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Last update - 07:23 02/09/2009
Outcry over violence in Israel ignoring occupation
By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: amira hass, israel news, IDF 

The most amazing thing about the wave of murders in recent weeks has been the collective Israeli stupefaction at the discovery of violence in our midst. Once again we have displayed our talent for excluding from the discourse the daily violence inherent in our continued domination over the Palestinians and their land.

Even when there are no Palestinian casualties and fatalities at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces, there is no letup in the everyday bullying by the occupation regime. Many Israelis are complicit in every travel restriction and expropriation order, from the cabinet ministers responsible, to the jurists who legitimize and codify, to the officers who implement and the typists and translators. Every soldier who guards a Jewish settlement, every rabbi who serves it and every kindergarten teacher there is partner to the primal act of the established violence that built it on Palestinian land (public or private, that makes no difference). This is violence that replicates and reproduces at every moment, because the initial theft is still doing damage. The military judiciary system, which tries only Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank, has an important role in the reproduction of violence.

Nondominant social groups seek ways to prevent Israel's civil judiciary system from representing and favoring the interests of the centers of power alone. However, in the military judiciary system, the ruler exercises his power unhindered to ensure his control and excessive rights. The occupier produces laws whose entire aim is to punish and deter the occupied who dares to resist.
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In a normal society, violence toward children is considered particularly appalling. Yet here, for decades now, Israeli soldiers (who will count how many?) have arrested and are arresting Palestinian children, often in the middle of the night, on the basis of confessions from other children who were given months and years after committing a felony against the occupation. The children are questioned in the middle of the night and are detained until the end of the procedures, even when they are 13 and 14 years old. The military judges find nothing wrong with this. Usually it is best for the children to admit to the crimes quickly (for example, to throwing stones between 2001 and 2004, with no mention of a specific date and place) and sign a plea bargain. A real trial - (witnesses, a cross-examination) - would take longer than the expected prison term.

At the end of July, a military order was issued for the establishment of a military court for juveniles. After 42 years, even the army understood that something is not quite right about the same military judge sentencing someone who is 35 and someone who is 13. Still, under Israeli military law, a Palestinian stops being a minor when he turns 16, two years before an Israeli minor. Under the new order, a minor's sentence will be set in accordance with the date of his indictment. This is a feeble admission of the violent practice that lasted for years whereby the punishment was set from the day the sentence was handed down. Why feeble? Because the arrest and remand of children is still being carried out the same way as in the past. Because the crucial date is not the day when the crime against the occupation was committed.

Under the order, if two years have elapsed since the crime was committed by someone who was a minor at the time, the person must not be tried unless the chief military prosecutor demands otherwise. What military prosecution - a cat guarding the cream - isn't going to be eager to prosecute?

From the most senior military judge down to the lowest private at a checkpoint, hundreds of thousands of perfectly normal Israelis who are not violent at home are partners in the mission of administering, demarcating, restricting and taming the other society while cumulatively damaging its rights, welfare and well-being. This is the norm that is not taken into account here in the statistics on violence and the violent.
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  1.   Bravo Amira 04:37  |  peacelover 02/09/09
  2.   Thanks for the yawn 04:56  |  A Nice Fellow 02/09/09
  3.   More than 175 Palestinians have been murdered 05:00  |  steve from raleigh 02/09/09
  4.   God bless you Amira Hass 05:08  |  i love 02/09/09
  5.   Taking lessons from Gideon Levy 05:14  |  Joseph 02/09/09
  6.   A new article by Amira Hass or The Return of the Mummy 05:18  |  Ami Israel Goldman 02/09/09
  7.   The violence 05:20  |  Hussein 02/09/09
  8.   violence in Israel ignoring occupation 05:21  |  gidon ben yoash 02/09/09
  9.   Amira Hass 05:23  |  Moshe 02/09/09
  10.   Amira Hass... 05:40  |  mike 02/09/09
  11.   Oh Pleeeease ... spare us 05:43  |  GZLives 02/09/09
  12.   Gee, Amira, maybe it has to do with ... 06:01  |  Jasper 02/09/09
  13.   Palestinian vs. Tel Aviv Terror 06:27  |  kingsley 02/09/09
  14.   the collective conscience 06:34  |  Hans Adrian Friedman 02/09/09
  15.   Actually You shouldn`t warn them from their impending punishment 06:59  |  Kris Lazar 02/09/09
  16.   Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians feed and arm Hamas!! 07:13  |  arthur 02/09/09
  17.   inherent violence 07:28  |  peter rouget 02/09/09
  18.   Hussein: You write myth 07:42  |  Brad 02/09/09
  19.   Outcry by Amira ignores Palestinian bloodlust culture 07:42  |  Joe Sittizen 02/09/09
  20.   Israelis are very good at ignoring anything the army does 07:45  |  Sergeiy Sandler 02/09/09
  21.   how we see you 07:46  |  BT 02/09/09
  22.   Amira, thank you. 07:46  |  BBSNews 02/09/09
  23.   Jasper: Nice Challenge, What Say U Amira? 07:49  |  Brad 02/09/09
  24.   The occupation 07:51  |  George 02/09/09
  25.   A Nice Fellow - demonization is when things AREN`T happening 08:00  |  CJ 02/09/09
  26.   Jewish society is rotting within 08:08  |  mark 02/09/09
  27.   Moshe - gosh you`re 82 - 83? 08:09  |  CJ 02/09/09
  28.   Jasper Er hostilities started after the 1890`s 08:13  |  CJ 02/09/09
  29.   You are asking Israeli`s to face the facts 08:30  |  kiwi girl 02/09/09
  30.   blindfolded oxen pumping the same water over and over again 08:43  |  Reuven 02/09/09
  31.   Nice Article! 08:52  |  Raphael 02/09/09
  32.   Brave and true 08:55  |  less 02/09/09
  33.   Re: Jasper from Milwaukee 09:18  |  Apa 02/09/09
  34.   Bravo! Wars and global terrorism also belong in the list 09:22  |  Ivar 02/09/09
  35.   Amira, good to hear your strong, true, authentic voice 09:22  |  Esther 02/09/09
  36.   Nice Article! 09:28  |  Raphael 02/09/09
  37.   gidon #8... because you have no legitimate voice and cause 09:30  |  Esther 02/09/09
  38.   Israelis have been warned about the effects of the Occupation 09:37  |  Labhras 02/09/09
  39.   Haas lives on Mars! 09:40  |  dudu 02/09/09
  40.   seing things clearly .., 09:43  |  Sara 02/09/09
  41.   Most Israelis don`t care about Palestinian civilian casualties... 09:57  |  Swiss (Dino) 02/09/09
  42.   Just go there 10:00  |  Miriam 02/09/09
  43.   she is not the subject of the article 10:03  |  arieh zimmerman 02/09/09
  44.   to Moshe #9 10:06  |  Khalid Amayreh 02/09/09
  45.   Jasper 12. Do you think Palestinians are animals? 10:19  |  Michael 02/09/09
  46.   #6 Ami Israel Goldman, missing something in political Zionism. 10:30  |  Maureen Ann 02/09/09
  47.   brilliant and very on point 10:39  |  unequal citizen 02/09/09
  48.   pack and leave 10:47  |  Ronald 02/09/09
  49.   To everyone that disagrees with this article: 11:24  |  unequal citizen 02/09/09
  50.   Israeli casualties.. 11:33  |  eddie 02/09/09
  51.   Michael in UK 11:59  |  Jasper 02/09/09
  52.   amira 12:05  |  shimi 02/09/09
  53.   Good Job Amira but be careful... 12:16  |  Oladipo 02/09/09
  54.   Ignoring the Occupation 12:24  |  Sean 02/09/09
  55.   warning 12:25  |  OZ 02/09/09
  56.   Amira, let me give it to you straight... 13:10  |  Dutch 02/09/09
  57.   Dudu so what is your solution? 13:12  |  had enough 02/09/09
  58.   Jasper in Milwaukee 13:29  |  Michael 02/09/09
  59.   dino 13:29  |  shimi 02/09/09
  60.   Ivar 13:30  |  Jasper 02/09/09
  61.   Which occupation? 13:39  |  KUTW 02/09/09
  62.   hussein 13:43  |  oz 02/09/09
  63.   maureen ann 13:55  |  shimi 02/09/09
  64.   apartheid israel has become an international pariah and joke 14:11  |  palestinian 02/09/09
  65.   # 38 khalid 14:12  |  shimi 02/09/09
  66.   Khalid Amayreh 14:28  |  flora 02/09/09
  67.   What do you expect 14:34  |  Chris Linthwaite 02/09/09
  68.   cj 14:54  |  oz 02/09/09
  69.   palestinian 15:04  |  oz 02/09/09
  70.   Israel`s occupation 15:15  |  WHG 02/09/09
  71.   michael 15:36  |  udi 02/09/09
  72.   No Israeli withdrawals without an agreement 15:38  |  Sam 02/09/09
  73.   Love you Amira...more of this please 15:38  |  Honor and Pride 02/09/09
  74.   Institutional Violence is its name 15:59  |  jim the mechanic 02/09/09
  75.   Amira finally taking the gloves off, bravo 17:25  |  ricki bobbi 02/09/09
  76.   arieh zimmerman, thank you for some sanity... 17:43  |  BBSNews 02/09/09
  77.   44 Khalid , This could very well be Israel`s tombstone 18:10  |  Dutch 02/09/09
  78.   Sam - do you wear your shoes backwards too? 18:34  |  CJ 02/09/09
  79.   Violence in Israel and Lebanon, Iraq, Iran 18:49  |  Anonymous 02/09/09
  80.   Pointless article. 18:57  |  Jewchai 02/09/09
  81.   There Is No Lower-Age Limit For Enemy Combatants, Ms. Hass 20:13  |  Jeff Northridge 02/09/09
  82.   19 joe Sittizen keeps blaming the victims... 20:36  |  Dutch 02/09/09
  83.   # 59 shimi (2nd try) 20:51  |  Swiss (Dino) 02/09/09
  84.   There is violence everywhere 21:18  |  RfaelMoshe 02/09/09
  85.   #63 Shimi. It is a sad fact... 21:38  |  Maureen Ann 02/09/09
  86.   Keep Speaking the Truth 21:41  |  Vladek 02/09/09
  87.   CJ- I`m telling you how it is,not how you want to hear it 21:42  |  Sam 02/09/09
  88.   thank you dutch 22:15  |  Connie 02/09/09
  89.   dutch 22:21  |  Connie 02/09/09
  90.   to #88 connie , you miss understand 01:44  |  saher 03/09/09
  91.   Connie Israel occupies, breaks the GC`s steals land 02:01  |  CJ 03/09/09
  92.   How has it come this far? 02:37  |  Mark B. 03/09/09
  93.   another ridiculous whine 03:11  |  Zeek 03/09/09
  94.   Jeff Northridge -- Uh huh. You just make it up eh! 05:48  |  CJ 03/09/09
  95.   by Haas `Outcry over Violence` 07:38  |  Suzanne de Kuyper 03/09/09
  96.   Amira ignores inherent violence... 08:14  |  SDHD 03/09/09
  97.   Occupation: Liberal diversion fm hedonist post-modernism 11:19  |  Anon 03/09/09
  98.   TO NO 27 12:08  |  DANNY 06/10/09
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