Israel:  The West stands idly by

 

On 30 June 2006, the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires to the UN, Daniel Carmon, told the Security Council about the capture of Gilad Shalit by Palestinians a few days earlier [1]:

 

“On Sunday, 25 June, at approximately 5.30 a.m., members of Hamas, along with its partner terror organizations, infiltrated Israel near the Kerem Shalom border crossing with the Gaza Strip, through a deep tunnel dug 300 metres into Israeli territory. During the ensuing attack, Palestinian terrorists killed two Israeli soldiers, First Lieutenant Hanan Barak, age 20, and Staff Sergeant Pavel Slutzker, also age 20. They kidnapped one soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, age 19, and wounded three others. … Gilad Shalit is currently being held hostage and his whereabouts are not known.”

 

Daniel Carmon did not tell the Security Council that in the 8 weeks prior to this incident his Government’s military machine had killed 73 Palestinians, according to statistics compiled by B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights group [2].  Nor did he tell the Council that, in this period, only one Israeli civilian (and no Israeli military personnel) died at Palestinian hands.  The civilian died as a result of injuries he received in the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv on 17 April 2006, the last Palestinian attack before 25 June 2006 that resulted in Israeli deaths, civilian or military.

 

(The B’Tselem figures for Palestinian deaths at the hands of the Israeli security forces do not include the 7 members of the Ghaliah family killed on a Gaza beach on 9 June 2006, of whom B'Tselem says it “cannot currently confirm with certainty who is responsible for their deaths” [3].)

 

This essential background has been almost entirely omitted from the British media coverage of the Palestinian attack at Kerem Shalom when Gilad Shalit was captured.  Since the Israeli election on 28 March 2006 and the subsequent installation of a new government, with Ehud Olmert as Prime Minister and Labour leader, Amir Peretz, as Defense Minister, the assault on Palestinians has been relentless, with well over a hundred killed up to 25 June 2006.

 

Few of these deaths have merited a mention in the British media, let alone a condemnation from the British government.  In total, they received fewer column inches in the British press than the holding of one Israeli soldier prisoner since 25 June.  Likewise, the over 9,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and detention centres, many for years and most without any kind of trial, have merited barely a mention in the British media, even after the Palestinians offered to exchange Gilad Shalit for women and young people held in Israeli jails.  Over 100 women and about 400 young people under 18 are currently held by Israel [4].

 

Hamas truce

In February 2005, Hamas announced a truce and ceased suicide bombings in Israel.  It maintained its truce for 16 months.  There have been 4 suicide bombings in Israel mounted by other groups (Islamic Jihad, for example) but none by Hamas.  From February 2005 up until June of this year, there was very little, if any, military activity by Hamas against Israel either in Israel itself or in the Occupied Territories.

 

The table below shows the number of Palestinians and Israelis killed by military action during the period of the Hamas truce.  The most significant feature of this is the relatively small number of Israelis, civilian or military, killed by Palestinians.  To the best of my knowledge, none was killed by Hamas.  In the four months after Hamas called the truce, for example, there were no Israelis killed within Israel.

 

 

                           Palestinians                                  Israelis

 

 

 

by Civ

by Mil

by Mil

 

Civs

Civs

Mil

Mil

 

 

in OT

in OT

in Is

 

in OT

in Is

in OT

in Is

 

 

(1)

(2)

(3)

 

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2006

Jun

1

40

2

 

1

0

0

2

 

May

0

36

0

 

0

1

0

0

 

Apr

0

31

0

 

0

6

0

0

 

Mar

5

15

0

 

5

0

0

0

 

Feb

0

29

2

 

0

1

0

0

 

Jan

0

13

0

 

0

0

0

0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total

6

164

4

 

6

8

0

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2005

Dec

1

20

0

 

1

5

2

0

 

Nov

0

15

0

 

0

1

1

0

 

Oct

3

22

0

 

3

5

1

0

 

Sep

1

17

0

 

1

0

0

0

 

Aug

0

7

0

 

0

0

0

0

 

Jul

2

23

0

 

2

5

0

1

 

Jun

3

5

0

 

3

0

1

0

 

May

0

11

0

 

0

0

1

0

 

Apr

0

5

0

 

0

0

0

0

 

Mar

0

2

0

 

0

0

0

0

 

Feb

0

11

0

 

0

5

0

0

 

Jan

7

52

0

 

7

3

2

0