|
Analysis: Controversy Over Israeli Troops Using Palestinians as Human Shields
All Things Considered: August 16, 2002
 Palestinian 'Human Shield'
JOHN YDSTIE, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm John Ydstie.
MARGOT ADLER, host:
And I'm Margot Adler.
Israeli human rights groups and some Israeli politicians are sharply criticizing the military for using a Palestinian as a human shield this week. Soldiers used the tactic in an effort to arrest a Palestinian militant. The Israeli army says the method helps saves lives of both soldiers and Palestinians. One Knesset member has called it a war crime. NPR's Linda Gradstein joins us now.
Linda, what are the details of this week's incident?
LINDA GRADSTEIN reporting:
Well, it happened late Wednesday evening in the West Bank village of Tubas, and Israeli soldiers were trying to arrest a suspected Islamist militant, Nasser Jerar from Hamas. Israeli soldiers say that he was planning an attack on a skyscraper in Israel. In order to try to get him to surrender, they put a bulletproof vest on a Palestinian, a 19-year-old named Nidal Duralma(ph). They sent everybody else in the area away. They put a bulletproof vest on him and they told him to approach the house where Jerar was believed to be hiding and to tell everyone inside to come out and surrender. And as he approached the house, he was shot in the back of the head and he was killed. It's not clear who pulled the trigger. The army says that the gunshots came from the house where Jerar was hiding. The Palestinians say that the army fired. But neither side has given a lot of details.
After the shooting Israeli troops then used bulldozers to demolish the home. Jerar, who has been in a wheelchair since a bomb that he was preparing exploded prematurely, was killed when the house was razed by the Israeli bulldozers.
ADLER: This use of Palestinians as human shields--how many times previously has the army done this?
GRADSTEIN: Well, it's been an army policy for quite a long time. And, in fact, Israel Television last night aired some footage of soldiers doing something very similar in the West Bank city of Jenin.
ADLER: How are they getting the young Palestinians--this one was 19 years old--to agree to do this?
GRADSTEIN: Well, the Palestinians say that they're afraid if they don't agree to do this that they'll be killed and that they feel that they don't have much choice.
ADLER: There have been some reports in the past that Palestinians were used for mine detection. Is that true?
GRADSTEIN: There have been reports that Palestinians have been used to see whether houses were booby-trapped. And the soldiers say that they do that in order to stop Palestinians from booby-trapping their houses because if they know that it's one of their neighbors that may be coming and knocking on the door they won't booby-trap their houses.
ADLER: Human rights groups brought this case before the Israeli Supreme Court a few months ago. Do you think they'll do that again?
GRADSTEIN: Well, they've said that they're going to bring it again because when they brought the case in May the court ruled that the army can't do it anymore, and the army promised that it wouldn't. And yet Palestinian officials and human rights groups say that this procedure has continued.
One Israeli Cabinet minister, Effi Eitam, a former army officer, said that there's absolutely nothing wrong with it and, you know, it will help save people's lives. And the opposition leader Yossi Sarid criticized the use of people as human shields and said it could constitute war crimes. Even the Israeli newspaper Maariv, which is not known as being particularly leftist--if anything, it's centrist--had an editorial today that it entitled `Red Lines,' and it accused the army of crossing red lines. So it sparked a debate in Israel.
ADLER: Thank you very much.
GRADSTEIN: Thank you, Margot.
ADLER: NPR's Linda Gradstein speaking to us from Jerusalem.
Copyright ©2002 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission. For further information, please contact NPR's Permissions Coordinator at (202) 513-2000.
This transcript was created by a contractor for NPR, and NPR has not verified its accuracy. For all NPR programs, the broadcast audio should be considered the authoritative
version.
|
