Gaza war accounts rock Israel military
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Daily News with wires
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 20, 2009 00:00
JERUSALEM - Israel's military was rocked yesterday by Gaza war veterans' accounts of the killing of civilians and allegations that deep contempt for Palestinians pervaded its ranks. The soldiers, alumni of a military academy, gathered last month to discuss their experiences in the 22-day Israeli offensive that ended in January, a campaign that Palestinians and human rights groups have said warranted war crimes probes.
Disclosing details of the session, the institution's director said the soldiers pointed to an atmosphere within the military of "unbridled contempt for, and forcefulness against, the Palestinians". "They talked about unwarranted fire on Palestinian civilians. There was also talk of vandalism to property," Danny Zamir, head of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military program, said.
Israel's defense minister promised yesterday to investigate soldiers' claims that some troops opened fire too hastily on Palestinian civilians during the recent Gaza war and killed them, believing that they would not be held to account under relaxed rules of engagement. Defense Minister Ehud Barak defended the military's conduct overall but said the reports that appeared in Israeli newspapers would be investigated, reported The Associated Press.
Dirty secrets
Excerpts from the veterans' discussion appeared yesterday on the front page of the Haaretz daily. It said the airing of the "dirty secrets" would make it more difficult for Israelis to dismiss such allegations as Palestinian propaganda.
In one case reported by the Haaretz and also Maariv dailies, a sniper killed a Palestinian woman and her two kids after they misunderstood another soldier's order and turned the wrong way. "The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go their right. One mother and her two children didn't understand and went to the left ... The sharpshooter saw (them) approaching him, closer than the lines he was told no one should pass. He shot them," Reuters quoted a soldier as saying.
In another case, a company commander ordered that an elderly Palestinian woman be shot and killed while walking on a road, even though she was close enough for the soldiers to discern whether she posed a threat, Maariv said. Haaretz, too, reported that the woman was shot at a range of 100 meters. It has been rare for Israeli soldiers to speak out about the killing of Palestinian civilians in the operation that Israel launched in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December with the declared aim of halting militants' cross-border rocket attacks. Describing vandalism carried out by soldiers, the squad leader said: "To write 'death to the Arabs' on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can - I think this is the main thing, to understand how much the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has fallen in the realm of ethics.
Israel's defense minister promised yesterday to investigate soldiers' claims that some troops opened fire too hastily on Palestinian civilians during the recent Gaza war and killed them, believing that they would not be held to account under relaxed rules of engagement. Defense Minister Ehud Barak defended the military's conduct overall but said the reports that appeared in Israeli newspapers would be investigated, reported The Associated Press.
Dirty secrets
Excerpts from the veterans' discussion appeared yesterday on the front page of the Haaretz daily. It said the airing of the "dirty secrets" would make it more difficult for Israelis to dismiss such allegations as Palestinian propaganda.
In one case reported by the Haaretz and also Maariv dailies, a sniper killed a Palestinian woman and her two kids after they misunderstood another soldier's order and turned the wrong way. "The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go their right. One mother and her two children didn't understand and went to the left ... The sharpshooter saw (them) approaching him, closer than the lines he was told no one should pass. He shot them," Reuters quoted a soldier as saying.
In another case, a company commander ordered that an elderly Palestinian woman be shot and killed while walking on a road, even though she was close enough for the soldiers to discern whether she posed a threat, Maariv said. Haaretz, too, reported that the woman was shot at a range of 100 meters. It has been rare for Israeli soldiers to speak out about the killing of Palestinian civilians in the operation that Israel launched in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December with the declared aim of halting militants' cross-border rocket attacks. Describing vandalism carried out by soldiers, the squad leader said: "To write 'death to the Arabs' on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can - I think this is the main thing, to understand how much the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has fallen in the realm of ethics.