Israel troops admit Gaza abuses
BBC News
An Israeli military college has printed damning soldiers'
accounts of the killing of civilians and vandalism during
recent operations in Gaza.
One account tells of a sniper killing a mother and children
at close range whom troops had told to leave their home.
Another speaker at the seminar described what he saw as the
"cold blooded murder" of a Palestinian woman.
The army has defended its conduct during the Gaza offensive
but said it would investigate the testimonies.
The Israeli army has said it will investigate the soldiers'
accounts.
The testimonies were published by the military academy at
Oranim College. Graduates of the academy, who had served in
Gaza, were speaking to new recruits at a seminar.
"[The testimonies] conveyed an atmosphere in which one
feels entitled to use unrestricted force against
Palestinians," academy director Dany Zamir told public
radio.
Heavy civilian casualties during the three-week operation
which ended in the blockaded coastal strip on 18 January
provoked an international outcry.
Correspondents say the testimonies undermine Israel's
claims that troops took care to protect non-combatants and
accusations that Hamas militants were responsible for
putting civilians into harm's way.
'Less important'
The Palestinian woman and two of her children were
allegedly shot after they misunderstood instructions about
which way to walk having been ordered out of their home by
troops.
"The climate in general... I don't know how to describe
it.... the lives of Palestinians, let's say, are much, much
less important than the lives of our soldiers," an infantry
squad leader is quoted saying.
In another cited case, a commander ordered troops to kill
an elderly woman walking on a road, even though she was
easily identifiable and clearly not a threat.
Testimonies, which were given by combat pilots and infantry
soldiers, also included allegations of unnecessary
destruction of Palestinian property.
"We would throw everything out of the windows to make room
and order. Everything... Refrigerators, plates, furniture.
The order was to throw all of the house's contents
outside," a soldier said.
One non-commissioned officer related at the seminar that an
old woman crossing a main road was shot by soldiers.
"I don't know whether she was suspicious, not suspicious, I
don't know her story? I do know that my officer sent people
to the roof in order to take her out? It was cold-blooded
murder," he said.
The transcript of the session for the college's Yitzhak
Rabin pre-military course, which was held last month,
appeared in a newsletter published by the academy.
Israeli human rights groups have criticised the military
for failing to properly investigate violations of the laws
of war in Gaza despite plenty of evidence of possible war
crimes.
'Moral army'
The soldiers' testimonies also reportedly told of an
unusually high intervention by military and non-military
rabbis, who circulated pamphlets describing the war in
religious terminology.
"All the articles had one clear message," one soldier said.
"We are the people of Israel, we arrived in the country
almost by miracle, now we need to fight to uproot the
gentiles who interfere with re-conquering the Holy Land."
"Many soldiers' feelings were that this was a war of
religion," he added.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio that the
findings would be examined seriously.
"I still say we have the most moral army in the world. Of
course there may be exceptions but I have absolutely no
doubt this will be inspected on a case-by-case basis," he
said.
Medical authorities say more than 1,300 Palestinians were
killed during Israel's 22-day operation, including some 440
children, 110 women, and dozens of elderly people.
The stated aim was to curb rocket and mortar fire by
militants from Gaza. Thirteen Israelis, including three
civilians were killed.
0 comments:
Post a Comment