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Near Naplus, a dozen Jewish settlers on horseback with torches have burnt between 1500 and 2000 olive trees belonging to Palestinians. The attackers wanted to revenge the destruction a few hours earlier by the army of a caravan in a wild colony installed without authorization, Israeli media reported. The Israeli army and police have not commented on this "attack" of the settlers, who also stoned Palestinian cars.
Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians is increasing; during the first 10 months of 2008, OCHA recorded more Palestinian casualties caused by settlers than in each of the previous two years. Settler violence is not random criminal activity; in most cases, it is ideology-driven, organized violence, the goal of which is to assert settler dominance over an area. IDF Commander of the Central Command Major General Gadi Shamni, responsible for the West Bank, recently argued that the increase is due to the “encouragement [the settlers] receive from the settler leadership, rabbis and [the] public.”1 A root cause of the phenomenon is Israel’s settlement activity. Over the course of its prolonged military occupation, Israel has facilitated and encouraged the settling of nearly 470,000 Israelis into the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt),2 resulting in the takeover of Palestinian land, natural resources and transportation routes.3 This transfer of citizens into occupied territory is strictly prohibited under international humanitarian law (IHL).4 In 2004, the International Court of Justice concluded that Israeli settlements in the oPt are in breach of international law, while Israel’s settlement activity has been condemned by the UN Security Council[
One thing which is for me unbearable is that the USA NEVER, UP TO NOW, CONDEMNED such acts. NEVER did they underline the RIGHT of the Palestinians on their OWN land. NEVER did they change or diminish their military and financial aid when ISRAEL breaks the International LAW and the basic moral values of any modern and democratic country, as they SHOULD, and as they have in other countries.
In March 2009, AIPAC executive director Howard Kohr appeared before the House Committee on Appropriations' Foreign Operations subcommittee to testify about the importance of U.S. aid to Israel.
Kohr stated that "American assistance to Israel serves vital U.S. national security interests and advances critical U.S. foreign policy goals" and requested that Israel receive $2.775 billion in military aid in fiscal year 2010, as called for in the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Israel that allocates $30 billion in aid for the Jewish state over 10 years.
en.wikipedia.org...