Stone-throwing defined as terrorism


July 22, 2015
Sarah Benton

Articles from 1) Reuters, 2) Al Araby and from November 2014, the introduction of the law, by RT.


Palestinian protesters throw stones toward Israeli police during clashes in the Shuafat neighbourhood in Israeli-annexed Arab East Jerusalem on Wednesday, July 2nd 2014 after a Palestinian teenager was abducted and killed in what’s thought to be an act of revenge for the murder by militants of three Israeli youths. Photo by Amad Gharabli / AFP / Getty images

Israel ramps up punishments for stone-throwers, Palestinians protest

By Reuters
July 21, 2015

Israel’s parliament imposed tougher penalties of up to 20 years prison for people throwing stones at vehicles and roads, a move one Palestinian official branded racist and excessive.

Lawmakers voted 69 to 17 to increase the punishments late on Monday, approving legislation proposed after a wave of Palestinian protests last year in East Jerusalem.

“Tolerance toward terrorists ends today. A stone-thrower is a terrorist and only a fitting punishment can serve as a deterrent and just punishment,” Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, of the far-right Jewish Home party, said in a statement.


Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of Jewish Home addresses the Knesset, June 3, 2015. Photo, screen capture: The Knesset Channel via Walla

Confrontations between Palestinian youths and Israeli police routinely degenerate into violent clashes, and stone-throwing has been a symbol of Palestinian resistance since the first Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, against Israel in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Since 2011 three Israelis, including a baby and a girl, have been killed in the occupied West Bank after rocks were thrown at vehicles they were in.

Human rights groups have criticised Israel for using excessive force including live fire in suppressing Palestinian demonstrations, causing dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries.

The new law allows for a sentence of up to 20 years in jail for throwing a rock at a vehicle with the intent of causing bodily harm and 10 years in prison if intent was not proven.

Prosecutors in such cases have usually sought sentences of no more than three months in jail when the offence does not result in serious injury.

Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoner Club, an organisation that advocates on behalf of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, said the new law was “racist”.

“This law is hateful and contradicts the most basic rule that the punishment fit the offence,” he said.

The law would cover territory including East Jerusalem, but not the occupied West Bank, most of which is under the jurisdiction of the Israeli military.

Israel hands down about 1,000 indictments a year for rock-throwing, according to the Israeli Knesset.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government faced growing calls to take action after the Palestinian protests in 2014 over the Gaza war and the burning alive of a Palestinian teenager in a suspected revenge attack for the killing of three Israeli teens by Palestinian militants.

During the protests, stones were regularly thrown at the city’s light railway.

The new legislation was originally promoted by Shaked’s predecessor, centrist Tzipi Livni.

The Palestinians seek a state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2014.

Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Luke Baker and Andrew Heavens



Youth hurl stones at border police in East Jerusalem October 2014 , photo by AFP

Palestinians face 20 years in prison for throwing stones

Israeli parliament passes bill imposing harsh sentences for stone attacks on civilian vehicles, with justice minister calling 20 years in jail a “fitting punishment” for “terrorists”.

By Al-Araby al-Jadeed staff
July 21, 2015

Israeli MPs have approved a bill to impose harsh punishments for Palestinians throwing stones at civilian vehicles, with penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

Knesset members voted 69 to 17 late on Monday to accept the bill.

The bill allows for a sentence of up to 20 years in jail for throwing stones or other objects at a civilian vehicle in motion, with the intent of causing harm, and 10 years in prison if intent to endanger was not proven.

Stone-throwers who target police vehicles face five years in prison.

A stone-thrower is a terrorist … only a fitting punishment can serve as a deterrent.
Ayelet Shaked, Israeli justice minister

The bill was originally proposed by former Israeli justice minister Tzipi Livni and then promoted by her successor Ayelet Shaked of the far-right Jewish Home party.

“Tolerance toward terrorists ends today,” Shaked said. “A stone-thrower is a terrorist and only a fitting punishment can serve as a deterrent and just punishment.”

The bill has been branded as racist by Qadura Fares, the head of the advocacy group, the Palestinian Prisoner Club.

“This law is hateful and contradicts the most basic rule that the punishment fit the offence,” he said.

Stone-throwing has been a symbol of Palestinian resistance since the first uprising. Many Israeli civilian vehicles driving in the occupied West Bank are attacked by stones.

Haaretz, the Israeli newspaper, said the new punishment applies only within the Green Line and will not affect legal proceedings in the West Bank.

Abusive arrests

Human Rights Watch meanwhile yesterday accused Israel of “abusive arrests” of Palestinian children as young as 11 and of using threats to force them to sign confessions.


Balad leader /Joint List MK Jamal Zahalka in the Knesset. “You are picking on people who are responding to greater wrongs. This is hypocrisy. Those who demolish homes get rewarded, but the boy whose anger is justified is being punished.”

“Israeli security forces have used unnecessary force to arrest or detain Palestinian children,” HRW said in a report giving details of the “abusive arrests” of six children.

“Forces have choked children, thrown stun grenades at them, beaten them in custody, threatened and interrogated them without the presence of parents or lawyers, and failed to let their parents know their whereabouts” the group added.


Israeli border police arresting Ahmad Abu Sbitan, 11, in front of his school in East Jerusalem. Photo by Majd Gaith/HRW

In one case, 11-year-old Rashid, who was arrested in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem in November, said officers put a bag over his head, kicked him and verbally abused him in Arabic, according to the rights group.

Rashid was accused of throwing stones during the months of unrest in Jerusalem before and after a deadly July-August war in the Gaza Strip.

In the West Bank, 14-year-old Malak al-Khatib was arrested on suspicion of throwing stones at a road used by Jewish settlers.

“Four soldiers beat her with something like a baton until she lost consciousness. While on the ground, they kicked her and one soldier stepped on her neck” HRW quoted her mother as saying.

Ynet news reported that tensions were high during the discussion on the legislation on Monday.

Joint Arab List MK Jamal Zahalka said: “Imagine we brought both the stone-throwers and those who caused them to throw stones in front of a judge. Who would the judge put in prison? The one who demolished a house, expropriated the land, killed the brother? Or the boy who threw a stone?”

“You are picking on people who are responding to greater wrongs. This is hypocrisy. Those who demolish homes get rewarded, but the boy whose anger is justified is being punished,” Zahalka added.


bill passed in november

Israeli ministers pass bill jailing stone throwers for 20 years

By RT
November 04, 2015

Government ministers in Israel have voted to increase penalties ten-fold on people convicted of throwing stones at vehicles from two to 20 years, in a move designed to deal with a wave of violence that has hit some of Jerusalem’s Arab districts.

If Israeli courts can prove that someone threw a stone with the intent of causing serious bodily harm, they may be able to impose a jail sentence of 20 years.

The law would also allow the conviction of people who hurl rocks at police cars or police officers with the aim of hindering them from carrying out their duty.

If intent to cause harm can’t be proven, then the amendments still allow for a hefty 10-year sentence if the safety of a person or a vehicle is endangered. At the moment, such crimes have a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

Although the changes have been given the green light by the Israeli cabinet, they must still be approved by the Knesset and the ministerial Committee for Legislation.

The proposed legislation change stems from the recommendation of a committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit, which was tasked with dealing with the deteriorating security situation in East Jerusalem.

There has been a sharp increase in violence in many Arab neighbourhoods in Jerusalem in recent weeks. On Sunday, there were two incidents in East Jerusalem involving rock throwing. In one incident, in Talpiot, two juveniles were arrested. A bus was targeted in a separate incident on Suleiman Street.

A small improvised bomb was hurled at police officers in the Shuafat area of East Jerusalem on Saturday. In the Old City and Wadi Joz, fireworks were launched at policemen and a 13-year-old Palestinian was arrested after attacking a Jewish man near Damascus Gate.

“Israel is operating aggressively against terrorists, against stone throwers, against hurlers of firebombs and firecrackers. We will legislate more aggressive legislation to this regard, in order to return quiet and security to every part of Jerusalem,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as quoted by Haaretz.

A new policy that has been in place since July and applies to minors as well as adults means that Palestinians are being held in custody from the time they are arrested until the end of proceedings.

There were also minor clashes in the West Bank after Friday’s prayers. However, the West Bank would not be subject to the new legislation, as it is effectively ruled by the Israeli military.which is under the jurisdiction of the Israeli military.

Israel hands down about 1,000 indictments a year for rock-throwing, according to the Israeli Knesset.

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