Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Unsteady Calm Following Settler Violence Against Palestinian Residents in Hebron


Democracy Now!
With Amy Goodman

"We turn to the troubled West Bank city of Hebron where the city’s Palestinian residents have been at the receiving end of a new wave of attacks from hardline Jewish settlers.

Violence flared last week after Israeli riot police forcibly evicted some 250 settlers from a disputed Palestinian-owned home that the settlers had occupied last year. Tensions have been high ever since an Israeli High Court ruling last month that ordered the settlers to vacate the building.

Following Thursday"s eviction, settlers from the nearby Kiryat Arba settlement went on what the Israeli press has described as a “rampage” against Palestinians. They shot at Palestinians, set fire to homes, cars, and olive groves, and defaced mosques and graves. Hebron resident Hosni Abu Seifan was among the Palestinian victims of settler gunfire.

The shots fired by the settlers at Hosni Abu Seifan and his father were captured on video. The footage shows a settler firing a handgun at the two Palestinian men at close range. The video was shot by a family member of the injured men. He was using a camera distributed by the Israeli human rights group B"tselem that has given more than a hundred video cameras to Palestinian families across the West Bank so they can record violence by settlers and the Israeli army.......

We’re joined now by two guests via video stream from Hebron who work closely with Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. Mich’ael Zupraner works with B"tselem"s shooting back project that distributes cameras to Palestinians and he also runs an experimental Internet TV channel called HEB2. Issa Amro is a longtime resident of Hebron and a field worker for B"Tselem......"

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