Casualties - 2007

I mentioned a few items back that the numbers of Palestinians killed in Israeli actions is miniscule compared to other conflicts around the world. Here is the annual Report of B'Tselem (from the J'sam Post), a pro-Palestinian Israeli human rights organization, that puts the number of Palestinian civilians killed in 2007 at 131. This is less than are killed in Iraq in one day, less than are killed on the roads in Israel in a year (now at ca. 460 in 2007), and certainly less than killed in Darfur in a year. More have been killed in rioting in Pakistan and Kenya in the past few days! Of course, all deaths are unfortunate, but really!
Note that the reasons for this decrease are not addressed by B'Tselem. It is clearly because Israeli actions have been successful in reducing Israeli deaths, i.e. only 7 Israeli civilians and 6 soldiers were killed in terrorist actions in 2007 (two more since the Report was written). Only 188 Palestinian terrorists (called "illegal combatants" in the Report) were killed in 2007. The Security Fence ("wall") and targeted killings by the IDF are responsible for these reductions in terrorism. But, B'Tselem would be reluctant to admit these reasons, they would still rather blame Israel.