High Court toughens violent settlers' sentence

Judges accept State's appeal, decides to augment punishment of two Kiryat Arba residents who abused young Bedouins for 'fraternizing with community's daughters' and send them to prison. Settler community outraged over decision, charges court 'filled with left-wing judges'

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3259654,00.html

<snip>

"The High Court of Justice rejected Tuesday the appeal of two Kiryat Arba settlers to reduce their punishment after they were found guilty of assaulting and kidnapping two Bedouins, and sentenced them to six to eight months in prison, thus accepting the State's appeal to augment the verdict.

Tuvia Zelinger, the security chief of Kiryat Arba, and Alexander Kogen, a patrolman in the settlement, were convicted by the Jerusalem
District Court in December 2005 in the framework of a plea bargain. The two admitted to aggravated assault, abduction for the purpose of threatening, and abusing their position.

The two men admitted they attacked two Bedouin youths who arrived at the settlement's entrance gate accompanied by two female settlers. According to their confession, Kogen aimed his weapon at the young men, cursed them and threatened them. Zelinger, who arrived at the place a short while later, "came to the conclusion that the phenomenon of young Bedouins fraternizing with local girls needs to be stopped," Judge Eliezer Rivlin described in the ruling.

The settlers then forced the young Bedouins into their car and drove them to a secluded location where Zelinger beat up the youngsters, assisted by a Kiryat Arba teenager, while Kogen secured the place.

Before releasing the youngsters, Kogen and Zelinger stole a radio tape and NIS 4,800 from the Bedouins' vehicle and then smashed the car's windows."

If they merely stole another settlers car (without attacking anyone) they would probably be doing years.

Even as it is, it appears that this is lengthy sentence for attacking non-Jewish citizens.

I would challange anyone to find an example of any settler or Jewish citizen doing more than one year for any attack on an Arab citizen or Palestinian in the West Bank or Gaza. Even if it resulted in death. I honestly do not know if that has ever occured. Perhaps it has. There might be one example with the fellow who opened fire in the bus (that killed multiple people) but i doubt if we can find an example of a settler sentenced to more than a year for killing a Palestinian.

If so, it shows the root of the problem is not just the extremism of a few settlers, but the system of injustice in Israel's courts.

Wrong. The one who opened fire on the bus was killed on the bus. As for finding a settler serving more than a year for killing a Palestinian, here is one that got two years for wounding a Palestinian.

"The Palestinian victim reportedly remains incapacitated by a potentially lifelong disability."

Finner burst onto the scene with a loaded Uzi submachine gun and began firing in the air and directly at the Palestinians. One Palestinian man was severely wounded by the gunfire and was rushed to a hospital to be operated upon.

"Not only did the defendant not flee the scene of the crime, he even got deeper into the mix," Judge Rachel Barkai said in her ruling. "He escalated an already tense confrontation by using his weapon unnecessarily. The defendant was fully aware of his actions when he fired his weapon and exhibited perfect composure. The act was intended to demonstrate power in the face of the Palestinians that were at the scene.

The comparable sentence if he had shot a Jewish Israeli after firing a Uzi into a crowd?

He did get a year probation in addition to two years.
Also, This just occurred. Will he be in prison in 2008? I doubt it.

The challenge is still on. find one who has actually served more than a year.
For extra credit, find one that has served more than 10 years for murder of a Palestinian. Wouldn't that be the expectation if an Jewish Israeli kills another? At least. If not, fill me in.

Challenge met and completed.

On edit: You going to change the parameters again?

And they didn't even manage to kill anyone:



BBC

And before anyone starts ranting about the racism of Israeli courts, bear in mind that one of the three SC judges who approved the new sentences is an Arab (the verdict - which had no dissenting opinions states that if not for mitigating personal circumstances*, the defendents' expressions of remorse, and the tradition that an appelate court does not greatly harshen sentences, the sentence inflicted should have been much higher).

*Which are unspecified in the verdict; they are apparently present in the lower court's verdict, but I don't have time to hunt it up right now

Is that all? Wouldn't life imprisonment be a more fitting sentence?

'Israel fears growing terror threat by settlers

Chris McGreal in Hebron
Saturday September 20, 2003
The Guardian

Even Israel's pervasive intelligence services are uncertain whether the Infants Underground and its allies are fringe groups of extremist settlers or the stirrings of a Jewish-style Hamas.

But the conviction on Wednesday of three settlers for trying to blow up a Palestinian girls' school in east Jerusalem last year reveals the lengths to which a marginalised, but apparently growing, band of militant settlers will go.

The convicted men - Shlomo Dvir, Yarden Morag and Ofer Gamliel - were caught as they set the timer to detonate a bomb at 7.25am, just as hundreds of pupils were flooding in to class. The judges said many Arab children would have been slaughtered if the attack had not been foiled.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1045960,00.html

'Jewish militants sentenced in terror plot

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Three members of a Jewish terror group were sentenced Tuesday in connection with a plot to set off a bomb near a girls' school in an East Jerusalem neighborhood.

>snip

These members of Bat Ayin "decided to commit a major terror attack that would cause many casualties among the Arab residents of East Jerusalem by means of a booby-trapped cart that they prepared and left in a crowded place, at the entrance to a girls' school and to Mokassad Hospital in East Jerusalem," judges Moshe Ravid, Yaffa Hecht and Jacob Zaban wrote in their verdict, according to Haaretz.

"The defendants intended a bombing that would injure and kill Arabs as an act of vengeance for the terror attacks against Jews, and to send a message that every coin has two sides."

The cart contained "hundreds of liters of fuel and benzine, two explosive bricks, two containers of cooking gas and a quantity of screws," according to court records.

http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:SEIJK0aoK3UJ:64.236.24.4/2003/WORLD/meast/09/30/israel.bat.ayin/+Shlomo+Zeliger+Dvir&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=21

I presume. Unless they have already been freed. I would not be surprised if they do not serve their full sentence.

This was a very severe case, and a very public one, with international attention.

This is all that can be found where the killing of a Palestinian gets serious prison time, and it is not under internantional scrutiny?

My info is that the settlers in Hebron, who usually teach their children to do the assaults, but when an adult is arrested (which is rare), they are usually released the *next day*. That is why the situation is out of control there.

yeah.

The lack of recognition of that, & the attitude expressed that really this incident isn't much to
worry about, is rather disturbing. I hope that if a similar incident occured in this country, the
guilty parties would be facing a life sentence, because they'd be psychopaths, & it's kinda
depressing that this particular incident in Israel didn't warrant a suitable sentence, or that a
suitable reaction to this crime isn't forthcoming in this thread.

The result of this attempt at mass murder is scarcely relevant to the length of the sentence; anyone
who attempts to explode a booby-trapped lorry full of explosives & shrapnel outside a school should
be removed from society for the sake/safety of that society.

mens rea refers to criminal intention as opposed to negligence. But even when criminal intention is establish, attempted crimes generally carry a lighter sentence than those successfuly carried out (see my post below on youths who got six minths community service for killing someone).

Is this something Israel should be proud of?

Two of those convicted of "firing in a residential area" (completely ignoring that people died).
And then the rest of this report, speaks for itself.

Still, my expectations were lower than Israel's practice. A few times every 10 years or so it does mete out appropriate punishment toward the killing of innocent Palestinians.

Thanks for the source, too.
See the bottom of that page.
http://www.phrmg.org/monitor2002/mar2002-3.htm

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

http://www.btselem.org/english/Settler_Violence/Dual_Legal_System.asp
From B'tselem

Although settlers in the Occupied Territories live in an area subject to military rule and the settlements have not been formally annexed, Israel has applied a substantial part of Israeli law to the settlers. As a result, Israeli civilians living in the Occupied Territories are not subject to military or local law, like the Palestinians, but are prosecuted according to the Israeli penal law.

<snip>

By being subject to the Israeli judicial system, settlers enjoy liberties and legal guarantees that are denied Palestinian defendants in the Occupied Territories charged with a similar offense. The authority to arrest an individual, the maximum detention before being brought before a judge, the right to meet with an attorney, the protections available to defendants at the trial, the maximum punishment allowed by law, and the release of prisoners before completion of sentence - all of these differ greatly in the two systems of law, with the Israeli system providing the suspect and defendant with more protections.

Thus different legal systems are applied to two populations residing in the same area, and the nationality of the individual determines the applicable system and court. This situation violates the principle of equality before the law. This violation is particularly apparent in the disparity between the two systems. This also violates the principle of territoriality, commonly accepted in modern legal theory, according to which persons living in the same territory must be subject to the same system of laws.

This situation is extremely grave: in a single occupied territory, Israel is operating a system of separation with discrimination by law. It is doubtful that any comparable system has existed since the end of apartheid in South Africa.

that you (and apparently B'Tselem) support Israel annexing the Territories?

It's ironic that people damn Israel for not fallowing international law and then turn around and damn it for following that law.

pointing out such things that israel is following intl law is not very convienent....but then your just pointing out facts...and as in the above example, facts are not relevant when it contradicts a good excuse to blame israel for something, anything....

will we hear a retraction?.... (dont hold your breath)

No citations? Not even hints as to what is being referred to? Are you referring to the meager, and even so, very brief prison term for kidnapping/robbery/assualt?

Just an excuse to put up yet another post accusing a respected Israeli human rights organization (and a poster) of being fanatical. Another opportunity of not addressing the facts on the ground?

"It's ironic that people damn Israel for not fallowing international law and then turn around and damn it for following that law."
Where is Israel following international law and someone condemning it?

Some things people must understand.
1) There are laws that govern military occupations. One is that people must be treated fairly. There must be protection for the occupied population. The IOF does not provide that, and only provide protection for colonialists. It applies two sets of standards.
2) The occupation is itself illegal. It has been nearly universally condemned, even by the United States.
3) "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." Article 48 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. That is precisely the situation in the West Bank.
4) To then compound that breach of international law by setting two very different legal standards is just adding to the violation of international law and norms.

are not citizens of israel, nor is the westbank part of israel, hence israeli law cannot be applied to them....thats intl law...and it seems thats what your complaining about...or so i understand.....

Are you trying to assert that a tougher standard is "international law". What law is being applied on the Palestinians?

It is common practice in Israel for assaults to go unpunished? When in plain view of police or other authorities? The travel brochurs don't mention that.

I could say something sarcastic, but I won't because I know this was a small error, you know like the one Pelsar did that you found so humorous.

correctly. At least not to my knowledge.

But care to get back to the topic, and point out why the harsher application of law applied toward Palestinians, and the very light application of law (if any) toward Israelis is somehow an example of Israel following international law?
Or a reason to ridicule B'Tselem?

The post which started this subthread claimed discrimination on the grounds that Palestinians are not subject to Israeli law as settlers are, but rather to a separate law system. However, international law requires the populace in an occupied zone be subject to the laws in place prior to the occupation (see, for example, GC4 Article 64). Instilling Israeli law, could, in fact, be seen as an act of annexation.

As for your second question, unfortunately, our judges have a tendency towards overleniency in crimes of violence. Lest you think this is just for settlers or Jews, I'll point out a counterexample. During the October 2000 riots, a Jewish motorist was killed on the Coastal Road when several Arab youths stoned his car. They ended up with sentences of half a year of community service.

However, the fact that settlers are hardly ever prosecuted, where Palestinians are often not subject to really any law but the whim of soldiers and police including Arbitrary arrest and detention. (Internationals also are subject to arbitrary arrest and detention, and deportation, as the example of numerous internationals living in the Hebron area) When the legal system is used, the results are anything but uniform.

The discrepancy is clear.
http://www.phrmg.org/monitor2002/mar2002-3.htm
Palestinian Human Rights Monitor. (I thank BTA for the source.)
Citing rare instances of harsh punishment for Jewish settlers or leniency for Palestinians does not mean that there is an overall pattern.