IDF in West Bank refrains from arresting Jews
Despite a dramatic increase in Jewish nationalist crimes, such as slashing tires, throwing stones, and cutting down olive trees in Palestinian settlements even within the Green Line, Israeli security forces have been remarkably helpless.
Last August, human rights group Yesh Din released a position paper concerning Jewish nationalist crimes in the West Bank. In recent years, far-right militants have titled such crimes "price tag" attacks. The position paper focused on price tag incidents in just six Palestinian villages in the West Bank, adjacent to the Palestinian town of Nablus and the Jewish settlement of Yitzhar, from January 2017 to March 2018. All in all, the paper documented 40 separate incidents. Had the paper been published nowadays — in December — the number of incidents would have been much higher.
This December was particularly dramatic. At least one price tag attack was recorded about every three days. These included the slashing of tires of cars belonging to Palestinians, anti-Arab graffiti in Palestinian villages, the throwing of stones, the cutting down of olive trees and more. After the terrorist attack at the Givat Asaf intersection on Dec. 13, dozens of price tag attacks were recorded in Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem. In Beit Hanina, for example, assailants slashed tires and sprayed slogans like “Death to the Arabs” and “We will not sleep when blood is spilled here.” The graffiti included the Star of David, which has been adopted by price Tag activists as a symbol of their nationalist crimes.
Despite the steep rise in incidents, almost no suspects have been arrested. According to figures published by Yesh Din in December 2017, ever since 2005, only 8.1% of investigations into price tag attacks tracked by Yesh Din have resulted in an indictment. Figures released by Yesh Din in March 2018, which cover 2016, showed that 79% of the complaints filed with the Military Advocate General concerning crimes by soldiers against Palestinians were closed without any criminal investigation.
It is worth noting that because Palestinians have no faith in the Israeli justice system, the number of complaints filed with the police is very low. In Yesh Din’s position paper, Palestinian victims in 27 of the 40 incidents (67%) preferred not to file a complaint with the police. “The State provides the settlers with land and infrastructures; it approves illegal construction, grants de facto recognition to illegal settlements, and takes steps to increase the legitimacy of the Israeli presence in the West Bank,” says the position paper in its summary. “The army … does not prevent attacks on the local villagers and in many cases actually helps violent settlers. Then, after the fact, if a complaint is filed, the police and the State Attorney’s Office grant de facto immunity to the assailants and very rarely make them stand trial for their actions.”
