Cycle of violence and all that kind of stuff

Inevitably, the minute one posts that Palestinians damaged the crops of Israelis farming in Samaria or Judea come cries of protest from the usual Palestinian apologistas. Apparently, a number of professional Palestinian apologists think there is some kind turnabout going on and believe it is all in the interest of fair play.

Apparently, Israeli settlers have been cutting down Palestinian Olive trees on a fairly regular basis. So much so that it has become a real growth industry among Palestinians. As a matter of fact, the Israeli daily Maariv carried a report on this unique Palestinian growth industry last December (2006). Luckily for the professional Palestinian apologists Maariv carries no English translation. Fortunately, the Israeli Insider did carry this summation of the article for the international Anglo community:

Maariv NRG reports that Palestinian youths were caught in the act as they were cutting olive trees illegally, claiming they did it at the request of the owner of the grove. Forest inspectors caught the youths axing the trees, shedding a new light on frequent complaints by Palestinians farmers that settlers cut their trees in an attempt to hurt their livelihoods.

In the past, as a result of such complaints, IDF soldiers and police have been called on to protect the Palestinians farmers in the territories during the olive harvest season. But the police suspect now that in some cases the Palestinians themselves are the ones cutting the trees and then blaming the settlers in an attempt to get compensation from the Israeli Civil Authority.
(…)
Sources in the police said that over the years the police have experienced a phenomenon of the filing of complaints to the Civil Authority regarding the destruction of olive trees, along with a claim for financial compensation. In the last year alone the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria filed claims for 350 thousand shekels ($75,000) for the destruction of olive trees.

The police said they now intend to check the complaints in detail. A senior source in the police told Maariv NRG that "most of the complaints for damage to olive trees were filed in recent years at the end of the harvest season or towards the end, something that increase the suspicion that this is a cooked deal."

Gee, here’s a newsflash. Anyone who will not hesitate to kill you and sanctions the indiscriminate use of suicide bombing to kill grandparents, parents, babies, children, teenagers, et al at the ice cream/pizza parlours, restaurants, hotels, markets, malls or a buses will not hesitate to lie, cheat or steal.