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Israeli
army is accused of killing Palestinians in cold-blood
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JERUSALEM,
Sept 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Western sources, Israeli
peace activists and Palestinian officials Saturday, September 07,
2002, condemned the results of an internal inquiry by the Israeli army
into the killing of 12 civilian Palestinians, including four
fruit-pickers blown up by a tank shell packed with thousands of darts.
On
Friday, the Israeli army absolved itself of blame in the killings of a
dozen Palestinian civilians in the last two weeks, in an inquiry
carried out at the demand of Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben
Eliezer, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The
findings reveal that the standing open fire orders, used in the three
incidents, were appropriate," the army said in a statement on the
probe into three separate incidents that drew sharp criticism of the
army.
"The
soldiers acted following a suspicious behavior, which included persons
being in an unauthorized area during the late night hours, crawling
toward an Israeli community or infiltrating into an Israeli
agricultural patch," it claimed.
Investigations
by the Israeli army into the killing or maiming of Arab civilians in
the 23-month conflict almost invariably resulted in whitewashes.
However, this did not diminish the condemnation with which Friday's
findings were greeted by Western sources, Israeli peace activists and
Palestinian officials, according to British daily The Independent.
An
Israeli army statement did not confirm or deny using a tank flechette
round. But The Independent examined an X-ray of one victim. Darts were
embedded in his chest and stomach. The deaths of the children caused
by the helicopter missile strike, in the West Bank village of Tubas,
were dismissed by the Israeli army as "collateral damage"
that was "probably caused by a technical malfunction".
However,
Uri Avnery, an activist with the Israel pressure group Gush Shalom,
said the three incidents were "manifestly illegal actions".
He added, "If the army says its soldiers followed their standing
orders, this shows their standing orders are manifestly wrong, and
responsibility for all these actions rests on the army's high
command," The Independent reported.
One
Western source declared himself to be "speechless" on
hearing the outcome of the inquiry, which he described as a cover-up.
"Why bother to set up an inquiry unless it is going to be
thorough and impartial and unless the results will be followed up.
None of this is true in this case," the paper said.
For
its part, a Palestinian rights group said the tank shell contained
flechettes, tiny razor sharp darts that explode from a projectile to
rip flesh apart.
"The
Defense Minister compliments the (army) on the thorough
inquiries" in the report, the statement said.
Chief
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat slammed the findings as a license
to kill.
"This
is a gift to the Israeli killers, the perpetrators of a massacre
against a family in Sheikh Ajleen area, two children in Tubas, the
four Palestinian workers in Hebron," he told AFP.
"This
will send a message to the soldiers and settlers to kill in cold blood
and there will be many more crimes against Palestinian
civilians," he said.
On
Sunday, September 1, four
Palestinians were killed in an army ambush close to a Jewish
settlement near the southern West Bank town of Hebron. Witnesses said
the victims were workers walking home from their jobs in a quarry,
while the army claimed they were preparing an attack.
The
day before, two children and two teenagers were killed by mistake
during a helicopter missile strike targeting a Palestinian activist in
the West Bank village of Tubas, near Nablus.
http://www.islamonline.net/english/news/2002-08/31/article09.shtml
A
woman, her two sons and one of her nephews were killed the week
before in the shelling of a house in a Gaza City neighborhood. They
were harvesting grapes in a vineyard at night to be ready for the
morning market.
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