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Israeli Army Arrests Soldiers for Abusing Palestinian Civilians
WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Israeli army Thursday arrested six of its own soldiers in connection with the abuse of Palestinian civilians less than two weeks ago, the BBC online news service reported.
The independent Israeli human rights group B'Tselem issued a 17-page report on July 29th detailing the actions of the six IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers who beat nine Palestinian civilians and forced them to beat each other.
The soldiers stopped two Palestinian taxis driving separately, making one drive his vehicle through an olive grove to where their army jeep was parked. After crudely ordering three women, a little girl, and an elderly man to leave, they lined up the nine remaining men against a wall, a report summary said.
Then, after having taken away their identity cards, "the soldiers began to beat them severely," the summary stated. "Among other means, the soldiers struck the men with the butts of their guns and their helmets."
Khaled Rawashdeh, 36, was one of the taxi drivers, according to the report summary. In his testimony, published on the B'Tselem website, he told of how one of the passengers, 21-year-old 'Abd al-Muttaleb Muhammad Musleh Mahareeq, was ordered to beat some of the other Palestinians.
"He refused, but the soldiers threatened to kill him on the spot," Rawashdeh said. "The other men asked him to beat them. With tears falling from his eyes, the young man started to beat us with his fist on our faces and heads.
"He tried to beat us gently but one of the soldiers put his gun at to his head and told him to beat us more seriously. They told him to beat me the most. He struck my face me six or seven times."
The BBC report said that in the end, four of the Palestinians were hospitalized.
The IDF said that three of the six soldiers appeared in front of a military court Wednesday and the other three appeared Thursday, the BBC report said; indictments should be filed next week.
Although supporters of the army say that young IDF soldiers are under tremendous pressure due to the Palestinian uprising, B'Tselem and other human rights groups cite this as another example of Israel's continued ill treatment of Palestinians, the BBC said.
Just Wednesday, the London-based human rights group Amnesty International (AI) issued a press release condemning Israel's attack on Nablus Tuesday, in which eight Palestinians, including two children and two journalists, were killed, as "show[ing] once again an utter disregard for human life in the Occupied Territories."
AI condemned Israel's policy of assassinating possible instigators of violence - what it calls "pre-emptive strikes" - and called again for international monitors to be sent in to observe the region.
The Palestinian Islamic resistance group Hamas has already pledged more bombings in retaliation for the killing, which earned Israel worldwide condemnation and which brought almost 100,000 Palestinians to the streets of Nablus for the funeral.
But Israeli television reported Thursday that Israel has warned the Palestinian Authority that it will not exercise any restraint in the event of any further bombings on Israeli territory.
The warning to the Palestinian Authority came from the son of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Omri, during a secret meeting last week in the West Bank with the head of preventive security there, Jibril Rajoub, the television added, without providing further details.
The cabinet office later issued a statement denying the meeting took place.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon personally to reiterate the U.S.'s strong negative stance on Israel's assassination policy.
"The secretary expressed our concerns about the rocket attack on the apartment building and about targeted killings in general," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
On the ground, four Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire Thursday in two separate incidents in the Gaza Strip Thursday, including two boys, 12 and 16, who were badly injured, Palestinian hospital sources said.
Palestinian security sources said that late Thursday, three Israeli tanks moved into the autonomous Palestinian sector of Deir el-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, damaging two buildings with shellfire, after two mortar shells were fired from that area towards the Israeli settlement of Kfar Darom.
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