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Israel tit-for-tat death claims 3 June 2005 BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4605899.stm Two Israeli soldiers have alleged that they were ordered to carry out revenge attacks on Palestinian police after six of their comrades were killed. The unnamed soldiers made the charges, which relate to events three years ago, to an organisation which gathers evidence on Israeli army abuses. At least 15 Palestinians were killed in response to the troops' deaths. The Israeli army said it had targeted policemen who actively assisted militants in carrying out killings. But it is not clear whether the Palestinians killed had actually aided militants. Correspondents say the report is a challenge to Israel's insistence that it abides by a strict code of ethics and has avoided tit-for-tat killings. 'No concrete evidence' The first soldier, who describes himself as a sergeant in a reconnaissance unit, was quoted on the website of Breaking the Silence, a group set up by former soldiers to document evidence of abuses by the Israeli Defence Force. He said his squad was summoned by their commander after the killings of six Israelis at a checkpoint near Ramallah in the West Bank. I really enjoyed it - we acted flawlessly, we performed superbly Unnamed Israeli soldier He told them their task was to kill six Palestinians in revenge. The soldier was told that there was a suspicion that the militants responsible had been allowed through a Palestinian police checkpoint, which was to be the target of their attack. But there was no concrete evidence of this, he said. "I was told: 'It doesn't matter - they took six of ours, and we are going to take six of theirs,'" he said. The sergeant said the group ambushed the Palestinians, killing three. A fourth man escaped. The IDF will hunt down all those involved in terror activities until the PA accepts responsibility for the areas under its control Israeli army statement "I really enjoyed it," he said. "It was the first time that we were in an 'advance storm' situation, like in our training exercises. "And we acted flawlessly. We performed superbly." The soldier added that several of his comrades kept shooting at one of the bodies, "punching holes in it". 'Militant links' A second soldier, from paratroop reconnaissance, was quoted by the UK Guardian newspaper as saying that he was told to attack three checkpoints in the Nablus area and simply shoot at police. It was clearly a revenge attack, he said. At least two Palestinians were killed in the raid. BBC Jerusalem correspondent James Reynolds says the allegation that revenge was the motive for the army's raid is nothing new. The day after the attack Israel's leading newspaper Yediot Ahronot described the army's actions as "fierce acts of revenge". And in a statement the Israeli army does not deny that members of the Palestinian policemen were killed in the wake of the troops' deaths. Charges 'dismissed' The army alleges it had become apparent that Palestinian security forces were heavily involved in militant activities. "It was decided that the IDF will hunt down all those involved in terror activities, including members of the PA security apparatus, until such time as the PA accepts responsibility for the areas under its control and prevents the terror attacks emanating from Palestinian towns and cities," it said. Michael Tarazi, a legal advisor to the Palestinian Authority questioned why Israel chose to kill rather than arrest the men if it had evidence implicating them in militant attacks. He told the BBC News website Palestinians have long accused Israeli forces of brutality and of carrying out revenge attacks "but their claims tend to be dismissed". Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4605899.stm Published: 2005/06/03 16:25:15 GMT © BBC MMV ++++++++++
Israeli Soldiers Report Reprisal Killings of PalestiniansBy CHRISTINE HAUSER Published: June 4, 2005 New York Times http://nytimes.com/2005/06/04/international/middleeast/04mideast.html
The subject of the military's activities in the occupied territories often touches a nerve in a country that says it has worked to maintain an accountable army and code of ethics while fighting the Palestinian uprising. The report in the newspaper, Maariv, is based on interviews with soldiers, who were not named, discussing violence that is more than three years old. The report indicated that some of the targets of the killing were unarmed. It is impossible to confirm the anonymous remarks, but the Israeli Army responded to the reports saying the events were part of a series of operations against terrorism in line with army orders. The interviews in Maariv refer to an attack by Palestinian gunmen on a West Bank outpost on Feb. 19, 2002. Six Israeli soldiers were killed, and their attackers escaped. The Israeli Army said at the time that it believed that two squads of Palestinian gunmen had attacked the soldiers at an Israeli checkpoint at Ein Ariq, west of the Palestinian-controlled city of Ramallah. One squad opened fire on two soldiers on duty at the checkpoint, wounding two men, the army said. At least one gunman burst into the outpost where six other off-duty soldiers were relaxing and killed them, it said. The retaliation began that same night and continued through the night, according to the soldiers. In one of the Maariv interviews, a soldier identified as "D" said his commander described their mission: "Six of our soldiers were killed, engineering soldiers, at a checkpoint, and we are going out on a revenge operation. We are going to kill Palestinian policemen at a checkpoint, as blood revenge for the six of our soldiers who were killed." "An eye for an eye," the soldier was quoted as saying in Maariv. He said that he and other soldiers waited in ambush for Palestinian policemen suspected of having operated the checkpoint where the Israelis were killed. Units were sent to other West Bank checkpoints as well. Referring to the killing of one Palestinian, the soldier said. "About five of us sprayed him at the same time. I emptied a magazine in him." A member of a reconnaissance unit said they were instructed to go to three checkpoints near Nablus and shoot Palestinian police officers regardless of whether they were armed. "We didn't raise the issue of how to identify Palestinian policemen," the soldier was quoted as saying. Maariv quoted another soldier as saying: "My conscience is most quiet. As far as I am concerned the Palestinian police committed terror operations, and if the political and commanding echelons decided that the operation was the correct thing to do, then I want to do it." "I did not go with a knife between my teeth and to suck blood," he said, explaining that he did what he did "only because I had to get back at the Palestinian policemen for what they did." Maariv's headline said 15 Palestinian policemen were killed that night. In response to the Maariv report, the Israeli Army on Friday issued a statement saying that on Feb. 19, 2002, Israeli forces operated against Palestinian Authority targets in the West Bank. "Among those targets were checkpoints manned by Palestinian policemen who facilitated the passage and actively assisted the terrorists who passed through this checkpoint to carry out murderous attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers," it said. "After the killing of the six soldiers, the army was instructed by the political echelon to change the mode of operation and adjust it to the harsh reality on the ground," the army statement said. The army said in a later statement that no investigation ensued regarding the events described in the Maariv article because it was part of a series of operations against terrorism in line with Israeli Army orders and procedures. "It took place during the year in which Israel was hit hardest by terrorism," said the army. Some of the interviewees were referred to the newspaper by Breaking the Silence, a group started last year by former soldiers, said Avichay Sharon, a founding member. Excerpts of their interviews were also published by Breaking the Silence on its Web site, which expresses criticism of Israeli Army tactics in Gaza and the West Bank. The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, declared a truce in hostilities in February.
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