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Case file

Palestinian stone throwing

The word “martyr” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak in 2015. Today the opening carries none. 6 remain further down the article, where a reader arriving from a search result does not go.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. “martyr” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 6.
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The opening as it read in 2015

Palestinians throwing stones from the cover of an ambulance during a riot in Qalandiya .1 Palestinian stone-throwing refers to a Palestinian practice of throwing stones at outgroups, most commonly as a form of resistance.2 It is generally defined as a violent activity, though the majority of Palestinian youths engaged in the practice appear to regard it as non-violent.3 It has been described variously as a form of traditional popular protest guerrilla tactic or action, as a form of hate crime or terrorism, or mode of civil disobedience which came to prominence during the First Intifada . At least 14 Israelis have been killed by Palestinian stone throwing, including 3 Arabs mistaken for Jews.4 It has occasionally been imitated by activists among the Arab citizens of Israel . Some view it as a form of ‘non-lethal civil disobedience’.5 Others argue that such stone-throwing has involved recourse to lethal objects, that it should be treated as a form of terrorism , or that, in terms of the psychology of those who hurl stones, it is intrinsically violent.6 Stone throwing is not considered a deadly force in most countries: in the West firearms are not used in crowd or riot dispersals and proportionality of force is the norm, except where immediate danger to life exists. Stone-throwers also employ catapults , slings and slingshots armed with readily available materials at hand: stones, bricks, bottles, pebbles or ball bearings , and sometimes rats or cement blocks . Slingshots are often loaded with large ball bearings instead of stones. Since the 1987 uprising, the technique is favoured as one which, to foreign eyes, will invert the association of modern Israel with David, and her enemies with Goliath, by casting the Palestinians as David to Israel’s Goliath, Despite there being daily protests acts all over the Palestinian territories, the number of shooting incidents was tiny (less than 3%), but the international press and media focused on the aspect of stone-throwing.7 Palestinian stone-throwing got more headline attention than other violent conflicts in the world, so that it became iconic for characterizing the uprising. According to Edward Said , a total cultural and social form of anti-colonial resistance by the Palestinian people is commodified for outside consumption simply as delinquent stone throwing or mindless terroristic bombings. The Israeli penal code treats Palestinian stone throwing as a felony , with a maximum penalty if convicted of 2 years imprisonment.8 A law has been proposed to extend this to a maximum of 10 years for stoning cars, even without proof of intent to endanger passengers, and 20 years for throwing stones at people, without proof of intent to cause bodily harm.9 Those targeted are Israeli soldiers, and Israeli civilians driving in East Jerusalem and the West Bank . Settlers in the West Bank also are said to throw stones frequently at Palestinians vehicles.10 This protest entailed strikes, boycotts, barricades, and acts of civil disobedience, but what caught the attention of news media around the world was stone-throwing by Palestinian youths against the tanks and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. The most powerful weapon, they proclaimed, was massive non-lethal civil disobedience. That is what the stones symbolized”. Pete van Reenben in ‘Children as Victims in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.11 In Western countries, fire-arms are not used, apart from cases of immediate danger to life.to life. The open fire regulation used by Israeli forces, as far as is clear what it contains, seems to allow for a much faster use of fire arms and for heavier arms than is usual in demonstrations elsewhere. The requirement of proportionality of force, . . does not appear to apply here.'.

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“martyr” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 6. Read the current article and compare.
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martyr1110
terror6552
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