West Bank Settler Kills Four in Arab Galilee Town of Shef’amr.

Original Message -----
From: hra1
To: hra1
Sent: Friday, August 05, 2005 2:12 PM
Subject: HRA statement on Shefamr killings

Press Release August 5, 2005

Yesterday, Thursday, August 4, 2005, Eden Natan-Zada, resident of the West
Bank settlement of Tapuah, and supporter of the racist Kahane movement, shot
and killed four Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel on a bus in the Arab
Galilee town of Shef’amr. While attempting to reload his gun, Natan-Zada was
subdued by other passengers and eventually beaten to death.

The Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA) emphasizes that this attack was
not an isolated incident, nor was it the work of a “crazed individual”
acting alone. It was rather nurtured by and is directly related to a general
culture of anti-Arab racism prevailing inside Israel that has grown
particularly intense in the weeks leading up to disengagement from Gaza.

Therefore, the HRA maintains that:

 The government must take responsibility for its role in this incident. By
not cracking down on political parties, public officials, and groups making
openly racist statements, such as advocating population transfer and attacks
against Arab citizens of Israel, it implicitly condoned and further nurtured
this culture of racism. The government therefore has to assume
responsibility for growing racist violence.

 The inspiration for this attack is intrinsically linked to the disengagement
from Gaza and the discourse that has surrounded it, such as suggestions of
population exchange between settlers and Arab citizens of Israel. By
constantly characterizing Palestinians as a “demographic threat” the Israeli
government has encouraged Israeli Jews to think of Arabs, inside and outside
of Israel, as a threat, as enemies.

 Political parties who have expressed sympathy with the settlers’ plight,
their racist language, and their hostile statements about Arabs must also
take responsibility for this situation, because their words and actions have
further reinforced the idea that Palestinian Arabs are enemies.

 A double standard is evident in the state and legal system’s treatment of
Palestinian Arab protests during October 2000 and the current protests
against the disengagement. While the former were suppressed with excessive
force, resulting in the deaths of 13 Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel,
the latter have been handled with sympathy and respect. The application of
such double standards lead to feelings of impunity for violent attacks
against Arab citizens.

The HRA calls on all members of the international community, particularly
the diplomatic representations inside Israel, to closely monitor the
increasing racist violence against Arab citizens inside Israel and to
accelerate the incorporation of human rights into all its official
diplomatic relations with Israel.

For further information, please contact us directly:

Muhammad Zeidan, Director
Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA)
PO Box 215, Nazareth 16101, Israel
telephone: +972 (0)4 6561923
fax: +972 (0)4 6564934
email: mzeidan@arabhra.org; hra1@arabhra.org