Palestinians suffer Israeli abuse
17/12/2007| IslamWeb
One in four Israeli troops serving at checkpoints scattered across the occupied
Twenty-five per cent of the respondents said they had taken part in, seen or heard from colleagues about acts of physical or verbal abuse at the 500 roadblocks.
The survey's findings were quoted by army officials and media on Sunday.
One soldier reported forcing a Palestinian truck driver to remain on his knees for four hours for lying that he had a permit to cross the roadblock.
The abuse includes humiliations, gratuitous delays and bribe-taking.
"We knew there was a problem, but we never imagined it was this grave," one senior military officer was quoted as saying by the Yediot Aharonot daily.
The survey - which questioned 1,000 soldiers - was commissioned several months ago by the commander of
As a result of the findings, all soldiers serving in the territories are to attend a two-day workshop. "We are making an effort so that the soldiers behave themselves better," a military source said.
Israeli checkpoints in the
The roadblocks, often manned by 18- to 21-year-old conscripts, dot the territory, severely hampering Palestinian freedom of movement, feeding local resentment and stirring widespread international criticism.
"When you prevent thousands of people from moving freely, that's something that can't be done nicely," Yediot Aharonot quoted one soldier as saying.
"What can you do, you can't expect the Palestinian citizen to say ‘hank you’ for what you're doing to him," he said.
"Sometimes he tries to bypass you because that's what saves him his day of work - and then you catch him. What are you going to do to him? You're going to punish him," said the soldier.
"You can keep him there for eight hours to roast in the sun... Things like that happen all the time. One time a truck driver lied to me that he had a permit, so I kept him on his knees for four hours."
PHOTO CAPTION
A Palestinian man wait to cross the Hawara Israeli military checkpoint near the West Bank city of