I'm glad you're not taking sides.
Take a look at the following, from http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/defame.htm
On Nov. 3, the branches of hundreds of Arab-owned olive trees were found to have been cut down near the small Jewish community of Mitzpeh Yitzhar in the Shomron. Suspicions were immediately focused on the Jewish residents living nearby, and media reports and public officials took it for granted that they were responsible.
The Jerusalem Post Internet site reported on Nov. 7, "Last week, settlers from settlements in northern Samaria hacked approximately 500 olive trees belonging to Palestinians," and on the same day, a Voice of America report by Irris Makler went even further by opening, "Israeli settlers in the West Bank have destroyed olive trees belonging to Palestinian farmers in several areas in recent weeks..."
Israeli officials were quick to respond. President Katzav issued a sharp condemnation, saying that the "struggle with the Palestinians ... must be conducted with good sense and integrity." Prime Minister Sharon said he views the matter with "great gravity" and added that he had ordered the security establishment to "take all possible measures" to catch those responsible for uprooting the trees. Even the Yesha Council of Rabbis fell into the trap, stating that that acts of vengeance carried out by individuals are forbidden and condemnable, and had "defamed the entire sector of Jews living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza." A headline in Ynet quoted Labor MK Ephraim Sneh as saying, "The Palestinians whose olive trees were cut down by settlers must be compensated."
The story has taken a dramatic turn, however, though the media have largely ignored it. Police now feel that left-wing Israelis and the Arab tree-owners may have manufactured the entire incident as a provocation and a way to besmirch the Jewish population. The police have requested that Rabbi Arik Asherman of the Reform Movement and an Arab who filed charges against Jewish Yesha residents submit to lie-detector tests - but the two have, thus far, refused to do so.
The investigation began its about-face when a Jewish National Fund expert brought in by the police concluded that no lasting damage was done to the trees, as the tree-cutters did not "cut down" the trees, but rather "pruned" them. The branches were severed such that they will begin growing back within 2-3 months. The police, who had previously received accusations from the Arabs and the left-wing activists against the Yesha Jews, thereupon requested that those who filed the accusations take lie-detector tests.
"Whoever cut these trees" the JNF representative said, "did so expertly in the specific manner which does not cause any serious damage whatsoever to the tree, whose branches will begin to grow back within 2 to 3 months."
"If it is determined that we are speaking about a provocation in which someone cut these branches and then filed a false accusation with the police, then we are dealing with false testimony, which is a serious infraction," police superintendent Doron Ben-Ami told IsraelNationalNews.
Residents of the village of Yitzhar in Northern Shomron and environs have published a statement denying any connection to the cutting of the olive trees. In response to MK Efraim Sneh and others, the residents wrote, "There is not one bit of truth in these accusations, which are simply baseless slander."
(source: Arutz Sheva (Internet), Nov 10, 2003)
http://www.geocities.com/m_yericho/defame.htm
It is also very likely. Neither of sides in this conflict is above such tricks.
And this is why FReerepublic is such a fantastic site.
One can chose to disbelieve things one reads here but at least information that is never, ever presented in the MSM can be found here, thanks to the posters.
Thanks to you both.
ScaniaBoy
Does it make sense to say they were expertly cut, while done at the same time as a provocation? No.
Thank you for this information. My gut reaction to Palestinian/Arab "news" is a wallop of skepticism. They lie and invent so much of their news it has been dubbed "Paliwood."
This news of eco terrorism is real --
ARSON INTIFADA - Israel is facing a new wave of "arson terrorism" by Palestinians, Fire and Rescue Services Commissioner Shimon Romach said, after multiple, deliberately set fires destroyed dozens of acres of land this week, The Jerusalem Post reports. Several fires were set by Palestinian arsonists in the Ben-Shemen Forest in the Modi'in region and in the Nataf Forest near Jerusalem, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
http://www.icej.org/cgi-local/view.cgi?type=headline&artid=2004/04/22/506479486
Two Palestinians suspected of setting Negev forest fire
Police suspect two Palestinian men from the West Bank of setting fire to the Yatir Forest in the northern Negev also on Friday.
The blaze ravaged 70 dunams of land before four crews of Jewish National Fund firefighters managed to put it out.
Police chased the suspects, but gave up the search after they escaped to Palestinian villages in the southern Hebron Hills in the West Bank.
The suspected arsonists allegedly ignited six separate fires in the forest.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=578537
JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Five Israeli Arab youths have admitted to setting fires in central Israel near an Arab village where police and residents recently clashed.
The fires were part of the four days of forest blazes that burned out of control in northern and central Israel last week, causing thousands of inhabitants to evacuate the area north of Haifa.
http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/9770/edition_id/187/format/html/displaystory.html
Also in Ha'aretz, veteran commentator Meron Benvenisti has a thoughtful piece about the torching of forests by Arab Israelis, as part of their violent campaign in support of the Palestinians. The arson attacks have caused outrage in Israel, but as Benvenisti points out: "Many of the forests that were set ablaze were planted to hide the remnants of the Arab civilisation that once existed in this land - villages, cultivated fields, plantations and cemeteries. The planting of these "camouflaging" forests was intended to bury an important stratum in the history of this land and to ensure the burial would not be accompanied by any gravestone or marker. Those who have picnicked in the forests ... and are shocked by the attempts to set those forests ablaze, should remember they are living in the same land with people whose homes have been covered by such forests and who consider the green trees a memorial to their disaster." [sickening leftist BS from Ha'Aretz]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,385214,00.html
It is interesting also to note that since the buy out of the Jerusalem Post, the last conservative newspaper left in Israel, more and more they are "jumping to conclusions" and printing false accusations without retractions against conservatives.
It sucks to watch Hitlers propaganda machine realized in a modern state. But then, Hitler was a radical leftist.