Palestinian rights activist attacked by Arab youths

"As long as the occupation exists, events like this will happen," says victim Daniel Seidemann following weekend east Jerusalem assault.

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD
DANIEL SEIDEMANN 370 (photo credit: Pulitzercenter.org)
DANIEL SEIDEMANN 370
(photo credit: Pulitzercenter.org)
“This ends not when Palestinians behave better, or when our Shin Bet becomes more efficient,” Israeli activist and attorney Daniel Seidemann wrote on his Facebook page Sunday – 24-hours after being hospitalized following a rock-throwing attack while driving his car in east Jerusalem – “It ends when occupation ends.”
Seidemann, an internationally recognized expert on contemporary Jerusalem law and outspoken proponent for peaceful coexistence between Palestinians and Jews, was attacked while traveling home from Sur Bahir after visiting a Palestinian friend Saturday afternoon.
Despite the attack being carried out by Palestinian youths – resulting in several stitches to the back of his scalp – Seidemann, whose law practice specializes in legal and humanitarian aid in east Jerusalem took to Facebook – while convalescing – to fault the violence on Israel’s occupation.
Since 1991, Seidemann, a retired IDF Reserve Major and Ivy-League educated Syracuse native who immigrated to Israel in 1973, has been a leading figure on the capital’s municipal policies and practices, representing both Israeli and Palestinian residents of the capital.
Awarded the title of Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2010, Seidemann is also the founder of two NGOs advocating for peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians, Ir Amim and Terrestial Jerusalem.
On his Facebook page he wrote that the attack occurred when he encountered a traffic jam near a school area in the center of the Palestinian neighborhood, while students were going home for the day.
“I didn’t see it coming, but should have: I was a sitting duck,” he wrote. “The rock was probably thrown at point blank range; it smashed the side window with enough force to leave a deep gash in the back of my head.”
Shortly thereafter, Seidemann, who lives a kilometer away, wrote that the traffic loosened up and he was able to flee the area to get the gash sutured and undergo neurological testing at the hands of two Palestinian physicians.
“The rock that hit me yesterday was not directed at me, personally,” he wrote. “Most likely, it was hurled because I am an Israeli – the occupier.
It’s also possible that it’s because I am a Jew, irrespective of the occupation. We will never know.”
“The wonderful people who visited me today are living under occupation. My occupation.”