Israel death toll lowest in years; but Palestine?

Forty-five Israelis were killed in Palestinian militant attacks in 2005, the Israeli internal security agency Shin Bet has reported.

This is 60% fewer than the number killed in 2004, and the lowest since the start of the intifada in 2000.

The main reason for the decline, Shin Bet said, was the informal truce observed by some Palestinian groups. [source]

Well since no one is going to write a report calculating the Palestinian side I figured I’d give it a try.

In 2005: About 255 Palestinians died and 993 were injured. This is by far the lowest number since the intifada started in late 2000.

compare this to 881 deaths and 4,009 injuries suffered in 2004

That’s about a 71% decrease in the number of total Palestinian deaths since 2004

This is most likely as a result of the informal on and off truces as well. This data is by way of the Palestine Red Crecent Society (PRCS) whose injury count includes those injured by live ammunition, rubber/plastic bullets and tear gas.

The BBCNews website also has casualty numbers of the intifada but do not cover 2005. Though interestingly enough they include a footnote for the Palestinian table which reads:

*There are no figures to show the proportion of Palestinians who were combatants and those who were civilians.

Meaning no one can (or no one will bother) to tell the difference between a combatant and a civilian. Come to think of it whenever I turn on the news the terms I hear used to describe Palestinian deaths are “militants” and “terrorists” regardless of who was killed.

In addition here are the break down of numbers since the intifada started. You can see the full table at the PRCS website.

255 deaths – 2005
993 injuries – 2005

881 deaths – 2004
4009 injuries – 2004

664 deaths – 2003
2992 injuries – 2003

1068 deaths – 20003
4322 injuries – 2003

904 deaths – 2002 + Oct, Nov, Dec 2001
16989 in juries – 2002 + Oct, Nov, Dec 2001

Total Deaths = 3,774
Total Injuries = 29,368