Report: Israel in systematic violation of own laws
IN THE PAST TWO WEEKS ISRAELI FORCES HAVE SHOT DEAD TWO PALESTINIANS
Israel is breaking its own rules of engagement by using deadly force to disperse unarmed Palestinian protesters in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported yesterday.
Israeli forces have killed 56 people since 2005 in clashes with rock- throwing Palestinians, said B’Tselem, which accused the military of having “extensively and systematically violated” rules barring deadly retaliation for non- lethal assault.
“The Israeli military’s standing orders explicitly state that live ammunition may not be fired at stone- throwers,” it said.
In the past two weeks, Israeli forces have shot dead two Palestinians in unrest that Israeli officials said may foreshadow a third Palestinian uprising. Peace talks have been frozen since 2010 and Palestinian anger is running high against expanding Jews- only colonies in the West Bank, occupied along with East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Syrian Golan Heights in a 1967 war.
“Crowd control weapons are supposed to be non- lethal, enabling authorities to enforce the law without endangering human life,” B’Tselem said in a 31- page report. “However, they are still weapons that can cause death, severe injury and damage to property if used improperly.”
The report lists .22- calibre rifle fire, rubber or plasticcoated metal bullets, stun grenades, tear gas, pepper spray, a foul- smelling spray known as “skunk” and sponge rounds — foam- tipped projectiles designed to cause pain but not serious injury — as “non- lethal” means used for crowd control.
The Israeli army said the B’Tselem report “presents a biased narrative, relying primarily on incidents that are either old or still under investigation by the Military Police.”
Of the Palestinian fatalities since 2005, six were killed by rubber- coated metal bullets and two by tear gas canisters, both supposedly non- lethal weap- ons which were fired directly at protesters, B’Tselem said.
“In practice, members of the security forces make almost routine use of these weapons in unlawful, dangerous ways, and the relevant Israeli authorities do too little to prevent the recurrence of this conduct,” the report said.