Protesters in Haifa say violence epidemic in Palestinian communities the result of racist Israeli policy
A protester holding a poster that says “organized crime is a result of government policy” at a demonstration organized by the High Follow-Up Committee in Haifa, 24 June 2023
Yoav Haifawi reports in Mondoweiss:
Violent crime, and especially murder, has become a prevalent and rising threat to the Palestinian communities within the territories that have been held by Israel since 1948. This violence impacts the Palestinians who succeeded in staying on or near their lands after the 1948 Nakba, and who are now known as ’48 Palestinians, or Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.
An NGO named “Abraham Initiatives” has been tracking the data of this violence. On June 25, it reported that there have been 99 Arab fatalities due to crime and violence since the start of this year (I subtracted seven cases in occupied East Jerusalem). This is compared to 44 in the same period last year. Beyond the numbers, there are daily tragedies of the victims and their families and a whole society terrorized by crime and fear.
This trend has been on the rise for several years. According to Wikipedia (in Hebrew), in the years 2018-2020, the number of murdered Arab males per capita in Israel was 21.88 times higher than that of Jewish males. According to the same source, in the years 2018-2022, when the murder victims were Arab, there was an indictment in only 29% of the cases. By contrast, there were indictments in 69% of the cases when the victims were Jewish.
The reasons are well-known and have been analyzed extensively by many scholars. It is the reality and result of a society under racist colonialism, where the traditional economy and social institutions have been destroyed, and many poorly educated youths find themselves deprived of any way to make a decent living. Add to this the discriminatory and racist policies of all the state institutions, not the least of which is the Israeli Police, which treats any Arab as an enemy and is more likely to shoot him rather than defend him as a victim.