Disappeared in the US mainstream media, there was an explosion of killing by Israel in Palestine in the last half of 2006. This apparently the result of the capture of a single soldier, Israel Defense Forces Corporal Gilad Shalit, by Palestinian forces. The figures are in a report released yesterday by B'Tselem, an independent Israeli human rights organization:
...from the beginning of 2006 to December 27, Israeli security forces have killed 660 Palestinians, a figure more than three times the number of Palestinians killed in 2005, which was 197.
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On the positive side (and continuing directly from the blockquote above), killings of Israelis by Palestinians dropped more than 50% in 2006:
The data ... also indicated a significant decrease in Israeli casualties. Palestinians killed 23 Israelis in 2006 - 17 civilians, among them one minor, and six Israel Defense Forces soldiers. The figure constitutes less than half of the 50 Israelis killed in 2005. ...
According to the report, about half of the Palestinians killed, 322, did not take part in the hostilities at the time they were killed. 22 of those killed were targets of assassinations, and 141 were minors.
The huge disparity in civilians killed, nearly 20 to 1, should make us think, shouldn't it? I hope U.S. policy toward Israel -- since we yearly provide billions of dollars in subsidies to Israel, we can legitimately bring pressure against that sovereign state -- will begin to reflect, very soon, a reality-based perspective on the relative victimization between the Israelis and Palestinians.
The reference to the Israeli soldier is below:
The report says the majority of Palestinian casualties were killed in the Gaza Strip in the second half of 2006, following the capture of IDF Corporal Gilad Shalit. During this period, 405 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip alone, of them 88 were minors and 205 did not take part in the hostilities at the time they were killed.
The B'Tselem also reports on a variety of other acts against Palestinians by the Israeli Defense Forces, among them destruction of housing and restrictions of movements, both of which increased greatly in 2006. And, on Gulag Israel:
According to the report, as of November, Israel held 9,075 Palestinians in custody, including 345 minors. Of these, 738, including 22 minors, were held in administrative detention without trial and with no knowledge of the charges against them.
B'Tselem's English-language press release is here. The story is also reported by Reuters.