Desecration of graveyards and destruction of olive groves are just two manifestations of violence Palestinians -- on the West Bank and inside Israel -- face daily from Israeli society The Palestinian Authority (PA) as well as Arab leaders in Israel have urged the Israeli government to "swiftly and decisively clamp down on spiralling Jewish terror and vandalism against Palestinian targets, including mosques and Islamic as well as Christian cemeteries", writes Khaled Amayreh in occupied Jerusalem. The latest call came after suspected Jewish terrorists vandalised and defaced Muslim and Christian graves at the main cemetery of Jaffa. Some of the graves there date back several centuries. Other Muslim leaders, including some Knesset members, reminded Jews in Israel and abroad that, "This is how the holocaust started." He accused "powerful political circles" within the Israeli government, army and police of "treating with extreme leniency the perpetrators of such crimes.�--ê�I believe that the government of Binyamin Netanyahu, which is the most extreme government in Israel's history, lacks both the will and determination to stem the tide of Jewish terror. Therefore, I expect this worrying phenomenon to continue and even escalate." Last week, unidentified Jewish saboteurs, believed to be affiliated with an underground Jewish terror group in the West Bank, set the local mosque at the Israeli Palestinian village of Tuba Zangariya on fire. The fire gutted the interior of the mosque, burning Quranic texts and other sacred objects. The attack was widely condemned by the Arab community throughout Israel and the occupied territories. Israeli leaders, too, condemned the mosque burning, calling it "criminal and un-Jewish". Some prominent rabbis harshly condemned the burning of mosques by Jewish extremists, ruling that the act was incompatible with Jewish religious law on the ground that mosques, like synagogues, invoked the name of the only God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. According to Jewish religious law, a Jew may perform prayers in a mosque, given the absolute monotheism of Islam and the absence in mosques of statues, icons and other objects suggesting anthropomorphism, the attribution of human characteristics to God. Nonetheless, it is unlikely that such edicts, even if coming from prominent rabbinic authorities, will convince the terrorists and their religious mentors to desist from their rampage. In the final analysis, we are talking about fanatics who are indoctrinated in a racist doctrine that views non-Jews as animals whose lives have no sanctity. The latest incidents in Jaffa and Tuba Zangariya, which are located in Israel proper, came on the heels of a wave of arson and vandalism against mosques in the occupied West Bank, seemingly committed by Jewish settlers. The attacks show that the perpetrators make no distinction between Palestinians in the occupied territories and Palestinians living in Israel who are, at least nominally, full Israeli citizens. The attacks also reflect the proliferation of a manifestly racist culture in Israel. Interestingly, the plethora of condemnation that ensued following the incidents mentioned seemed to have little or no effect on settler behaviour. Palestinian sources continued to speak of daily acts of vandalism and torching by settlers of Palestinian olive groves, especially in the northern West Bank. Hundreds of acres of grown olive trees have been deliberately torched by settlers. Other orchards have been destroyed, also by settlers, using electric saws. More to the point, armed gangs of settlers are reportedly carrying out near daily acts of harassment against Palestinian harvesters. The olive harvest season began last week. Olive oil is considered a key staple for the average Palestinian family, with numerous Palestinian households, especially in rural areas, relying heavily on olive farming for their livelihood. The Israeli army says it is doing its best to shield Palestinian olive harvesters from Jewish settler terror and harassment. But the occupation army admits it can't station troops at every Palestinian village and hamlet adjacent to a Jewish settlement. Many of the settlers, who are acting on religious edicts issued by their settlement rabbis, have been stealing Palestinian olive crops. The thieves argue that the olive crops belong to them, not the Palestinians, and that it is the Palestinians, not the settlers, who are the thieves. Unfortunately, such arguments easily find acceptance in a society that itself is based on land theft and ethnic cleansing. This week, as many as 38 Israeli lawmakers appealed to Netanyahu to "legalise" Jewish colonies built on private Palestinian property in the West Bank. The signatories included more than half the members of the Likud, Netanyahu's own party. The lawmakers argued that the law shouldn't be applied to Jews the same way it should be applied to non-Jews. One PA official, Mohamed Ishtayyeh, voiced his exasperation and alarm at the level of racism now overwhelming Israel. Ishtayyeh opined that it was "utterly impossible" to reach any "peaceful accommodation with such a mentality."
