Israel is responsible for Israeli Arab violence claims PA, saying Israel "has executed a systematic policy so that the Arab society will eat itself up from the inside" so as to "dismantle Arab society" and "expel them" from Israel
Excerpt of a column by Bassem Barhoum, regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “Violence and crime in the Arab society in the 1948 [territories] (i.e., Israel) – who is responsible?”
“Almost not a morning goes by without us reading or hearing a report about the murder of a woman or man, a young woman or young man, or an altercation between families in the Palestinian Arab society in the 1948 territories (i.e., Israel). It is enough to note that from the start of the year [2021] more than 70 people have been murdered, and that in 2020 97 people were murdered in internal [Arab] violence…
Everything that is happening is an expression of a society that is being subjected to distress, pushed to the margins, and suffering from heavy pressure and accumulating frustration, in addition to the absence of any horizon for a future that will ensure their status as equal citizens and full freedom to express their identity…
The Israeli regime has executed a systematic policy so that the [Arab] society will eat itself up from the inside.It allowed weapons to trickle [into the society] and allowed the underworld gangs to blossom and grow…
There is no doubt that the Israeli governments throughout history are the main one responsible for this painful reality. They intentionally let matters reach the current situation. But there is responsibility imposed on the Palestinian Arab society in the Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel), and especially on its political, cultural, and social institutions…
Israel is not only interested in dismantling the Arab society and turning it into a failed society, but also in its gradual expulsion – in other words, carrying out a slow transfer. Here lies the danger that no one will be safe from. The current Israeli government says that it is interested in taking care of the phenomenon of violence and crime, and it may be that there are indeed political parties or even ministers who truly are interested in taking care of the matter, but until now this government has not formulated any serious and true plan. The matter is not summed up by just increasing the number of police stations of the number of police officers, despite the importance of the matter; what the Arab society needs is laws and legislation that will achieve equality, and that the Arab citizen will receive the same cut from the budget that the Jew receives.
But the question is whether Israel will abandon its racism?
This is a matter of struggle that requires great endurance, but first of all, let us start fixing ourselves from the inside.”