Palestinian foreign minister requests 'terrorist' label for militant settlers

Reuters ^ | 5/12/2014 | Noah Browning

[Former Fetus]

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said on Monday he had asked world powers to classify Israeli settler groups who attack Palestinian communities and holy sites as terrorist organizations.

The move comes as part of a Palestinian drive to refer their demands for an independent state in Israeli-occupied territory to more international bodies since U.S.-backed peace talks collapsed last month.

Malki said militant settlers known as the "Hilltop Youth" and vigilantes who use the "price tag" slogan "practice terror ... constantly against the Palestinian people, their land, holy places and property."

"Price tag" refers to retribution the settlers say they will exact for any attempt by the Israeli government to curb settlement in the West Bank, an area Palestinians seek as part of a future state.

"These groups play a role in killing, incitement to violence and spreading the culture of hatred and racism," he said in the letter sent to Russia, the United States, Canada, the European Union, the United Nations, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic States.

>>SNIP<<

No such attacks are known to have caused any deaths.

[Former Fetus]

I'm not going to deny that some price tag attacks give me a funny feeling, kind of like I read about African Christians getting weapons and responding to their tormentors. Both make sense in a way, and at the same time I expect better from both.

That said, I have a couple of points to make about the so-called terrorist settlers:

(1) Didn't the British called terrorists to the Palestinian Jews? That is until the day they decided to call it quits in Palestine. Then, the "terrorists" became patriots.

(2) The article mentions "No such attacks are known to have caused any deaths". How can anybody try to put the settlers in the same category than the Muslim suicide bombers?

That said, I wish the settler groups would leave alone Christian churches, especially while waiting for Pope Francis to visit. The Christians don't blow themselves up! Maybe if they got more support from the Netanyahu's administration...