Israel Ramps Up
Palestinians Protest
Punishments
for
Stone-Throwers,
Jerusalem
Jul 21, 2015
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/21/us-israel-palestinians-stonethrowingidUSKCN0PV0WW20150721
A Palestinian protester throws a stone towards Israeli troops during clashes following a rally marking
Nakba Day near Israel's Ofer Prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah May 15, 2015.
Reuters/Mohamad Torokman
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.
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 criticized 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 offense does not result in serious injury.
Qadura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoner Club, an organization 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 offense," 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)