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Israeli
Rubber Bullets Highly Dangerous, Say Doctors
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Doctors accuse
Israeli forces of “improper aiming” and misuse of dangerous
ammunition.
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PARIS,
May 24 (News Agencies) - Israeli and West Bank doctors have condemned
rubber bullets fired by Israeli forces to control protestors, saying
the weapons have potentially lethal design flaws and are often
misused, resulting in deaths and critical injuries.
In
a study published in Saturday's issue of The Lancet, the
British medical weekly, they assessed injuries sustained by Arab
Israeli protestors in clashes with Israeli police in early October
2000 after the second Intifada erupted, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
“[The]
inaccuracy of rubber bullets and improper aiming and range of use
resulted in severe injury and death in a substantial number of
people,” they write.
“This
type of ammunition should therefore not be considered a safe method of
crowd control.”
The
eight authors comprise two surgeons, a radiologist and trauma doctor
at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa; a doctor from
the Israeli Police Force Headquarters in Jerusalem; two doctors at the
Nazareth Hospital and Holy Family Hospital in Nazareth; and a doctor
at El-Hayat Hospital at Umm el Fahem.
The
authors focus on 201 injuries sustained by 152 people they had treated
who were hit by one of two kinds of rubber rounds used by the Israeli
police.
The
weapons are the RCC-95, a blunt, rubber-coated metal cylinder with a
high muzzle velocity; and the MA/RA 88, a low-velocity round which
comprises 15 metal-cored rubber balls that fan out in a seven-meter
(22.75-feet) -wide circle at a range of 50 meters.
Of
the 201 injuries, 46 percent were classified as mild, 35 percent were
moderately severe and 19 percent were severe. Three of the 152 died of
their injuries and three were left blind.
The
most dangerous wounds occurred when the rounds hit the thin bones of
the face, which happened in 27 cases. The biggest culprit was the
RCC-95.
"Injuries
to the eyeball were especially severe, causing brain penetration in
two patients, and visual loss or complete blindness when there was no
penetration into the brain," the authors say.
They
blame the inherent design of the rounds, noting that their shape and
velocity made them unstable in flight and liable to tumble end over
end. The inaccuracy was magnified by ricochet.
But
the doctors also accuse the Israeli security forces of misuse.
The
manufacturers of the rubber bullets say the rounds can be used safely
when fired at the legs at a range of at least 40 meters (50 yards).
But
of the 201 injuries, more than half were above the midriff. Sixty-one
of them were the head, neck and face alone.
In
addition, 42 patients had types of severe injuries, notably
penetration by the round or broken bones in the limbs or skulls, that
clearly came from a round fired at close range, the doctors say. One
patient's back was peppered with 13 impacts from an MA/RA 88 round.
"New
types of ammunition with higher accuracy and less force of impact than
those currently in use are urgently needed for control of civil
demonstrations," the authors say.
"Meanwhile, to
prevent serious blunt and penetrating injuries and fatalities, the
anatomic target area should be rigorously limited to the lower limbs,
and the minimum firing range should always be kept above 40 meters (50
yards)."
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