עציר עצירים פלסטיני פלסטינים עינוי עינויים מעצר
Photo: AP
Soldier convicted of kidnapping Palestinian taxi driver
Photo: Ohad Avidan Keinar
Report: No suspects in half of IDF abuse cases
Yesh Din human rights organization reveals rise of 130% registered in investigations launched into alleged harm caused to Palestinians by soldiers in 2007
The investigating military police have failed to locate suspects in about half of the investigations launched in 2007 into alleged harm caused to Palestinian civilians and their property by Israel Defense Forces soldiers operating in the territories, according to data released Sunday by the Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights organization.
According to the information, the Kfir Brigade, which operates in the West Bank all year long, tops the list once again. In 2006, 23 investigations were launched against the brigade soldiers, while in 2007 the number was up to 66. The Paratroopers' Brigade came second, with 52 investigations.
The data, collected for the first time by the IDF following Yesh Din's demand in accordance with the Freedom of Information Law, reveal the list of military brigades and batallions whose soldiers have been suspected of the largest number of offenses – including abuse, plunder and illegal shooting.
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"The data point to a command and ideological failure in the IDF," said Lior Yavne, the Yesh Din research manager. "Releasing the data will allow the IDF to thoroughly deal with those units whose soldiers face many investigations, thus increasing the extent of implementing their duty to defend the civilian population in the territories."
110 convictions since 2000
In 2007, 351 investigations were launched against soldiers on suspicion of harming Palestinians – a rise of 130% compared to 2006, in which 152 investigations were launched. The previous year saw 155 investigations launched.
In total, 140 investigations led to indictments since the start of the second intifada in September 2000, till April 2008. In 110 cases the suspects were convicted, in 20 they were acquitted, and in 10 the judicial proceeding is still underway.
A common phenomenon is the investigators' difficulty to locate suspects – a difficulty which became clearer over the past year, during which the charges were dropped in 158 out of 351 investigations. In 2006, the army failed to locate suspects in only 33 out of 152 cases.
Following a series of cases of abuse against Palestinians, the Kfir Brigade, headed by Colonel Itai Virob, is working to reduce the number of such cases.
In July 2007, an officer of the brigade's Lavi Batallion led his soldiers to an operation in Dahariya, during which they kidnapped a Palestinian taxi driver, shot another Palestinian and escaped.
In the beginning of 2008, three Haruv Batallion fighters beat two Palestinian detainees and attached a heat conductor to the face of one of them. In another case, soldiers stripped themselves and exposed their hind parts in front of Palestinians and international activists in the Hebron area.
