Israeli soldiers go unprosecuted

Ma'an
News of the recent arrest of an Israeli soldier accused of beating Mohammaed Khatib, secretary of the Bil'in Village Council and a prominent member of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, was met with little enthusiasm in the Palestinian community.

...[Israeli human rights group] Yesh Din is currently monitoring 130 complaints against Israeli soldiers that have been filed with the Military Police Criminal Investigations Department (MPCID). All of the cases allege that Israeli soldiers behaved violently towards Palestinian civilians...

...In December of 2008, a 14-year-old boy, Y.M. was allegedly shot in the head with a rubber bullet by a member of the Israeli forces. Though the boy survived, his injuries were severe and Yesh Din brought the case to the MPCID. At this time, there has been no investigation of the incident.

Such slow processing makes it unlikely that justice will be served. Lior Yavne, Yesh Din's research director, explains, "When cases are stuck in the pipeline for so long, even if [the MAOA] decides to prosecute, the memory of the witnesses may have deteriorated—it makes the work for the defense attorney very easy." Additionally, as time passes, forensic evidence might be damaged or may disappear altogether, hindering the investigation.

Yesh Din's 2008 report, "Exceptions," found that from 2000 to 2007, only six percent of the 1,246 files opened by the MPCID ended in indictments... Full story