JERUSALEM,
Aug 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Senior Israeli officers
defended the army's use of Palestinians as human shields to bring wanted
men out of hideouts or to tour homes suspected of containing booby
traps, claiming that the method, internationally criminalized as a war
crime, "saves lives”, an Israeli paper reported Friday, August
16, 2002.
On
Wednesday, August 14, Nidal Muhsein, a 19-year-old from the village of
Tubas, Southern Jenin, was ordered by the Israeli occupation forces to
knock on the door of his neighbor's house, where the Israelis suspected
a wanted man, Nasser Jerar, was hiding. After the poor Palestinian
civilian was forced to knock, putting in an Israeli army flak jacket, he
was cut down by gun fire. The Israeli army claimed the killing shots
came from inside the house, whereas witnesses said shots came from both
sides. This brought the issue of ‘Palestinian human shields’ to the
limelight again.
On
Thursday night, former Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin called the
practice "immoral and un-Jewish." He charged that Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer
"are responsible for the worst moral deterioration in the history
of Israel. Not only is this practice illegal, not Jewish, and immoral,
Israel is paying an enormous price for it. This government is teaching
the army the worst practices, and is turning the concept of `purity of
arms' into slander."
Israeli
army and police sources refused Thursday, August 15, to give an official
account of the extent to which the method, known as "neighbor
practice," is used. However, all confirmed it is very extensive.
One senior police officer said that it has been used "hundreds of
times to reach wanted men and to comb houses for fear of booby traps. In
recent months it has been used very often during the fighting,,"
according to Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz.
The
officer's account contradicts an army promise given by the state to the
High Court of Justice in early May - as a result of petitions by several
human rights groups - that the army would cease using civilians "in
homes, streets, or wherever the Israeli army is operating" as
"living shields" for Israeli troops.
The
petitioners suspended their case to the court after that promise, and
the court did not issue a verdict on the matter at the time. As a result
of the Muhsein incident, the petitions are expected to be revived.
The
"neighbor practice" is mostly used when trying to get a wanted
man out of a house. Under such circumstances the army uses what it
refers to as "a pressure cooker." First the troops surround
the house, using megaphones to call out the wanted man. Then one of the
neighbors is ordered to call on the suspect to come out. At that point,
if they don't respond, the neighbor is pulled back and troops open fire
with anti-tank missiles and light weapons at the house. If that doesn't
work, a bulldozer is brought in to knock down the house on top of the
suspects inside, according to the paper.
Despite
the public criticism, both inside and outside Israel, and the ostensible
army order presumably handed down after the court hearing in May, the
practice is widely used in the army, in an attempt to save lives -
Israeli lives.
In
other cases, Israeli soldiers use Palestinians to comb houses searched
for weapons to make sure nothing is booby-trapped. If a bomb goes off,
only the innocent Palestinian civilian will get killed, saving the lives
of Israeli soldiers.
The
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem collected testimony about this
practice, and in May, as part of its petition to the court, the group
presented testimony given by reserve officers who witnessed the
practice, Ha’aretz reported.
One
said that "it is very organized. First the house is surrounded, and
then we knock on the door and announce it's the army. The men are asked
to lift their shirts (lest they are wearing weapons or explosive belts)
and the women and children are put in a separate room. Then the men are
taken on a search of the house. We point at things and ask them to touch
them. The rationale is the fear of booby traps. In effect, it makes the
search much easier, and it doesn't end up with everything turned upside
down in the house."
Another
officer told B'Tselem that "before the search we go to a neighbor,
take him out of his house and order him to call the people we want out
of the next door house. If it works, it works, and if not we blow up the
door or knock it down with a hammer. The neighbor goes in first. If
they're planning something, he gets it. The orders say to send him
upstairs first, and to take everyone out ... we take their ID cards, and
then make the neighbor go through the house. We find who we were looking
for and arrest them ... The neighbor does not have the option to refuse
to do it. He shouts, knocks on the door and says the army's here. If
nobody answers, he comes back and we go to work."
Senior
officers, though admitting it is controversial inside the army, said
that Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti was arrested using the method.
"We sent one of his neighbors to knock on the door and tell him
that the army was waiting outside," said a senior officer.
"Because of the neighbor, Barghouti and his men did not open fire
at the neighbor and the soldiers, and his arrest was made without any
resistance."
As
for the orders issued by the army in May following the court hearing, a
senior officer said that the army interpreted the orders to mean that
the practice is forbidden "if the neighbor is put at risk."
Another officer said that "this is a military method, an efficient
and effective method, it's used by the police and by the army."
