid.

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Section Five: Israeli Human Rights Violations and Terrorist Actions in the West Bank in

the 21st Century

While Israel commits a large number of Human Rights violations and terrorist

acts throughout the territory of mandated Palestine the largest number are continually

committed in the West Bank. Of the large number of atrocities committed in the West

Bank the majority of them are committed in service of the Israeli settlements. There are

currently over three hundred thousand Israeli citizens breaking international law and

violating the Human Rights of the Palestinian people by settling in the West Bank.

Specifically the Israel settlers are violating the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to

Civilian Persons in Time of War (1949),148 the Hague Convention on the Laws and

Customs of War on Land and regulations detailed therein (1907),149 the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966),150 and the International Covenant of

Economic, Social and Cultural rights (1966).151 The settlers have the support of their

government and no intentions to stop violating these laws and rights.

The Israeli government does not acknowledge that the continued settlement of the

West Bank breaks international law, nor do they recognize that international law applies

at all in the Occupied Territories. The arguments that the Israeli government make to the

international community to support their claims of having done no wrong are largely

based of semantics, and the wording of international legal documents. The Israeli

148 Yehezkel Lein, “The Settlements in international law” in Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the

West Bank (Jerusalem: B'Tselem, 2002) 37. 149 Ibid. 150 Ibid, 41. 151 Ibid, 41.

PAGE 40

government claims the Fourth Geneva convention does not apply to the occupied

territories “because their annexation by Jordan and Egypt never received international

recognition” meaning, in Israel’s view, the territory does not meet the requirements of the

law.152 Another semantic argument that the Israeli government has used to, in the minds

of some, prove the legality of their settlements in the West Bank is the fact that the

settlers move voluntarily to the settlements. The Israeli government argues that because

the settlers are not forcibly transferred to the settlements their actions do not violate

Article 49 of the Geneva Conventions. Article 49 does forbid the forcible deportation of

local residents from the Occupied Territory, it also includes a prohibition of non-forcibly

“…transferring a civilian population from the occupying state into the occupied

territory.”153 It is maintained by the Israel government that the settlements are not

intended to be permanent, and are therefore not in violation of Hague regulations

regarding the non-permanence of military occupation.154 The government maintains that

the privately owned land taken from the Palestinians was taken for meeting security

needs, the land was instead used for a plethora of civilian communities and

neighborhoods.155 Despite being signatories to both the International Covenant on Civil

and Political Rights and the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural

rights Israel acts as if the rules, regulations and rights explicitly stated therein do not

apply to the West Bank. Both of the covenants explicitly “…stated that they also apply

to Israel in regards to its actions in the West Bank.”156 The government of Israel denies

152 Ibid, 37. 153 Ibid, 38. 154 Ibid, 40. 155 Ibid, 40. 156 Ibid, 41.

PAGE 41

the Palestinian people in the West Bank of their Human Rights because of semantics and

an overwhelming desire to control the land.

The Israeli government provides financial support for the settlements by way of

financial incentives along with their rhetorical claims of the settlements being legal. The

Israeli government provides financial incentives for everything in the settlements: from

the cost of buying a house, to the cost of the homeowner’s child’s education, to income-

tax reductions, to monetary benefits for teachers. If an Israeli citizen wants to buy a

house in the West Bank settlements the Israeli government will give that person a loan of

up to NIS (Israeli New Shekel) 60,000, and after 15 years that loan will turn into a

grant.157 Once the Israeli government has financed part of the cost of buying a house in

the settlements, they will give any Israeli settlers with children, who go to non-

compulsory school, a 90% reduction of the cost of tuition and cover the cost of

transporting the child to and from school.158 Settlers also receive an income tax break, on

top of the reduction of school tuition for their children, and the government financing

their home. As of 2000 Israeli citizens living in settlements receive a 7% income tax

reduction.159 Finally just to insure that the settlers, who are breaking international law,

really feel like they are making a good decision for their family, the Israeli government

gives financial incentives to teachers to work in the settlements. An Israeli teacher who

signs up to teach at a school in the settlements will get a promotion, four years of

seniority, some of their travel and rental costs covered, and reimbursed for 75% of their

157 Yehezkel Lein, “Benefits and Financial incentives” in Land Grab: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West

Bank (Jerusalem: B'Tselem, 2002) 74. 158 Ibid, 75. 159 Ibid, 76.

PAGE 42

tuition paid to universities, among other benefits.160 The Israeli government is not just

passively allowing these settlements to happen, they are actively encouraging the Israeli

population to move into the West Bank and violate the Human Rights of the Palestinians

and defy international law.

Once the settlers have moved in to the West Bank the Israeli government supports

and protects the settlers lives the West Bank through military means. The settlers and

settlements are exceedingly well protected in the West Bank by the IDF, who are

extremely active in the Occupied Territory. The IDF are there to ensure the safety of the

illegal settlements by violating the Human Rights of the Palestinian people and

committing terrorist acts. The goals of the IDF are achieved through the operation of

checkpoints to restrict the movement of the Palestinians, demolition Palestinian homes as

retribution for any perceived disobedience, the imposition of an arbitrary ever shifting

legal system, and by general action ensure that the Palestinian people have no real way of

achieving self-determination.

The most flagrant and glaring Human Rights violation by the IDF is the violation

of the right to free movement by the creation of checkpoints. These checkpoints are

designed to restrict the lives of the Palestinian people, and to have a dehumanizing and

terrorizing effect on the Palestinian people. There are 96 fixed checkpoints in the West

Bank and any number of temporary checkpoints.161 The IDF can create a new checkpoint

at any time in any place for any amount of time. To get through most of these

160 Ibid, 75. 161 “Checkpoints, Physical Obstructions, and Forbidden Roads,” last modified May 20, 2015,

http://www.btselem.org/freedom_of_movement/checkpoints_and_forbidden_roads

PAGE 43

checkpoints you have to have the right permit that can only be obtained from the IDF, the

permits can be taken away at any time for any reason.162 These actions directly break the

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, specifically Article 12 which states

that “Everyone shall have the freedom of movement, without restrictions, in [their]

country.”163 The check points are also acts of terrorism in that they are intended “…to

intimidate a population… to abstain from doing any act.”164 In the case of the check

points the IDF is attempting to intimidate the Palestinian people in to not resisting the

occupation in any way, because the IDF can stop Palestinian people any time anywhere

for any reason. Though this is the most frequent violation of Palestinian Human Rights

in the West Bank it is not the most calamitous for the Palestinian people.

The most grievous, and only slightly less obvious, violation of the Human Rights

of the Palestinians is the destruction of Palestinian homes. Article 17 of the Universal

Declaration of Human rights states that “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of [their]

property.”165 Despite Israel being a signatory of the document the government has no

qualms with allowing the IDF to frequently demolish Palestinian homes and deprive

people of their property, usually with arbitrary justifications. An infamous example of

Palestinian home destruction are those that took place during the mass demolition event

in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. For days on end the IDF demolished house

after house in the camp with several 60 tone D-9 bulldozers. The resulting destruction

was horrific. The soldiers responsible for the destruction showed a clear disrespect, and

162 Neve Gordon, "Chapter 1 The Infrastructure of Control" in Israel's Occupation (Berkley: University of

California Berkley press, 2008) 25. 163 Lein, “The Settlements in international law,” 44. 164 "Terrorism" 165 “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

PAGE 44

contempt, for the lives of the Palestinian people living there. One soldier was quoted as

saying

For three days I just destroyed and destroyed… They were warned by loudspeaker

to get out of the house before I came, but I gave no one a chance… Many people

were inside the houses we started to demolish… I didn’t see with my own eyes

people dying under the blade of the D-9, and id didn’t see houses falling down on

live people. But if there were any, I wouldn’t care at all. I am sure people died

inside these houses… I found joy with every house that came down, because I

knew they didn’t mind dying, but they cared for their homes. If you knocked

down a house, you buried 40 or 50 people for generations. If I am sorry for

anything, it is for not tearing down the whole camp.166

The destruction of the Jenin refugee camp is a horrifying example of the willingness of

the Israeli government and the IDF to willfully ignore international law and terrorize

Palestinian civilians. The demolition of Palestinian homes, while international

recognized as violating international law must also be recognized as a terrorist act

because it fits the United Nations definitions of terrorist acts. The destruction of

Palestinian homes clearly are intended to cause “…death or bodily harm to civilians or

non-combatants…” and intimidate the Palestinian population to “…abstain from doing

any act.”167 In this case the act that the Israeli government wanted the Palestinian people

to abstain from was any form of resistance to the absolute control of the IDF. The

destruction of Palestinian homes also violates the right to an adequate standard of living

that is provided for in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights. By actively destroying Palestinian housing the IDF and Israel are

denying Palestinian people their right to “…continuous improvement of living

166 Derek Gregory, “Defiled Cities” in The Colonial Present (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2004) 114-

115. 167 "Terrorism."

PAGE 45

conditions.”168 It is worth remembering at this juncture, the 1948 war that the Israelis

fought to forcibly expel the majority of the Palestinian people from their homes and

country, thus creating the ongoing Palestinian refugee crisis. When the expulsion of

Palestinians in 1948 is recalled in conjunction with current Israeli policies of home

demolition it shows a continual disregard for Palestinian Human Rights by the Israeli

government, epically the Palestinian people’s Human Rights regarding their ability to live

continuously in one place.

Perhaps the least outwardly visible but no less egregious crime committed by the

Israel government is the suspension of self-determination. The legal system in the West

Bank that is imposed by the IDF and the Israeli government is complex, comprehensive,

exceedingly restrictive, and can be changed at a moment’s notice. The laws themselves

are military orders that become law immediately, and the military government can

change any previously standing law it wants at any time.169 The aptly titled “Permit

Regime” that is now in effect makes it so that the Palestinian people have to have a

permit for everything from building a home, to growing plants, to opening a business.170

These permits can be taken away or suspended at any time for any reason. This complex

legal system, along with the settlements it supports, obviously prevent the creation of any

true form of self-determined government which violates Article one of the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states that “All peoples have the right to

self-determination.”171 Through these militarily implemented means the Israeli

168 “International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.” 169 Gordon, “Infrastructure of Control,” 27. 170 Ibid, 33. 171 Lein, “The Settlements in international law,” 41.

PAGE 46

government not only violates the Human Rights of the Palestinians and international law,

but also ensures the safety of the settlers and settlements.

During the start of the 21st century the West Bank, under Israeli occupation, has

been a land of continual terrorism and Human Rights violations. The West Bank has

been a place where the Fourth Geneva convention, Hague regulations, and international

conventions on Human Rights are ignored daily. The Israeli government’s policies, both

violent and non-violent, have been conductive to, and supportive of, this state of affairs.

Section Six: Conclusions

Human Rights violations and terrorist actions operate interchangeably in

Israel/Palestine. They operate interchangeably regardless of if the person who carries out

the act is Israeli or Palestinian, an IDF soldier or a PLO member, an Israeli settler or a

member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. According to the United Nations definition of

terrorism:

Any action... that is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or

non-combatants, when the purpose of such an act, by its nature or context, is to

intimidate a population, or to compel a Government or an international

organization to do or to abstain from doing any act172

along with The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, The International

Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and The Universal Declaration of

Human Rights prove that these recurring events, regardless of the person perpetrating,

them are terrorist acts and Human Rights violations. Despite what Western media may

try to ignore, Human Rights violations and Terrorist actions operate interchangeably, and

172 "Terrorism"

PAGE 47

happen frequently, even when not reported. These events have been happening with

startling frequency since before the foundation of the State of Israel. What truly needs to

be understood is the frequency with which the events are occurring, and that both sides

are responsible for them. Once this is universally understood we can begin to end this

seemingly unending cycle of violence and terrorism and Human Rights violations,

because this cycle of violence needs to be stopped. The Israeli and Palestinian peoples

have been living with horrors long enough. It is time for peace.

PAGE 48

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