Monday, 25 January 2016

Two Palestinians shot dead after stabbing two Israelis in West Bank: police

Two Palestinians were shot dead after stabbing two Israeli women on Monday in the West Bank, police said, in an emerging pattern of assaults inside Jewish settlements in the occupied territory.
One of the women was in critical condition and the other sustained moderate wounds after the attack in Beit Horon, a settlement on a highway that links Jerusalem and coastal Tel Aviv and cuts through the foothills of the West Bank.
"The two terrorists were killed by security forces," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, adding that two explosive devices were found at the scene.
It was the latest incident in an almost four-month long surge of violence that has raised concern of wider escalation, a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided. It followed three stabbings last week inside settlements carried out by Palestinian teenagers, according to Israeli authorities.
Many of the attacks on Israelis at the start of the bloodshed occurred in Jerusalem and other cities. But much of the violence has shifted to the West Bank, where settlers live adjacent to Palestinian population centers.
On Saturday, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl, who according to an Israeli policewoman "had fought with her family and left home with a knife and intended to die", tried to stab a security guard at a West Bank settlement and was then shot dead by him.
Since the start of October, Israeli forces have killed at least 151 Palestinians, 97 of them assailants according to authorities. Most the others have died in violent protests. Almost daily stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians have killed 25 Israelis and a U.S. citizen.
Many of the Palestinian assailants have been teenagers. The identities and ages of the alleged attackers on Monday were not immediately released.
On Jan. 17, an Israeli mother of six was stabbed to death at her home in a West Bank settlement and a 15-year-old Palestinian was arrested for the attack. A day later, Israeli troops shot and wounded a 17-year-old Palestinian who had stabbed and wounded a pregnant Israeli woman in a settlement.
The bloodshed has been fueled by various factors including frustration over the 2014 collapse of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the growth of Jewish settlements on land Palestinians seek for an independent state.
Palestinian leaders have said that with no breakthrough on the horizon, desperate youngsters see no future ahead. Israel says young Palestinians are being incited to violence by their leaders and Islamist groups that call for Israel's destruction.
Heller, Jeffrey. "Two Palestinians shot dead after stabbing two Israelis in West Bank: police." 25 Jan. 2016. Reuters. 25 Jan. 2016. <http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-idUSKCN0V325A>.
Response:
The article is about the recent attacks between Palestinians and Israelis, particularly in the areas of the West Bank where the tension between the two groups rose. The article informs that the majority of the Palestinian attacks are done by teenagers that kill out of hopelessness of the future. The author of this article isn't biased in the sense that it presents both of the numbers of the injured or the killed form both sides, but it is a little biased in that it presents more of the cases where Palestinian teenagers killed Israeli people more than the occasions where the Israelis killed Palestinians even though there were more Palestinians dead than the Israelis. The article also seems to support the idea that Palestinian teenagers are turning violent due to the Islamist who "call for Israel's destruction." The article is very ironic because it shows the current and ongoing issues in West Bank where people who live next to each other turn around and kill one another. Although many countries have sought out to solve this issue but have never completely succeeded in doing so. Measures of security between the two people groups seems to be essential at this point when even average people from both sides try to kill one another.  

45 comments:

  1. This is a very interesting article. I agree with you analysis og the bias of the article. The author definitely presents more information that favors the Israelis. The author dos present the number of people killed on both sides but there is no information given as to why the Palestinians could be doing this. I agree with tour analysis. Great article and good response!

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  2. Your article, was a bit stale. Though it is an issue, it has been over publicized and quite over done. Nevertheless your article was still interesting. As we all know, Palestine has always been violent against Isralis, and i find your biased toward the Isralie people incorrect. The article mentions that alot of these shootings have been due to self defense, and even goes on to explain a story of a girl who trys to stab at a police officer. I believe that the bias is toward neither sides, but trying to show a point of the uselessness of violence.

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  3. I agree with your response, I do think that collective security is essential for peace in Palestine. I also think that Palestinian leaders should discourage teenagers and anybody really from stabbing random civilians. Your response was good and showed a lot of analysis. I do think that in the case of the Teenage girl who attempted to stab the security officer , the response of the officer was excessive. I don't think a soldier needs to protect himself from a teenager by shooting her. Doesn't he have training? Isn't her trained how to disarm someone, that pretty basic training. He didn't need to shoot her, it just shows the current racial tensions in the region.

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    1. I agree with what you are saying, I don't believe the officer needed to shoot the teenage girl and kill her. He could of at least wounded her to stop her from trying to stab him. I believe that the officers have training but due to the situation and being scared for his life that he may have just reacted by shooting her. I feel with all the recent attacks that have been happening these officers should do more training on what to do if they happen to be attacked or in a bad situation with a Palestinian teen. The officers should learn how to disarm the teen and be able to keep them alive. I don't necessarily think it was racial tensions more of just in the moment reaction.

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  4. This is an interesting topic, but I do agree with Josh that it has been over publicized. Your response was well written and you had good analysis in it as well. I do see bias in this article towards Palestinian teenagers, for the information that is presented. It seems they continue to point out that these rebellious, hopeless Palestinian teenagers are acting out of the "invasion" of these Israeli people. I agree with Joel that it seems these soldiers should not react through gun fire, because they should have some training to disarm someone without killing them. One should remember that these are teenagers with knives against trained adults with guns. It seems that they should be able to control them without reverting to killing them. You did a great job in your response though.

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  5. Nice article choice and nice response. I liked how you tried to identify the bias in the article. Israeli-Palestinian conflict was and is one of the biggest conflict in the world. I think the situation is not getting any better and teenagers being taught to 'hate' each other is worsening the situation. Overreaction by police or other officers isn't helping. Moderation of actions taken by police or officers is needed to stop this unnecessary deaths. I agree that teenagers are getting violent and actions are needed to stop this chaos. Overall it was great response :)

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  6. Like mentioned before, this is a very intriguing article, even though commonly seen. My opinion is very similar to yours in the way that even though these people are living in such close proximity, they can be so hateful and wicked towards each other. I see where the Palestinian teenagers are coming from in the sense of their frustration of having a dim future. But I also believe the security that is there needs to implement the idea of peaceful confrontations with the Israelis and even adapt that mindset for themselves. Fantastic job analyzing and responding!

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  7. I thought your article choice was interesting and showed that you seem to understand this situation very clearly. I agreed with your response and I also agreed with your analysis of the bias. I think you are right that taking greater security measures on both sides would be a good way to lessen the number of violent attacks. Overall, I think you did a great job!

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  8. Good job on analyzing this article. You can clearly recognize the deep hatred between Israelis and Palestinians. I actually agree with you, when you mentioned that the article contains bias. A technique of subtly placing bias is in which type of cases the article mentions more. In this case, the article definitely has a higher number of Palestinians killing Israelis. That detail can make the audience lean to one side or another. Well done on identifying that and well written response.

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  9. Another apparent bias that the writer of this article has can be found in his presentation of stabbing cases. He mentions two instances in which guards were assailed and two other instances in which civilians were assailed. This comparison does not do the situation justice in that the majority of the 97 recorded stabbings were attacks on guards; so mentioning the same amount of guard incidents as civil incidents blows things out of proportions just a little bit.

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  10. Interesting article and great response, I guess it was more understandable since we studied the conflict between Israel and Palestine. It does seem like the author doesn't have bias in the beginning, though later on it seems like there is a little bit of bias in making Palestine attacks more severe. The author also seems to make the situation worse than it all is in the end, since it's been happening for years and the UN and others are making an effort to resolve the problem. I also agree with Josh that the author is trying to tell everyone that killing and violence is pointless and it's not helping the conflict at all.

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    1. I agree with this response. The bias did show up later in this article. I do agree with the author that this violence will get us no where. I think better security and police force could help stop and prevent these stabbings from happening.

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  11. The tragic events related by the article are another reminder that Ben Gurionism is still prevalent in Israel on more than a national level. The heavy-handedness that has historically marked the IDF has naturally carried over to police enforcement, and when considering the frequency of these attacks, their response may seem more understandable.

    The international community, of course, also finds itself in a difficult position when addressing the issue. On one hand, the cycle of teenage deaths could easily be another grievance for a mistreated Palestine, but on the other, Israel has every right to defend its citizens.

    A solution, of course, will be very difficult to find. The growing disillusionment of the youth in the Gaza Strip would suggest that without considerable progress on the international stage, the delinquency and violence are bound to continue.

    In any case, the author of this article does a good job of avoiding bias, and any that he does convey is not as politically charged as I expected. Instead of condemning the Palestinian attacks or the Israeli response, Mr. Heller writes with a sympathy for the young people inhabiting one of the most difficult places in the world.

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  12. This article brings to life the everyday occurrences that are going at the West Bank. Though some people have mentioned it to be over publicized, I think the author was writing it with sympathy which is a natural human response to the tragic events that are going on. It is hard to imagine that even the youth are involved in terrorism actions.

    The ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems to be inevitable and the police are not doing anything to lessen the tensions. It is very sad to see the and that the children residing in the West Bank have a detrimental future ahead of them. The author does a good job presenting the article, I didn't see any bias involved--it was accurate and concise.

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  13. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will always be there as long as the two countries exist and it's obvious to see that a resolution is still not even in the thought of the people. I think that this is because violent attacks are still being carried and nothing seems to be done. As more and more facts are being presented, nothing in the article indicates that anyone is doing anything for the progress of the two countries. Tiana did a great job analyzing what the emotions and feelings are for the two people groups. This shows what life is like for both sides, and both sides need to be empathetic for each other and realize the tragedies need to be put to a stop. The bias for this article really is one-sided and it's difficult to be empathetic without both sides facts.

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  14. Your article is somewhat upsetting in that shows the immense amount of suffering going on in the region. The youth's involvement in the violence speaks for the depth of the issue as it goes beyond simply a struggle for land and independence and has involved into a hatred between the two groups recently embodied by the youth. As stated previously by various comments, I do not see a clear bias. A peace-agreement of some form must soon be found to prevent the issue from going down this path of wide-spread violence. A halt to the bloodshed must become the utmost priority for both nations.

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  15. The brutality with which the whole situation is being handled is actually quite appalling. The fact that a trained, adult military personal with a gun would resort to shooting a girl with a knife could actually be somewhat humorous were it not real. The fact that it actually has happened and is happening is horrendous. While Israel may traditionally have had the support of the world, they are now gleefully throwing it out the window. It really seems like a short-sighted approach to gaining safety as they rely heavily on their allies to hold the deterrence to prevent them from being annihilated by the many who would gladly do so.

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  16. Great article and great response. It is so sad how much violence and killings going on in this region. The Israeli-Palestine conflict has been going on for years and still has no evidence of ceasing. The desperation of these people and hopelessness displayed in this article is heartbreaking, to say the least. There isn't any clear bias in this article but I do agree with the ones you already discussed in your response. Again, great article and great response.

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  17. Good article choice and a well thought out response. I do agree with your statement that palestinian teenagers seem to go out on almost suicidal runs due to the bleakness of the future ahead of them. This article does indeed talk much more on the attacks by palestinans, and not the numerous deaths by israeli hands. These two people groups have a history concerning decades of violence. And without intervention by any outside sources, they might just tear each other apart.

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  18. Indeed it can be said we've moved from guns on to stabbing and it keeps changinging (ways of death) but the death keeps occuring. As said by many before this is a good and eye opening article although it is very tragic that that is still reality for so citizens in Israel- Palestine. I agree with Joel that it is extreme action considering a girl with a knife comes up and the first response is shoot her but it does clearly portray just how extreme this area of the world is acting. I liked that you noted that they do seem to mention more Israel targets but the overall feeling is not very bias. Overall good job Tiana, good article, very eye opening and should make us all the more thankful for what we consider granted, safety, every day.

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  20. Nice article response, it was very interesting. My take on this issue is that there will always be conflict, everywhere. No matter whether it is two countries or people or animals, there will always find some difference and want to fight over it. So we can't stop violence, we can only reduce it. Your article makes me wonder, what if we took some of those troubled kids to a developed country, and try to help them by showing them support and taking them away from the violence and bad life back there. Just a thought, nice article.

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    1. Eli I think your take on this article is interesting but I think we can do more to stop the violence there. I believe the 2 governments should step in and try to create a treatie between them.

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  21. I agree with your opinion. I don't think that the officers should have killed the teenagers, they could have done something else to prevent them from doing it again. I think it would be scary to live in the environment they do because everyone is scared of what is to come in the future. Killing isn't the answer in any case.

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  22. While it scares me that there are children being shot dead in the streets, I can understand why the police are acting in such an extreme way. Like you said, people who once lived next to each other without violence are turning to each other and stabbing them to death. It's incredible just how hopeless the teens seem to be about the future, as they're willing to throw their lives away as if it's nothing. There needs to be outside action on this conflict fast, otherwise there will just be more and more people left for dead.

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  23. Yes, they deserved their punishment for the terrible thing they did, killing 2 people deserves hard punishments.They need to get control of this situation and many others before things get worse.

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  24. This is a great article. I just don't understand why the people would do something like this and stab someone(s) for no reason at all. I wonder why the person did stab them? I also don't understand why they are always fighting? Maybe they can figure it out.

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  25. Since the killers were terrorists, it is actually a good thing. To most people, the killers deserved what was coming to them. They kill two Israelis, they are killed themselves. This is a really good article that you found.

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  27. Its sad to see that people cant get along if there apart of the same organized religion. There has been constant tensions between Palestinians and Israelis for a very long time. The only bias im noticing is the argument is one sided and gears toward the Palestinians being more violent the Israelis. In reality both sides have killed each other various times so its really both sides faults.

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  28. The brutatily is sad. They've gone from guns to knifes. This artical brings to eye the large amount of suffering going on. But this is all truly saddening!

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  29. Interesting article. I found it very interesting that youth are doing all of these crimes. I think this should show the government that the the fighting needs to stop because this seems to be getting out of control.

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  30. I don't understand how this problem will ever be solved. Killing someone who killed another person only makes you that much of a killer. When you kill a person because they killed, you only give off the message that it's okay to continue to kill. It's hypocritical for either Israelis or Palestinians to kill one another. I feel like the people in power want this all to be stopped but can't come up with the obvious answer that if someone on either side is killed and an attack or a threat is made, you should lock that person up. This also ties to death row because the gov't is still killing and they always want to say it's wrong but yet they do it. I think if people really opened their eyes and found a peaceful and productive solution, there would be a drastic change in this world.

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  31. I like how you talk about how you believe there to be some bias in the article and I somewhat agree with you on the reasons you said in your response. Also, I completely agree with you that they could have handle the problem in a different way to make them stop doing these violent acts instead of deciding to shoot.

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  32. After reading your post, I think it is interesting to me in a way that makes me think about the problems that's happening around my community. That made me come to a conclusion that others should look into both sides of the situation.

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  33. You state that the teens kill because of the hopelessness of the future, I think it would be good to elaborate on that thought. Why would they all of the sudden start attacking each other because of political talks being at a standstill? Also you state that other countries have sought out to help the relations but I don't see how that is of much relevance.

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  34. This is a well summarized article that I enjoyed reading through. It clearly described what was happening on both sides so that readers like myself can easily understand what the situation was. The only problem I found in your summary was it didn't include a way to give the audience a view on your opinion.

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  35. It is a well summarized article about what is going on there. I hope the two groups of people there work it out. I don't understand why so many people are killing others.

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  36. After reading the article and your response, I liked how you commented on some bias in the article. When looking at situations like this, it's always a good thing to look at both sides. That way more information can be found. Good article and response!

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  38. I agree on your response from the article. That the situation that is going on, is indeed ironic since they live next to each other, yet they are shooting and stabbing each other in the back. Also agreeing on how the teenagers are turning violent. Because if you put it into perspective in the United States, you don't see daily shootings and stabbings from teenagers of 15,16, or 17 years old. And I believe that going up in that sort of environment has something to do with it.

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  39. Late response but..
    Great article choice and it was interesting to me as I had kind of in a sense forgotten about the Israel vs Palestine this term. There wasn't any clear bias towards any side of the argument, and I think you understood the article well as your response demonstrated so. Again great job and have a great day:)

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  40. I agree with this response that it is quite Ironic that they are next to each other, but yet raging a war between then. In the United States we may not always see teenagers who are shooting, killing, and otherwise mastering people, but we have seen tragedy with many deaths caused by people who have become radicalized terrorists. I do not see environment actually being a factor in this, it may add to the pressure but the same could happen anywheres.

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  41. I agree with your response this is ironic that they are having a war with each other when they are right next to each other. They stab and shoot each other. There isn't any bias between the two sides yet but they're fighting. In the end I hope they'll work it out.

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  42. I agree with this response from the article. I think the response was well written and interesting. I also think that you should include more of your opinion and what and what you think about the situation. Do you think there is another way to solve this besides security? Overall this is a great response and its a tragedy how all these people are getting killed.

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