An incident of violence against Palestinian civilians is often reported in neutral language, reducing their suffering to a statistical count. On the Israeli side, civilian casualties are treated very differently, the tragedies of loss being individualised and personalised to a great degree. The media focus almost exclusively on violence, especially Palestinian violence, without considering the fundamental relationship between occupying state and occupied people. The question then arises of the right of a people living under oppressive circumstances to act in resistance.
Israel's treatment of the Palestinians has always presented a moral problem to the west, as that treatment violates many laws and moral standards. One example of mistreatment can be seen in the lack of respect for Palestinians to live in peace. An estimated 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in 1948-49, and since then scores of thousands more have been pushed out by force, their houses demolished or taken over. Israel demolishes Palestinian homes on the slightest provocation - "security": a youngster in the household throws stones at an Israeli soldier - but it does this mainly as part of a systematic program to provide space for Jewish settlers. Families are removed from their homes almost daily, and often given as little time as fifteen minutes to gather all their belongings. No measures are taken to ensure the evacuees have a place to go. Jews feel they have the right to dispossess people of their homes based on a biblical claim that promises the land to Abraham and his descendants. The Arabs, however, claim the land based on continuous residence for hundreds of years and the fact that they represented the demographic majority. They reject the notion that a biblical-era kingdom constitutes the basis for a valid modern claim.
Homes are not the only facet of Palestinians" lives that are targeted.
