The disturbed gravesite
Photo: Samich Shahin
IDF forces accused of desecrating Palestinian graves
Residents of a village south of Hebron say soldiers disturbed graves during arrest operation. 'When terror organizations operate in populated areas incidents like these can happen," says IDF
Palestinians accused IDF soldiers Tuesday of desecrating graves in the Merah-Bakar village located south of the West Bank city of Hebron.
According to Palestinians sources, IDF forces raided the village on Monday night, arresting two members of the Amar family. During the raid, the sources said, the soldier locked three children, ages one to four, in a car for six hours.
Some of the graves, Ynet was told, were damaged to the extent of the remains being made visible.
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"The soldiers were walking around, throwing shock grenades… they ruined our beehives and our well… they locked three kids in a car for six hours and the kids couldn't stop crying," Tarek Amar, the family patriarch told Ynet.
"We were in the house and heard the soldiers' bulldozer take something down, but we didn't know what it was… after the soldiers left we went outside and saw they destroyed some of the family graves."
Among the graves destroyed, said Amar, were those of his mother and of one of his sons.
"They should have arrested us all instead of desecrating the graves… disturbing the dead is the worst thing they could have done," he added, saying the family still had not decided whether or not to press charges against the solders.
These things happen
"During the course of operations, in order not to harm civilians unassociated with terror, we put the children and their mother in one of the rooms in the house," said IDF sources in response to the allegations.
"They were not imprisoned. Soldiers brought them beverages to drink until the end of the operations."
Regarding claims that the soldiers disturbed graves, they said "the operations in the village overnight were against terror operatives, who are seeking to hurt Israel.
"In some cases, the IDF used heavy vehicles because, according to intelligence information, there are hiding places in the village for terrorists and weapons, as was uncovered during the operation.
"At one point, one vehicle moved a block of cement and a corpse was discovered. At that point, all use of vehicles in the area was immediately stopped," the sources said.
"We are sorry that the grave was damaged, but it is important to remember that because terror organizations operate within civilian populations and populated areas, incidents such as this can occur," they added.
