The Oslo Accord, Settlements, and anti-Semitism

Dear readers,

Here is another interesting correspondence that I had with Mr. Shamrak:

Me: "Check out the recent increase in anti-Semitism (the real one), it's all because of the occupation."

Shamrak: "The sharp rise of anti-Semitism began immediately after the Oslo agreement!"

First, that's another "inaccuracy" of yours (this is in order not to say the L word).

Check the chart below:

The chart above was taken from the Anti-Defamation League web site: www.adl.org , which you should consider a reliable source. I met with their Director, Mr. Abe Foxman. This is by no means a Leftist organization.

The chart clearly shows a decline in anti-semitist events, following the year 1993 (when the Oslo process began). There is, however, a clear rise after the year 2000, the year that the negotiations failed, and the Second Intifada started, during which the Israeli military killed hundreds of innocent Palestinians.

So, with all my resentment to anti-semitism, like any other form of racism - I can't blame them for being antisemitic.

Not only did the occupation not subside, but on the contrary - since 1993 the number of Jewish settlers has grown by 150%, as of 2008! That's 2.5 times over:

(source: Israel Bureau of Statistics).

In addition, it's interesting to look at the correlation between Anti-Semitic incidents, and the number of victims of Israeli terror, among Palestinians.

After 1993, there has been a steady decline in casualties; which fits well the trend of anti-semitist events. But then, after 2000, the number of dead Palestinians has sharply increased again. Here are the data:

Between 1987 (first Intifada) and 1993, 1,100 Palestinians were killed by the IDF, and another 62 by Israeli civilians. Among those, 241 and 13, respectively, were minors under 17. That's an average of 157 and 9 killed per year, respectively. Clearly, many if not most of the dead were innocent people.

After 1993 and on to 2000, however, the number dropped to 39 per year (a reduction of 75%). Notice, however, that the Israeli civilians (most of them settlers) who killed Palestinians, were not so impressed by the Oslo accord, and their average per year remained at around 7.

Then, between 2001 and 2008, a staggering number of 4,791 Palestinians were killed by the IDF, that's 532 per year.

No wonder that the Palestinians hated us more than the usual, before 1993 and after 2000.

check out also this:

www.ifamericansknew.org

regards,

Avner