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Israeli army not acting on ethical problems: activists

The Israeli military indicted just 6 percent of all soldiers accused of criminal offenses against Palestinians between September 2001 and the end of last year, an Israeli human rights group said yesterday.

The Yesh Din group said that from the beginning of the second Palestinian uprising, more than 1,200 investigations into suspect activities by Israeli soldiers were conducted, but only 78 of the investigations resulted in charges being filed. Yesh Din said its the report was based on information provided by the Israeli military.

The military said the group failed to provide a copy of the report for study and it could not immediately comment on specific allegations but added that it had enlarged its military prosecution staff and “works tirelessly” to maintain ethical standards.

In the 78 indictments, 135 soldiers were charged with crimes, and 113 of those soldiers convicted, the report said. Many of the cases, including an incident where a soldier shot a Palestinian with rubber bullets at close range and was publicly criticized by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, resulted in minor convictions, such as “inappropriate behavior,” the group said.

Only four soldiers at the time of the report’s publication had been convicted of manslaughter.

“To me, it means that the Israeli military is not doing enough to protect Palestinian civilians from criminal actions by its own soldiers,” said Lior Yavne, research director for Yesh Din who helped compile the study on military investigations into crimes against Palestinians.

The military said each case is dealt with according to its own particular circumstances and the evidence available.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have assassinated Palestinians in the West Bank in apparent defiance of High Court rules for these kinds of operations, the Haaretz daily reported yesterday.

Such killings, authorized in writing by top-ranking army officers, were conducted even if the operation put the lives of innocent bystanders at risk or when it could have been possible to arrest the suspects instead, the paper said.

”If the guy doesn’t put his hands up we don’t ask questions, we immediately establish contact,” former regional commander General Yair Naveh told Haaretz.

The newspaper said the documents were apparently in violation of a 2006 High Court ruling, which held assassinations are permissible only if the target cannot be arrested.

In other developments, Israel closed its cargo crossings with Gaza on Tuesday because of Palestinian rocket fire at Israel.

Also on Tuesday, the Supreme Court also ordered the government to respond within 15 days to an appeal by the Tel Aviv-based Foreign Press Association against a ban on foreign reporters entering the Gaza Strip.
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