Rights group: ‘Israel’ has complete disregard for Palestinians’ lives
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- A recent report by Israeli rights group Yesh Din has found that less than one percent of Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip are ever charged with crimes.
Yesh Din said the data shows that ‘Israel’ has a “complete disregard for Palestinians’ lives, precludes any possibility of deterrence and encourages the continued use of the deadly trigger-happy policy that has claimed so many Palestinian lives.”
The report comes as a spike in Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank, making 2022 the one of the deadliest years on record for Palestinians since 2005.
Between 2017 and 2021, the Israeli army received 1,260 cases of alleged offenses by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, according to the report, compiled from military data obtained by Yesh Din. The data included 409 cases of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces.
The report added that military law enforcement authorities “systematically avoid investigating and prosecuting soldiers who harm Palestinians.”
In so doing, the group said, “the military is failing to uphold its duty to provide Palestinian residents with protection against offenses committed by Israeli soldiers and commanders under the auspices of Israel’s ongoing occupation and as an inevitable outcome of it.”
The Israeli military opened only 248 criminal investigations into possible misconduct committed by Israeli soldiers, representing just over 20 percent of total cases. Of the investigations opened, 117 involved the killing of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers.
“The number of indictments filed against the implicated soldiers is minuscule,” the report added. Only 11 cases over five years resulted in an indictment, and only three involved incidents where Palestinians were killed.
“Even in the rare cases in which soldiers are convicted of offenses against Palestinians, the military courts hand down extremely lenient sentences,” Yesh Din noted.
Too often, Israeli soldiers prosecuted for killing Palestinians were sentenced to military community service only, and for short periods of time, the report found.
The indictments that were filed were not in the interest of justice, but rather to “whitewash crimes” committed by the Israeli army and to “allow the military to maintain the illusion that it is a law-abiding system”, the report added.
The figures, however, don’t represent the true scale of instances of violence towards Palestinians as many Palestinian victims have little interest or confidence in filing complaints with the Israeli military, an “oppressive institution that is not designed to serve the Palestinian residents, much less help them assert their rights”, the report noted.
Palestinians also fear retribution from the Israeli military if they file complaints, which could include having their work permits denied or attracting further violence.
If Palestinians do end up filing a complaint, the system is often “inaccessible”, and complaints can be transferred with great delay, if at all, Yesh Din found.
The few indictments that were filed, which concern acts of violence that are inherent to a situation of prolonged military occupation, Yesh Din said, allow “the military to maintain the illusion that it is a law-abiding system and deflect outside criticism without having to actually bring the people responsible for the ongoing abuse of the rights of Palestinians living under Israel’s regime to justice.”
