Palestinians: Soldiers more violent due to war

More and more Palestinian civilians turning to human rights organizations with complaints of growing violence of IDF soldiers at checkpoints in territories after war in Lebanon. 'I felt that all pressure from war is released in meeting with them,' told taxi driver who claimed he needed to be hospitalized after he was hit by soldiers

Ali Waked|Published: 08.21.06 , 13:39

In the past few days, more and more Palestinian testimonies have amassed that claim that IDF soldiers humiliated them at checkpoints in Judea and Samaria. The same Palestinians say that the soldiers are taking the frustration created by the war in Lebanon out on them.

Human rights organizations in the territories have noticed a prevailing sense that violence on the part of soldiers toward Palestinian civilians at checkpoints has grown since the war in started in Lebanon. Human rights activists and Palestinian residents said that the soldiers were especially violent during this time period and exploited the fact that the spotlight was turned toward events in Lebanon.

Kalandia Checkpoint (Photo: AFP)

A resident of the village of Shouffa, next to Tul Karm, Mouawiyya Moussa, is one of dozens of Palestinians who filed a complaint with the organization B'Tselem and other human rights organizations. According to him, he was struck last month by IDF soldiers when he drove by one of the Samaria villages. "I saw the jeep chasing me. He almost split my taxi in two. I pulled over. One of the soldiers who got out of the jeep shouted at me, 'I caught you, you jerk!'"

Next, Moussa said, the soldiers started using physical violence. "The soldiers got the passengers out of the taxi, stood them on the side, and then approached me. They pulled me behind the jeep so that the jeep and the taxi stood between me and the passengers. The soldiers asked the passengers to hold their identity cards and to put their hands over their heads. Next, they started hitting me, first with the butt of their rifle, and after I fell, they continued hitting me in the feet with a rifle for another quarter of an hour. They hit me even when blood dripped from my whole body," he testified.

Moussa said that the soldier driving the jeep got out of the vehicle and started shouting at the passengers who had ridden in the taxi, "You're going to kill him, you're going to kill him." According to Moussa, the soldier asked him if he could talk: "When I answered him that I couldn't, he went back to the jeep and his friends continued beating me. They said to me, 'You're pretending to suffer.' When they sensed I was about to lose consciousness, they stopped and asked if one of the passengers could help me. Luckily for me, one of the passengers was a doctor." Afterward, Moussa said that the soldiers asked him and the rest of the passengers to leave.

According to Moussa, he was hospitalized for two days in the hospital in Tul Karm because of the beating he received from the soldiers. But even after he was released from the hospital, Moussa claims that he still can't shake off the enraged looks of the soldiers. "I felt as though all the pressure from the war in Lebanon was taken out during this meeting between me and the soldiers. In every look from the soldiers, I felt that they are giving back to me everything they experienced there. These are soldiers that I know well, because I always pass on that street. They beat me silly. I am not responsible for their feelings about what happened in a different place."

'They shot a stun grenade at my stomach'

Mattar Hamasiyya, a vegetable grocer from Jenin, also complained about being caught by soldiers in Samaria. According to him, he arrived at the vegetable market in his hometown next to Nablus in order to make money. "The soldiers in the jeep jumped on me as they cursed at me. They shouted at me, 'Get out of the car.' After I presented them my identity card, which they threw away without looking at it, and after they flipped my car over, one of the soldiers grabbed me and sat me down on the ground. The soldier started shooting live fire above my head. He emptied the magazine. The bullets passed no more than a meter above my head."

According to Hamasiyya, his nightmare hadn't ended. "More soldiers arrived on the site and started beating me. I laid at home for a week because of the lashings," he said. The vegetable grocer said that it is hard for him to forget what happened. "It was a crazy sight. They beat me cruelly. The peak was when one of the soldiers hit me in the stomach with his rifle. I heard gunshots and was in pain. I didn't know those were shock grenades they pumped into my stomach. I was sure it was live fire. I started to yell and the soldiers dragged me to my car and asked me to leave, but not before they warned me not to tell anyone what they did to me."

Among other complaints received by the human rights organizations, there was also one from Abdullah Hamis from the Nablus area who claimed he was beaten by soldiers. According to him, he was waiting with his wife and two children in line at the Hawara Checkpoint when he was dealt aggressive blows by the soldiers for no reason. Another complaint was filed by Naim Shtiya, an employee of the Palestinian Authority in the town of Toubas, next to Jenin. According to him, a soldier broke his hand.

Following these complaints, the organization B'Tselem turned to the chief military prosecutor and the Department for Investigation of Police in the Justice Ministry demanding to immediately open an investigation of six incidents for which the organization has collected testimonies. The organization has called the chief of staff and the defense minister to transmit to the soldiers and their commanders a decisive and unequivocal message – it is forbidden to beat or abuse Palestinian civilians, and to make it clear that whoever does so will be severely punished.