Israeli army killed 5 unarmed Palestinians-watchdog

07 Sep 2005 15:25:55 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM, Sept 7 (Reuters) - An Israeli rights watchdog accused Israeli soldiers on Wednesday of killing five unarmed Palestinians in a recent raid, and said the assassination of West Bank Arabs had become routine.

An army spokesman dismissed the findings of the B'tselem rights group, which said that three of the five killed in the August 24 raid were unarmed 17-year-olds while the other two were civilian supporters of militant groups.

B'tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said the army's actions showed Israeli soldiers exercised little restraint with their weapons in arrest raids.

"Our research raises a grave suspicion that execution of Palestinians in so-called 'arrest operations' has become a norm among the security forces," she said.

The killings in Tulkarm refugee camp marked one of Israel's deadliest raids in the occupied territory in weeks. The army said it was aimed at arresting armed militants suspected of involvement in suicide bombings in Israel and the West Bank.

The Israeli army stood by its version of events that said four of the five men were armed, wanted militants and that troops tried to arrest them but drew fire and fired back.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the raid as counterproductive to efforts to preserve a fragile ceasefire with Israel. The truce smoothed Israel's pullout of settlers from occupied Gaza last month and could help revive peace talks.

WANTED MILITANTS ESCAPED

The report, published in the left-wing daily Haaretz, quoted witnesses as saying they heard soldiers calling out to the men -- some of whom were in a courtyard -- to stop, then firing without waiting for them to surrender.

It said that shortly before the start of the raid, witnesses reported seeing a senior Hamas militant, Ribhi Amara, and other wanted militants at the scene but that they escaped down a side alley before the troops arrived.

Israel's army chief, Lieutenant General Dan Halutz, told legislators on Wednesday that the raid was designed as an arrest operation but things changed after soldiers came under fire.

"Troops came to make an arrest but they were shot at and they then returned fire...," Halutz told parliament's Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee. "We did not get the senior man we were looking for, but we did get other wanted men."

But the army spokesman said an inquiry had been ordered into the shooting of the fifth Palestinian, who was wounded at the scene and later died in an Israeli hospital.

Halutz also said the raid was ill-timed as it came a day after settler evacuations were completed. "There was a misjudgement in the timing as it created a negative effect which could have spurred (fresh) attacks at a time of calm."

Human-rights groups say Israeli troops have used excessive force against Palestinians and that very few cases in which Palestinian civilians have been killed have led to convictions.

The army says troops do their utmost to avoid causing civilian casualties and are much more reticent in using live fire during raids as actions are carefully scrutinised but that militants often use densely populated neighbourhoods as cover.

URL: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07304692.htm