By Vivienne Porzsolt

Since the February 25 massacre of worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron by Israeli settler Barukh Goldstein, ongoing Palestinian demonstrations have been viciously put down by the Israeli military. The entire occupied territories are under curfew, and Palestinians continue to be killed in what Muhammed Afif calls “a continuous massacre”.

Afif is editor of Palestine Report, a weekly commentary and digest of Palestinian news. He told Green Left Weekly that eyewitnesses in Hebron reported settlers and soldiers blocking the way of ambulances.

“What the soldiers wanted was to see the identification cards of the ambulances, the nurses and everybody inside, including the wounded. When ambulances decided that they didn't want to stop, that they had to go to the hospital, they were shot at by settlers and soldiers.

“Throughout the occupied territories, the settlers tend to take a part in trying to put down demonstrations. The Israeli army don't get physical with them, or seldom do.

“Over 30 Palestinians have died since the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre. This is unprecedented. They have been killed not by a so-called crazed settler but by the Israeli army. So if an Israeli settler feels that he can kill dozens of Palestinians, Palestinians see it as the product of the whole culture of dehumanisation.”

Commenting on Israeli reactions to the massacre, while there was a general expression of horror and revulsion, Afif said that some of the reactions from the Kiryat Arba settlement were “troubling”.

“For example, Yoshel Lapter, a leader in Kiryat Arba, said that the only way to solve the problems caused by Jewish-Arab friction is to expel the Arabs to neighbouring states.

“Goldstein was well known to the Palestinian residents because he had provoked them in the mosque on previous occasions, and he was also responsible for settler security. Before immigrating from New York, he once wrote a letter to the New York Times arguing that something must be done about Arab procreation within the Green Line.”

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