Israeli soldiers abduct a Palestinian youth

By Awas al-Ragoub, IOL Palestine Correspondent

AL-KHALIL, April 27 (IslamOline.net) – An Israeli Coast Guard brigade is responsible for the organized break-ins, robbery and torture of the Palestinian residents of the West Bank city of Al-Khalil (Hebron), Israeli investigations revealed Saturday, April 26. At least 20 Israeli soldiers have been questioned to date.

"Investigations with (Israeli) Coast Guard personnel are under way. They have started earlier in April and resulted in extending the arrest of four soldiers and releasing the rest," Moussa Abu Hashhash, a political analyst at the Israeli human rights center in the West Bank, told IslamOnline.net.

"The four soldiers are charged with torturing to death a Palestinian youth – Omran Abu Hamdia, 17 – in last December, while others are charged with torturing Palestinians, robbery and sabotage," he added.

The Israeli mass-circulation Yediot Ahronoth reported Friday, April 25, on the shadowy operations of the Israeli brigade and interviewed victims of the Israeli terrorism.

Some soldiers of the Israeli brigade were accused of torturing Abu Hamdia to death and throwing him out of their jeep, the daily said according to sources, who requested anonymity.

The sources also added that the soldiers filmed the torture and killing of Abu Hamdia but damaged the tape afterwards.

According to eyewitnesses, Israeli troops stormed the house of Abu Hamdia late on December 12 and took him to the so-called industrial zone, where a myriad of Palestinians had been tortured.

"We found him an hour later with bruises and wounds of torture covering his body," they said.

"We tried to heal his bleeding wounds and take him to a near hospital but to no avail," said Rashid al-Ragby, an eyewitness.

Medical sources at Mohammed Ali al-Mohtaseb hospital said that the hospital received four other torture cases, who narrowly escaped death.

Hamza Salman al-Raghbi, 22, said he was abducted by soldiers with the Israeli brigade and taken to a remote area.

"They kicked me and battered me at different parts of my body, while others were photographing the torture," he said.

Among various torture schemes adopted by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians is a so-called "toss" game whereby they force Palestinians to choose their own type of torture.

However, Palestinian families cast doubt on the fairness of the Israeli inquires, noting that they were only aimed at "beautifying" the Israeli image in the eyes of the world.

"The Israeli courts brushed aside the torture case of Abu Hamdia," said an Israeli writer.

"The Israeli police were also adamant about opening a probe into the incident but were forced to do so when Human Rights Watch (HRW) had decided to dispatch a Danish physician to carry out an autopsy," he added.