-Caveat Lector- The Boston Globe Online ________________________________________________ Israeli troops face criticism on civilian toll
By Charles M. Sennott, Globe Staff, 12/29/2002 RAMALLAH, West Bank - A 95-year-old Palestinian woman returning in a taxi from a doctor's appointment Dec. 3 was stopped at a checkpoint here by an Israeli soldier who, Palestinian witnesses said, smashed the windshield and fired 17 bullets at the vehicle. One of the shots hit the woman's spine and killed her. On Dec. 12, five unarmed Palestinian men seeking work inside Israel were trying to scale a Gaza border fence in the middle of the night. Believing the men were militants on an operation, Israeli troops fired a tank shell that killed all five. When an Israeli tank unit near the West Bank town of Jenin blew a tread May 5, soldiers thought the loud bang was a bomb and opened fire at everything around them. They killed a Palestinian mother and two young children who were picking vegetables in a field. These are three examples of what Palestinian and international human rights groups estimate are as many as 1,200 cases of Palestinian civilian deaths at the hands of Israeli soldiers in more than two years of fighting. Human rights activists and military specialists say the high rate of civilian casualties is the result of a military that has not properly investigated civilian deaths and has created an atmosphere in which soldiers are not held accountable. ''The lack of investigations into civilian deaths has given soldiers a strong sense of impunity, that they can do pretty much whatever they want without having to answer any questions,'' said Lior Yavne, a senior investigator for the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem and author of a report published in March that examined Israeli soldiers' actions during the current Palestinian uprising. The Israeli Defense Forces disputes such allegations. Captain Sharon Feingold, an IDF spokeswoman, said ''every civilian death is a tragedy and we express deep sorrow.'' But the military has begun a reexamination of its operations in densely populated areas. Israeli officials also point out that while the IDF has made ''regrettable'' mistakes in taking civilian lives, it has done so fighting a war against an enemy - militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad and a Palestinian ''infrastructure'' that supports them - that intentionally targets civilians. IDF figures last tallied on Friday estimate that 479 Israeli civilians have been killed, mostly through suicide bombings and roadside shootings. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has repeatedly condemned the bombings and the targeting of Israeli civilians by the militant groups, although Israel contends he has not taken steps to curb the attacks. In an interview this month, he said the Israeli military rationalization for the deaths of Palestinian civilians reflected a view in Israel that ''all Palestiniansare terrorists.'' A hallmark of this intifadah, or Palestinian uprising against occupation, has been a dangerous blurring of lines between civilians and combatants and both sides have exacted heavy civilian deaths and injuries since the uprising began Sept. 29, 2000. Indeed, civilian casualties have presented a moral quagmire for standing armies throughout recent history - from the French in Algeria to the British in Northern Ireland and the United States in Afghanistan. But in recent months Israeli human rights groups, leading Israeli newspapers, and even retired high-ranking officers have denounced the number of Palestinian civilian deaths in the West Bank and Gaza and contended that the IDF has not fully investigated them. A review of the IDF internal investigations into the killing of Palestinian civilians reveals that only a small fraction of the cases are given a full military inquiry. In two years, only 30 cases of ''violations of procedure regarding shooting'' have resulted in a full military police investigation, and only five have resulted in indictments before military courts for wrongdoing, according to IDF officials. To date, none of the cases has resulted in a conviction. The IDF points out that there are field inquiries that can result in disciplinary measures by senior commanders for violations of procedure, but that these cases are handled on a brigade and unit level. ''It is very difficult for us to know what is there,'' said one military spokesman. General Amnon Strashnov, who was the Israeli military attorney general during the first intifadah in 1987 and until recently a judge in the Israeli civilian judicial system, made a rare public criticism of the military, saying that the current IDF attorney general ''should show more initiative'' in investigating Palestinian civilian deaths. ''All the immoral and illegal deeds done in the checkpoints, the abuse against Palestinians and the holding of ambulances deserve strong condemnation and criticism,'' Strashnov told the newspaper Yediot Ahranot in an interview published Friday. ''There is a need for deeper investigations. When kids are killed by a tank there has to be a deep and thorough investigation.'' In a lead editorial on Dec. 5, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, wrote of the ''proliferation of cases of innocent people killed'' and cited the IDF's easing of its own rules of engagement during complex military missions in which soldiers search for wanted people in densely populated Palestinian cities and towns. Israeli military officials say they have been reexamining the tactics used by soldiers. Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon held a meeting with IDF brass on Dec. 8 to ''improve urban fighting in a way that will avoid putting civilians in harm's way,'' according to an IDF press statement. But some top military officials are worried that the IDF's image is being tarnished by the high number of civilian casualties. They also express concern that in an effort to keep Israel from calling up more reservists the IDF has put too much pressure on its army, leaving troops exhausted and more prone to making poor battlefield decisions. Major General Uzi Lev-Tzur, who serves as the commissioner for a Soldiers' Complaint Board, reported in a Dec. 2 letter to the IDF that ''soldiers suffer from a severe lack of sleep and do not go on leave enough, causing serious exhaustion that could even result in accidents and operational blunders because of overtiredness.'' A military attache to a Western embassy in Tel Aviv, who has had a long, distinguished military career and directed several military inquiries in his own country, said that the Israeli military's system of investigating non-Israeli deaths was ''shallow and inadequate by the standards of any professional military.'' ''The main problem is that the soldiers are not held accountable for their actions,'' the attache said, speaking on condition of anonymity. ''Ammunition expenditures, for example, are not thoroughly checked. The system through which field reports make their way to the higher levels for scrutiny is badly flawed. It is a real issue right now for the Israeli military, and senior military commanders - some of this country's finest soldiers - are well aware of how this problem is undermining the reputation of the military.'' Asked specifically about the investigations into the death of the 95-year-old woman, Feingold said, ''You want answers too quickly.'' When asked about other cases - some dating back as much as a year ago with none of them resulting in a full inquiry - she added: ''We have a very hard time investigating because of the situation, that is sometimes true. We cannot substantiate allegations without the collaboration of the Palestinian side.'' When asked about the case of the woman and her two young children who were killed by the IDF tank fire, Jacob Dallal, another IDF spokesman, said ''that was looked into. The procedure is to shoot in the area of where the device exploded.'' But when told that IDF found only a blown tank tread, Dallal added, ''The soldiers believed there was a device. So they followed procedure. What don't you understand about that?'' In the case of the five men killed trying to scale the Gaza border fence, an IDF official said that even though the victims were unarmed there was ''no violation of regulations.'' When asked whether firing a tank shell loaded with hundreds of deadly flechettes, or small darts, on five unarmed people was an appropriate response, the official replied: ''We believe the soldiers' judgment was right.'' The IDF rarely comments on the use of flechette shells, which are implicitly banned under international law. Because the shells inflict widespread casualties, they are classified as ''indiscriminate'' weapons, which are banned in civilian areas. The IDF official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said only, ''We never specify our weapons.'' The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which erupted in September 2000, has taken a heavy toll on civilian populations on both sides. The totals vary significantly among different groups, and there are differences in how they define civilians. The Palestinian side can include youths throwing rocks and firebombs, as well as loosely formed militias, while the Israeli side can mean heavily armed Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank. One of the more respected Palestinian organizations, the Palestine Human Rights Monitoring Group, estimates that there were 1,751 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the period from Sept. 29, 2000, to Dec. 21, 2002. Of that number, 1,272 were considered by the group to be ''unarmed civilian casualties,'' including 314 children. The Red Crescent Society and the Palestine Monitor, two other organizations in the West Bank and Gaza, place the number of Palestinian civilian casualties significantly higher. The Israeli organization B'Tselem, which is widely credited for having the most meticulous and fair counting of deaths on both sides, reports that 1,727 Palestinians were killed in the same 26-month period. B'Tselem estimates that at least 450 of those were women, minors, and elderly men. The conservative Israeli think tank, the International Policy Institute for Counterterrorism, has estimated 727 ''noncombatant'' Palestinians have been killed in the conflict. B'Tselem counts 663 Israeli deaths in the fighting, about 441 of which were civilians. The IDF has calculated 690 Israeli deaths, 479 of those civilians. ''So many civilians killed. There was an intent to kill civilians on one side, and there has been a disregard for civilian life on the other,'' Yavne said. ''They are not comparable in terms of intent, but they are definitely comparable in terms of the number of civilians killed and the families who grieve their deaths.'' This story ran on page A1 of the Boston Globe on 12/29/2002. © Copyright 2002 New York Times Co. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
