Israeli settlers want New York police tactics in

Jerusalem

I
sraeli police detain a Palestinian youth in Jerusalems Old City on 12 October.
Oren ZivActiveStills

The Electronic Intifada-Rebecca Pierce-21 October

2015
Israeli settlers in occupied Jerusalem are urging the authorities to step up their
harassment of Palestinians by introducing New York-style law enforcement tactics.
In an attempt to crush Palestinian resistance, the settlers want to see a zero tolerance policy
pursued, under which stiff penalties would be imposed on anyone defying Israels orders.

Daniel Luria, a spokesperson for the settler group Ateret Cohanim, is arguing that the Israeli
authorities model their approach on the broken windows one favored by Rudy Giuliani,
mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001.

Giuliani, I dont think in the beginning went after the rapists and the murderers,
Luria told The Electronic Intifada, he went after the small things.
Based on the theory that all crime would fall if minor offenses were prosecuted
aggressively, the broken windows approach led to a racially discriminatory form of
policing.
In 2000, more than 50 percent of all adults arrested for misdemeanors in New York
City were African-Americans. Yet African-Americans comprised less than one quarter
of the citys population at the time.
Ateret Cohanims calls chime with those made by senior figures in Israels ruling
coalition.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for example, has declared war on Palestinian
stone-throwers.
As well as loosening restrictions on when Israeli forces may open fire at stonethrowers, a new law has been approved to allow stone-throwers to be locked up for a
maximum of 20 years.
Even before these measures, stone-throwing was the single most common charge
leveled against Palestinian children in Israeli military courts, which deny defendants
basic rights of due process. Israeli settlers accused of the same offense almost
always escape without charge.
Act like the owner
Luria suggested that his groups demands are part of wider efforts to step up Israels
colonization of Jerusalem.
In Hebrew its called a bal habayit act like the owner, he said. When you act like a
true bal habayit, like you own the place, then you have the fear of your citizens also.
Not just fear, but they understand that a persons sitting on top of you.
Ateret Cohanim is not alone in recommending that New York-style tactics be used in

Palestine. Writing in The Times of Israel, a right-wing website, Likud politician Danny
Danon last year praised New Yorks crackdown on everything from graffiti to
prostitution and claimed this is what is needed now in Jerusalem.
He made it clear that the approach he advocated would primarily target Palestinians in
occupied East Jerusalem. We must immediately end the soft hand of law enforcement
in the eastern neighborhoods that has endured for too long, he wrote.

A Palestinian man walks past a police checkpoint in Jerusalems Old City on 12 October.
Oren ZivActiveStills

Then a member of Israels parliament, the Knesset, Danon was subsequently

appointed Israels ambassador to the United Nations.
Israels policing techniques already bear many similarities to those of the United
States.
In recent weeks, the Israeli military and police have increased their presence in the
Muslim Quarter of Jerusalems Old City.

While the deployment of extra forces has been presented by Netanyahu as a response
to the stabbing of some Israeli settlers, many Palestinians have complained of being
arrested or punished on charges completely unrelated to stabbing incidents.
The invasive searches which Palestinians have to endure can be compared to the stop
and frisk techniquesintroduced by Bill Bratton, who was New York police
commissioner in the 1990s. Such techniques have disproportionately affected people
of color.
While the Israeli police have stated that they are subjecting Palestinians in East
Jerusalem to arrest raids on a daily basis, some government ministers are calling for
even greater aggression. Naftali Bennett, the education minister and a long-standing
activist in Israels settler movement, is among those pushing for a higher police
presence in East Jerusalem.
Intimidation
Palestinian shopkeepers in Jerusalems Old City have also complained of intimidation
by the Israeli authorities.
The authorities have begun imposing fines of 5,000 shekels ($1,300) on Palestinian
shopkeepers over regulations that had not been previously enforced.
As a result, stores have been punished because of outdoor displays and for lacking no
smoking signs.
Khaled Mustafa Tufah, a shopkeeper in the Old City, witnessed five cases of Israelis
punishing his colleagues one morning last week.
Arguing that shopkeepers have the right to show off their stocks, he said that the
authorities have a new excuse, that you should put none of your stuff outside.
They dont give them [shopkeepers] a chance to take it in or out, he said. They just
start to fine.
An Old City caf owner, who asked to be identified only as Abu Omar, said, Its ugly to
see all the time guns and soldiers around, its not normal I worry for my children
every time they leave the house.

An unusually high police force presence has been noticed, too, in towns within
present-day Israel that have large numbers of Palestinian residents.

Police arrest a protester during clashes between youth and Israeli forces in Nazareth, a town in northern
Israel, on 8 October.
Faiz Abu RmelehActiveStills

Protesters against Israels recent killings of Palestinians have faced increased

repression.
Adalah, a civil rights group, has calculated that 150 young Palestinian citizens of
Israel were arrested for attending demonstrations during the first two weeks of
October.
Israeli police are enforcing rules in a discriminatory way by, among other things,
issuing large numbers of fines on people who park their cars near protests.
Its legal, you cannot stop police from standing in Nazareth and giving tickets to
people, said Majd Kayyal, a spokesperson for Adalah. But still its a kind of collective
punishment to put pressure on people not to take part in demonstrations.

Rebecca Pierce is an independent journalist and documentary filmmaker with a focus

on militarization, borders, prisons and policing.
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