[lbo-talk] "Right-wing lawmaker: IDF violates human rights" in the Jerusalem Post

[Bryan Atinsky]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/PrinterFul
l&cid=1053862432021

Right-wing lawmaker: IDF violates human rights


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Dan Izenberg May. 26, 2003

Knesset Law Committee chairman Michael Eitan on Sunday demanded to know
whether the IDF was aware of the scope of human rights violations by
soldiers against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He repeatedly
refused to accept noncommittal answers from its representative.
The dramatic clash took place during a committee meeting called by Eitan
(Likud) to discuss the question of protecting human rights during the war on
terrorism.

He opened the meeting by telling MKs and representatives of the IDF, Border
Police, State Attorney's Office, police, human rights organizations, and a
representative of the Jewish settlement in Hebron that he is worried about
human rights violations.

"The scope of the problem is very widespread and problematic," he said. "I
am not certain that the responsible officials are aware of the fact that
there are gross violations of human rights in the field despite army
regulations."

During the meeting, he asked Brig.-Gen. Eli Yaffe, head of the IDF
Operations Division, whether the army is aware of the scope of the problem.
Yaffe: We are aware that there are exceptional cases

Eitan: How many per month?

Yaffe: I can't give you figures. I think they are isolated cases.

Eitan: How can you not know? Are there a few instances or thousands of
instances?

Yaffe: We receive some complaints.

Eitan: Are you aware that the number of complaints is nothing compared to
the number of violations? How can you take stock of the situation when you
don't know how many violations occur?

Yaffe: We discuss the matter on a weekly basis all the way up the chain of
command to the chief of General Staff.

Eitan: If that's the case, how can you come to any conclusions when you
don't even know if there is or isn't a problem?

Yaffe: I don't have any figures.

Eitan: You are insulting the intelligence of the committee. Why give us the
feeling that you're trying to mislead us? Has the army looked into this
matter? Who is responsible for it?

At the end of this unprecedented exchange, Eitan explained why he was so
angry. "Last night, I spoke for the fifth time to my daughter's boyfriend,
who's in the army," he said. "I don't want to say what I hear from him, and
these are a fine group of kids, all of them. I don't like what I see and
hear. I ask you whether you are aware of this situation. In my opinion, it
is a widespread phenomenon."

When Yaffe insisted that he could not supply figures, Eitan responded, "The
problem is not figures. The problem is that if the army doesn't keep
statistics, it cannot be seriously dealing with the problem. There is no
army policy regarding these human rights violations."
Eitan said he would convene another meeting in two weeks to continue
discussing the matter.

Border Police Commander David Tzur told the committee that the Border Police
devotes 160 hours of training to teach new recruits about how to conduct
themselves, including workshops with human rights experts. Tzur admitted
that today's new recruits are less sensitive to human rights than those of
previous years.

Orit Struk, of the Hebron Jewish community, charged that the civilian
Palestinian population is not an "innocent population but a population that
supports terrorism." She accused human rights organizations of protecting
the rights of terrorists.