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Border Guard forces at Hawara checkpoint (Archives)
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Palestinians: Border Guard officers beat Hawara youth

Residents of Nablus adjacent village say 16-year-old teen was beaten by Border Guard officers for no reason, cite repeated abuse by forces stationed in the area. Border Guard Command investigating

A Palestinian youth suffering from a heart condition was reportedly beaten by Border Guard officers in the West Bank village of Hawara, near Nablus, Ynet learn Tuesday.

 

Jihad Huwari, 16, told Ynet that, he and his cousin were stopped by a Border Guard patrol on Sunday. The officers allowed the cousin to go ahead, but asked Huwari to present his ID. "They took it and began to insult me and laugh and then one of them hit me with the barrel of his rifle."

 

The initial blow, he added, was followed by several punched, from which he nearly blacked out. "Then they threw the ID back at me and left." Huwari managed to get the jeep's license plate number.

 

Other local residents told of repeated abuse by Border Guard officers, "Who are making life a living hell," saying that such beatings of the village's children and teenagers is a daily occurrence.

 

"The hit on our girls and when if feel like it they close shut down the checkpoint and hold up hundreds of cars for hours."

 

According to one of Hawara's residents, the Border Guard officers "want us to react to their provocation so they can put a lockdown on the village. We have to keep the kids back so they won't respond to all this provocation."

 

According to the resident, two of the officers are known to them as a Bedouin named Ali and another man named Mahmud. "We're sorry to see them do their master's dirty work," he said.

 

The village's residents, he added, hoped the IDF would reassume responsibility for it: "We have no problems with the soldiers, but I don’t have to tell you what kind of people are in the Border Guard."

 

The Border Guard offered the following comment: "The Border Guard Command launch an inquiry into the incidents in question. Once concluded the results will be turned over to the Internal Affairs Bureau for a full investigation.

 

"The Border Guard takes these allegations very seriously and these types of alleged incidents stand in contrast to our ethics. The IAB will have our full cooperation."

 

Efrat Weiss contributed to this report 

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.14.09, 17:16
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