The Rights Forum

EU Report on
Settler Violence

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On 5 April 2012, The Rights Forum published an internal EU report about settler violence. As the only country of the EU, the Netherlands recently blocked this report by means of a “general reserve”. Publication of the report is in the interests of an open and thorough public debate about the consequences of Dutch Middle East policy, which is urgently needed.

The report blocked by the Netherlands dates from February 2012 and is an update of a report on settler violence which EU diplomats prepared in April 2011. The report and update show a disturbing picture of the increase and severity of the violence of settlers against Palestinian civilians and their belongings. Among others, the update mentions that 411 incidents of settler violence took place in 2011, a sharp increase compared with 2010; that settlers have destroyed nearly 10,000 trees; and that the Israeli authorities have so far failed to protect the Palestinian population.

The report (1) and the update (2) can be found below. The “(*)” behind the title of the update refers to an important sentence at the end of the document: “NL places a general reserve on the document” – the reservation by means of which the Dutch government currently blocks the report. The report and update have been leaked by unknown persons and reached The Rights Forum via-via.

For more information, visit our webpage about settler violence.