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Inquiry Launched Into Theft, Offenses Committed By Israeli Army
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A
Palestinian teacher inspects the damage made by the Israeli
occupation army in West Bank school
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, April 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel's
occupation police have opened 24 files of inquiry into thefts and
other infringements committed by Israeli occupation soldiers against
Palestinians, Israeli public radio said Thursday, April 25, news
agencies reported.
As
part of the inquiry, three soldiers were interrogated, and another has
been under arrest for seven days, suspected of having stolen money
from a Palestinian at a checkpoint near Jerusalem, the radio said,
without giving the amount stolen, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
According
to The Washington Times issue of Tuesday, April 23, Palestinians
returning to homes and offices in the West Bank after Israel's brief
pullout Monday accused Israeli occupation soldiers of looting and
vandalism.
They
said computers and television cameras had been taken and money was
stolen from safes. Reporters saw graffiti scrawled in English and
Hebrew, much like the graffiti scrawled by soldiers in other military
campaigns.
Israeli
officials had no official response to the charges, which have mounted
with the lifting of curfews in the past few days.
Ramallah
is the site of Al Quds University, where staff of the Center for New
Media returned to their offices and television studio Sunday for the
first time since learning the building had been used by Israeli forces
as barracks and for sniper positions.
During
a tour of the premises Monday, the staff showed a reporter three empty
tripods that they said had held television cameras, an empty classroom
where they said 12 computers had stood, a ransacked library and
offices, and graffiti saying, "No Palestine. Ever."
Wassim
Abdullah, the technical director for educational television at the
university, described the damage as evidence of "pure
hatred."
"This
was not a soldier stuffing his pockets," said Mr. Abdullah, who
produces the Palestinian version of "Sesame Street."
"This was organized, it was allowed."
Similar
stories were told in Palestinian neighborhoods throughout the West
Bank as Palestinians took stock of their circumstances after weeks of
occupation and curfew. Salah Soubani, director of information for the
Palestinian Education Ministry, said Monday that Israeli troops had
blown up a safe in the ministry offices and removed $8,000.
"Our
ministries were nearly completely destroyed," said Palestinian
Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. "This was not done as a
mistake in one or two places. This was done in every single
ministry."
The
charges of vandalism and theft add another dimension to the bruising
complaints of human rights violations in the Jenin refugee camp, where
Israeli occupation soldiers massacred hundreds of Palestinian
civilians.
In
London, Amnesty International said it had compiled evidence that
"indicates that serious breaches of international human rights
and humanitarian law were committed, including war crimes,"
according to Javier Zuniga, director of regional strategy for the
London-based group.
Israel
has continuously rejected criticism of its operations in Jenin and
other Palestinian cities and villages.
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