A few weeks ago two Israeli security personnel were mistakenly killed by the army in the West Bank. An immediate investigation was started which already has led to some resignations and convictions. But as Gideon Levy wrote immediately after the incident, Jewish blood and Arab blood are not equivalent.
“Until the IDF understands that what happened last Thursday was not only a terrible mistake of identification and a specific operational hitch, nothing will change. Dozens of Palestinians will continue to be killed for no reason and Israelis, too, will be killed from time to time.”
“It wasn’t an ‘optical mistake,’ in which two ridges appeared to be one, that brought about the death of the two guards. It was a distorted perspective that will inevitably give rise to these consequences.”
I should note that an investigation is currently underway regarding some horrific incidents of abuse that occurred in Hebron. However, these investigations only took place because the incidents were exposed in the New York Times. And of course, only the lowest level soldiers are being investigated. Their superior officers, are not being investigated. To quote todays’ Ha’aretz:
“…a senior Border Police officer told Haaretz yesterday that ‘if the company commander and the officers above him were unaware of the thefts and other grave behavior – including the murder of a Palestinian in an area in which the commanding officer was ostensibly in control – he has a problem, and so do we.’”
What is being left unsaid in this comment is the scope of the moral bankruptcy of the Israeli army. For the more likely case is that the commanding officers were aware and did nothing about it. How could they not be aware if B’tselem knew about these incidents and asked for their comments?
Addendum Here are some more comments from Akiva Eldar in today’s Ha’aretz about this issue:
“The reports about the murder of Amran Abu Hamdiya created the impression that police investigators worked relentlessly until they apprehended the four suspects. The television networks, Israel Radio and most of the newspapers failed to mention that B’Tselem (The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) had to argue for days to persuade the commanders of the Border Patrol to initiate an investigation. The police agreed to begin a thorough inquiry only after the human rights organization brought a pathologist from Denmark to conduct an autopsy. The case of Abu Hamdiya is the exception that proves the rule: Security officials do not conduct investigations into most of the incidents in which Palestinian civilians are killed. And most of the investigations that are initiated are then closed after several months for lack of evidence, or because it is difficult to identify the soldiers suspected in the case.”
“Six months have now passed since Shadin Abu Hijla, 60, was killed by bullets fired from a military jeep while she was doing embroidery on the balcony of her home. More than a month ago, after a long series of pressures, the judge advocate general (JAG), Major General Menachem Finkelstein, ordered IDF investigators to begin an inquiry. Members of the woman’s family gave 14 bullet cartridges to the investigators. Ostensibly, the imprint made on the cartridge when fired can immediately identify the weapon and, in turn, the person who shot it. But the IDF Spokesman’s Office says that the incident is still under investigation.”
“An IDF investigation file sent (apparently by mistake) to B’Tselem does not offer good news to the family of Abu Hijla. It does provide a rare glimpse into the offices of the military investigators and indicates the amount of effort they invest in tracking down the soldiers responsible for such incidents.”
“The file was opened following a complaint from B’Tselem on July 12, 2002 about a Bedouin soldier who habitually abused residents in the area of Yata village, near Hebron. Mohammed Nua’man, from the al-Karmel village, told a B’Tselem worker that the soldier entered his store, pulled a stun grenade from his pocket and demanded to receive “the present.” When Nua’man refused, the soldier tossed the grenade and smashed a box containing plastic items. The soldier returned to the store the next day and threw another grenade inside.”
“B’Tselem provided the JAG’s office with additional complaints from other residents who suffered abuse by the soldier. They reported grenades, beatings, slashed tires, theft of merchandise, confiscation of ID cards and car keys, and more. All of them described a young Bedouin, thin and dark-skinned, named Naif Turshan, from the Be’er Sheva area. A sheikh from Yata said he managed to contact the soldier’s family, but that they had absolved themselves of responsibility for the soldier.”
“On August 19, 2002, the prosecutor for the Central Command ordered the military’s investigation branch to initiate an inquiry. The investigation log shows records of a series of telephone conversations a military investigator conducted with B’Tselem officials, requesting their help in locating witnesses to testify before the IDF. On August 17, the log entry indicates that the testimonies scheduled for that day were canceled due to the curfew. Six months later, on March 18, 2003, Major Asher Halperin of the Central Command announced that the investigation was being suspended because the IDF was unable to locate the soldier accused of these acts of abuse. Major Halperin promised to resume the investigation “if B’Tselem provides the precise name of the soldier, the name of the village where he lives, or any other means of identification.” One can only wonder how many Bedouin soldiers who answer the description in the testimonies provided to the IDF are serving in the Yata area? ”
