- The Israeli military has arrested two soldiers on suspicion
of murdering an unarmed Palestinian, it was reported today.
-
- Two more officers from the same platoon have been detained
for allegedly attempting to cover up the killing, according to the Israeli
newspaper Yediot Ahronot.
-
- The paper said prosecutors accused the men of the "deliberate
shooting of an innocent man who was not behaving suspiciously". Following
a special hearing at the army's general staff headquarters in Tel Aviv
yesterday, the suspects were remanded in custody.
-
- A military spokeswoman confirmed that suspects were remanded
at the hearing "regarding an incident involving the death of a Palestinian
civilian in the Gaza Strip". She said that no trial date had so far
been set and refused to provide more details about the case.
-
- A soldier is currently on trial for manslaughter over
the April 2003 killing of pro-Palestinian British activist Tom Hurndall
and, in a separate case, an officer has been convicted of causing Palestinian
deaths by negligence.
-
- The latest case, however, is understood to be the first
since the September 2000 outbreak of Palestinian-Israeli fighting where
the charge is murder.
-
- The paper said one of the suspects, urged on by the other,
shot the man during military operations in the southern Gaza Strip last
October, then told his superiors that he had shot a hostile gunman.
-
- Yediot Ahronot said a court order barred publication
of further details of the case.
-
- In other developments in the region, Islamist militants
said they would begin kidnapping Israeli troops and civilians in the occupied
areas to highlight the plight of 2,600 hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners
in Israeli jails.
-
- Apparently frustrated by the lack of international media
coverage of the hunger strike - now in its 13th day - the armed wings of
Fatah and Islamic Jihad announced the move in a bid to boost the prisoners'
campaign, the Jerusalem Post reported.
-
- Meanwhile, the UN's Middle East peace envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen,
urged Israeli prison authorities to ensure the wellbeing of the prisoners.
-
- A UN statement said Mr Roed-Larsen also called on both
the Israelis and the prisoners to renew efforts to end their dispute over
prison conditions and visiting rights.
-
- Among the strikers' demands are transfers to prisons
along the borders between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip or in
Israeli-held parts of the Palestinian areas, which would facilitate family
visits.
-
- Most Palestinians are barred from entering Israel, making
it impossible for prisoners' relatives to reach the prisons where they
are held.
-
- The Israel Prisons' Service says it is holding about
4,000 Palestinian "security prisoners".
-
- Human rights organisations say that about half have been
convicted while the rest are either awaiting trial, accused of varying
degrees of involvement in hostilities toward Israel, or held under special
regulations allowing internment without trial.
-
- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
-
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel
- /Story/0,2763,1292398,00.html
|
