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Israel 'tit-for-tat' death claims
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.
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.
"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.
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.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4605899.stm
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.
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.
"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.
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.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4605899.stm
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According to a graphic investigative report published in the Israeli daily newspaper Maariv, the February 19, 2002 "revenge operation" was carried out jointly by an elite paratroopers and a top level corps of military engineers.
"The army admitted to a revenge attack using special combat units and the result was the elimination of 15 Palestinian police officers," Maariv reported. The attack was launched just hours after six Israeli soldiers were shot - some while lying in their beds - by a Palestinian gunman at the Ein Arik checkpoint near Ramallah, the newspaper said.
"The Palestinian Authority was involved in terrorism and was therefore a legitimate target. We were forced to retaliate after what happened at Ein Arik," a military source quoted by the paper said.
"An officer told us that this was about revenge and that we were going to kill police officers," said one soldier involved in the operation against several Palestinian-manned checkpoints.
"He ordered us to shower the checkpoints where the Palestinian police officers were because they had helped the terrorists," said the soldier, identified only as "D."
The soldier confirmed participating in an ambush near a checkpoint where "seven or eight" Palestinian police were located.
"I opened fire on one of them, and my comrades shot at the others. I riddled him with bullets, and my gunfire cut off his legs," the soldier said.
"Then I finished him off and when I went to look I saw he was about 50 years old. He was short and heavyset with a moustache. His body was filled with bullets," the soldier recounted.
"It was the first time I had killed someone and the first time I saw a dead person," he added. "It was funny."
"Today, I know that we committed a crime and if I must be judged, I'll hold out my wrists to be handcuffed," he said.
Another soldier, a military engineer identified as "L," said: "I have a clear conscience, because these police officers helped facilitate an act of terrorism and therefore it was legitimate to eliminate them," he said.
The Israeli military confirmed such an operation had taken place against Palestinian police targets but did not give a toll for the number of casualties.
"On February 19th 2002, IDF forces operated against Palestinian Authority targets throughout the West Bank. Among those targets were checkpoints manned by Palestinian policemen who facilitated the passage and actively assisted the terrorists who passed through these checkpoints to carry out murderous attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers," it said.
"This vengeance operation has never been investigated regarding the legality or morality of the act," Maariv said.
Revenge attacks for the Israeli operation were separately carried out by the radical movement Hamas and a militant group linked to Fatah, the ruling party in the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=13674
Friday June 3, 2005
The Guardian
Two Israeli soldiers yesterday claimed they were ordered to carry out a series of revenge attacks on Palestinian policemen after the killing of six soldiers by militants.
For the first allegation of its kind, the unnamed soldiers gave testimony to Breaking the Silence, an organisation of former soldiers dedicated to gathering evidence of abuses by the Israeli army.
One soldier, from the Yael reconnaissance unit, described a "crazy blood revenge rush" on the day of the attacks three years ago. "I really enjoyed it," he said.
The Israeli army last night issued a statement which did not deny the soldiers' account, saying: "It was decided that the IDF [the army] will hunt down all those involved in terror activities, including members of the PA security apparatus."
The killings began on February 19 2002 when gunmen from the Fatah-affiliated al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade attacked an Israeli checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah. The militants killed six out of the seven soldiers at the checkpoint and escaped unharmed.
The killings were seen by Israel as a military defeat rather than terrorism. Gideon Ezra, the internal security minister, said at the time: "They attack and we defend. In the past we attacked and they defended. We need to return to that."
According to the soldier from the Yael unit, "we were going to kill six Palestinian policemen somewhere, revenging our six they took down."
He questioned his commanding officer about the orders, asking "what had they done?" and "who are they?". He was told there was a suspicion that the gunmen who had killed the Israeli soldiers had passed through a checkpoint manned by the Palestinian policemen.
The Yael troops attacked a checkpoint at Deir as-Sudan, close to the Israeli settlement of Hallamish in the West Bank.
The soldiers had a "crazy blood revenge rush", according to the testimony. "The idea was simply to kill them all. Whenever they arrived we would kill them, regardless whether armed or not."
The soldier went on: "The first firing was ineffective and missed ... We got up and fired, hitting two of theirs. I think we hit one in the shoulder and one in the leg and they escaped. I shot one in the head as he was running while another was crawling behind.
"We got up and started chasing them. It was ... really ... I really enjoyed it. It was the first time we were in an advance storm situation like in our training exercises. And we acted flawlessly. We performed superbly."
The wounded policeman escaped into a hut which the soldiers fired at, blowing up a gas cylinder and starting a blaze.
A third tried to escape but was shot. "He was smashed, a completely smashed body. I turned the body around. It was a guy in his mid-50s or 60s," said the soldier.
According to the witness, none of the men they had attacked was armed.
The second soldier, from the paratroop reconnaissance unit, also recalled orders given in the presence of his commanding officer, Brigadier Cochavi, in the early hours of February 20.
"The order called to approach three Palestinian checkpoints, manned by Palestinian police in the Nablus area, from what I remember: approach three positions, and shoot at the Palestinian police."
The paratroop unit divided into three groups. The soldiers were told to kill Palestinian policemen at the checkpoints.
The soldier said it was clear it was a revenge attack, adding that the targeted policemen had a good working relationship with the soldiers.
One checkpoint was deserted and another manned by a single policeman, who was killed. At the second checkpoint, a car approached and was fired at. At the third, at least one Palestinian was killed and a battle erupted in which a paratrooper was slightly injured.
It is not clear how many Palestinian policemen were killed. Media reports and Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group figures suggest 18 were killed in Gaza and the West Bank.
The Israeli army yesterday said: "On February 19 2002 IDF forces operated against Palestinian Authority targets throughout the West Bank. Among those targets were checkpoints manned by Palestinian policemen who facilitated the passage and actively assisted the terrorists who passed through these checkpoints to carry out murderous attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers."
The statement said it had become apparent that the PA security agencies were deeply involved in terrorist activities. "It was decided 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."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1498373,00.html
In graphic testimony, one soldier has confessed that he "really enjoyed" a chase in which he shot an unarmed Palestinian in the head who was trying to escape during a series of reprisal raids ordered the day after the killing of six Israeli soldiers in an ambush by militant gunmen three years ago.
In what may be the first inside account of such an operation, the soldiers from two reconnaissance units say they were among troops ordered by their commanders to "liquidate" the police officers at a series of Palestinian West Bank checkpoints even though they were given no evidence they had been involved in the killing of the Israelis.
The raids were among a series of ground and air attacks which, in all, killed 15 Palestinians 12 of them policemen in and around Nablus and Ramallah 24 hours after the six Israeli soldiers were killed at a military post in the village of Ein Arik, west of Ramallah, at the height of the intifada.
One soldier, who took part in the attack on a Palestinian post at Deir es Sudan said they had lain in wait after finding the position empty when they arrived in the middle of the night.
"The idea was simply to kill them all. Whenever they arrived, we would kill them, regardless whether [they were]armed or not. If they were Palestinian policemen, they were to be shot. The order was given and our six opened fire."
The soldier, from the Yael Reconnaissance Troop, said that their [naval] squad commander had told them: "We are going to kill six Palestinian policemen somewhere, revenging our six they took down". He added: "On my question 'what did they do?' the answer was there was a suspicion that the terrorist who killed our six came through that [Palestinian] checkpoint. Suspicion, but no concrete evidence. But I was told: 'it doesn't matter; they took six of ours, and we are going to take six of theirs.'"
The soldier said that, after hitting and wounding two of the Palestinians as they tried to run away, the soldiers continued to fire, as one ran into a corrugated metal shed and another into a cemetery. After they sprayed the shed with bullets, a gas cylinder in it caught fire. "We had a killed policeman, another one in this burning inferno, and a third one, escaping. We ran after him into a graveyard ... stood on the surrounding wall and shot at him. We killed him too."
The soldier said that no fire had been returned by the Palestinians and added: "Later we understood, that not one of them ... was armed." He added that he had inspected the "completely smashed" body of the man in the graveyard after shooting at it to "confirm the kill" and that it was of "a guy in his mid-50s or 60s, very old."
The accounts were originally given to the "Breaking the Silence" group of young former soldiers which is critical of methods used by the army in the occupied territories.
One of the group's spokesmen, Avichai Sharon, a former member of the crack Golani Brigade, claimed the operations on 20 February 2002 were ordered "from high" including the Ministry of Defence and added: "In my eyes, this is a very harsh example of crossing the moral and human boundaries."
He said it indicated that "we are not a defence force any more but a tribe which avenges in blood. As an Israeli, I fear this."
He said the soldiers, whose testimony appears in today's Maariv, had not been named "for legal reasons".
Describing another attack on the same day at the Beit Ha Mitbachayim checkpoint on the eastern edge of Nablus in which fire was returned by Palestinian police the other soldier, from the Tzanchanim Paratroop Reconnaissance Unit, said that the order to shoot at Palestinians had given by the unit commander and the brigade commander, a Brigadier Cochavi, had been present at the time.
He said the policemen were ones who normally would have been warned by Israeli liaison officers about any military operations due to take place in their area.
The Israeli Defence Forces said last night that checkpoints attacked on the day in question had included ones where Palestinian police had "actively assisted ... terrorists" by facilitating their passage. The IDF had been instructed by the "political echelon" to change its mode of operation. It had been decided that the IDF would "hunt down all those involved in terror" including members of the Palestinian security apparatus until the PA prevented such attacks. As Israel released 400 Palestinian prisoners yesterday, Dov Weisglass, senior aide to Ariel Sharon, indicated the dismantlement of illegal settlement outposts a demand by the US would have to wait until after Gaza disengagement.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=643659
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