The big news this week coming from the ongoing Occupation Of Palestine, is that Ahed Tamimi, the teenage Palestinian girl who has been fighting all her life, has been sentenced to 8 months in a military prison. In the meantime, Israeli soldier, Elor Azaria, is set to be released from prison after it was reduced by 4 months. Azaria was convicted of manslaughter after he executed a wounded Palestinian in Hebron.
Furthermore, Palestinian families have to wait for years for Israel to release the bodies of relatives killed by security services, Last week, a Palestinian stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli security guard in Jerusalem's Old City before being shot dead by a police office.
Injustice in Israel
Ahed Tamimi accepted a plea deal on Wednesday under which she will be sentenced to eight months in prison, the teenage Palestinian girl was filmed kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank. She was tried behind closed doors because she was being tried as a minor. Israeli forces have a history of violence towards children, with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights criticised Israeli authorities' actions in the case, while the European Union has expressed concern over Israel's detention of minors, including Ahed Tamimi.
Tamimi has been demonstrating and protesting the occupation of Palestine ever since she was a child and her family have a long tradition of protests against settlements near their home.
But what is of more concern is the disproportionate punishment doled out by the Israeli state. This should come as no surprise but within the same week as Ahed Tamimi was sentenced to 8 months imprisonment, Israeli soldier, Elor Azaria’s 18 months sentence was reduced by 4 months and is set to be released on the 10th May.
Azaria is an Israeli soldier who was found guilty of manslaughter of Abdel Fattah Yusri Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, a 20-year old Palestinian who stabbed an Israeli soldier in the Tel Rumieda neighbourhood of Hebron on 24 March 2016.
During the incident, al Sharif was shot and wounded by Israeli soldiers, but around 11 minutes after the incident took place, Azaria, who was a sergeant and a medic at the time, executed the Palestinian by shooting him in the head. The shooting took place without any provocation from al-Sharif and was widely condemned. However, a number of politicians, including Benjamin Netanyahu, called for him to be pardoned.
To underline the injustice, is that a Palestinian child who kicked and slapped a soldier gets 8 months in prison, but an Israeli soldier who kills someone in cold blood only has to serve 14 months.
Escalating violence and no humanity
One person was stabbed in the upper body and was in critical condition. An Israeli police spokesman confirmed the attack, near the Western Wall, and said the assailant was "neutralised" but gave no further details. Various media reports claimed the assailant was a Turkish national, but Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service told AFP he was a Palestinian from the West Bank. At least 32 Palestinians and four Israelis have been killed since US President Donald Trump announced embassy move to Jerusalem.
On 7 March, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, passed legislation granting Israeli police authority to withhold bodies of Palestinians within Israel and annexed East Jerusalem - a power that had so far only been officially held by the army in the occupied Palestinian territories, albeit implemented on an ad hoc basis by police. This comes after the Supreme court ruled that the Israeli police had no legal authority to withhold the bodies, Hassan Jabareen, founder and general director of legal centre Addalah, told Middle East Eye, “This law is looking to bypass the position of the court.”
There have been estimates of around 250 bodies of people who have been designated enemy combatants by Israel, which are being held in cemeteries.
Some even dating back to the 1960s. Israel are the only country in the world to be implementing a policy of confiscation of remains in the world and it mandate to do so dates back regulations set by the British in 1945. However, the court ruled that the regulations gave them no such power and gave them 6 months to enact to new law.
