THE case of Amiram Ben Uliel is not a one-off incident. A Jewish settler, he has recently been convicted of firebombing a Palestinian family’s home in the West Bank back in 2015 which killed a baby and his parents, and severely wounded a four-year-old boy. This is but an unfortunate reality of life in the occupied areas.

The Jewish state was formed by European settlers who have no right to be in the Arabian peninsula. Theodor Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian, David Ben-Gurion from Poland and many more were all settlers who came from Europe. It is interesting to note how Hungary today does not want any people of colour in their country, yet they support the complete settling down process of the whites in the middle of a ‘brown’ region. This is hypocrisy at its best.

By sentencing Uliel, the occupiers have been trying to show that the government has distanced itself from the settlers, apparently trying to portray as if the settlers are the problem, not the state. It wants to show to the world that Israel is doing everything to stop violence carried out by the settlers.

The fact is that the settlers are protected by the state and are led to places to carry out violence against the native Palestinians. The occupation army provides full protection to the settlers as they carry out such attacks. About 475,000 Jewish settlers have occupied Palestinian lands there because the state wants them there.

There are Jews who refuse to serve in the occupation army, and want Palestine to be given back to the Palestinians. These Jews, like the Palestinians, are harassed, too, and at times beaten up because they challenge the occupiers.

This year, many Palestinians have lost their lives, while many have been imprisoned for no reason. The settlers are not welcomed in the Arabian peninsula. The sooner they return to where they come from, the better it will be for them and for the world peace at large.

Angabeen Ahmad
Karachi

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2022