What Gradstein failed to mention is that the settlers are given their guns by the Israeli occupation forces, and openly strut about with Uzis slung over their shoulders, while a Palestinian if seen carrying a gun can be shot dead on sight by the army. Settlers are given vast arsenals by the army, to store in their enclaves. Palestinians suspected of having weapons are liable to have their homes attacked by Israeli anti-tank rockets. Gradstein reported that settlers from Efrat no longer feel safe driving along roads in the West Bank. What she failed to mention is that settlers have special roads reserved exclusively for their use, and enjoy the protection of the Israeli army.
Settlers can go anywhere they choose to.
Palestinians, by contrast, are closed off and trapped in ghettos cut off from each other by the occupation forces. Gradstein described the murder of of an American settler in the occupied West Bank. Yet, the relative risk to Palestinian versus Israeli soldier or settler in the occupied territories remains very clear. The death toll from the latest clashes starkly confirms and exacerbates this unequal pattern. To these figures, which come from the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, we must add another 30 deaths of Palestinians since February 1996 attributed to closures and restrictions on movements which denied them urgent medical care.