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04-06-05, 09:21
Israeli troops admit to 'eye for eye' killing
REUTERS[ SATURDAY, JUNE 04, 2005 12:49:59 AM ]
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JERUSALEM: Israeli commandos killed eight Palestinian policemen in "eye for an eye" shootings three years ago that were ordered to avenge comrades slain in an ambush on an army checkpoint in the West Bank, a newspaper said on Friday.
The report in the Maariv daily, confirmed by senior Israeli security sources, was the latest public challenge to the Jewish state's official insistence that its forces have abided by a strict code of ethics in battling a Palestinian uprising.
After gunmen from the Palestinian faction Fatah killed six soldiers at a checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Ramallah on February 19, 2002, Israeli PM Ariel Sharon approved stepping up the scale and variety of retaliations.
"The feeling was that this would be 'an eye for an eye'," an ex-soldier who took part in the shooting spree three years ago told Maariv.
Eighteen Palestinians were killed in various retaliatory attacks, including eight policemen shot while manning their checkpoints near Ramallah and Nablus, another West Bank city.
"'We are going to liquidate Palestinian policemen at a checkpoint in revenge for our six soldiers that they killed'," the ex-commando quoted his commander as ordering the troops.
At one of three checkpoints raided the Palestinians managed to return fire, but caused no Israeli casualties, Maariv said.
"The moment we knew we were going to eliminate them, we no longer saw them as human," another former commando said.
Maariv's interviewees, whose names were withheld for what the newspaper called legal reasons, said they decided to come forward as part of "Breaking the Silence," a campaign by former soldiers to expose alleged Israeli abuse of Palestinians.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1132120.cms
REUTERS[ SATURDAY, JUNE 04, 2005 12:49:59 AM ]
Surf 'N' Earn -Sign innow
JERUSALEM: Israeli commandos killed eight Palestinian policemen in "eye for an eye" shootings three years ago that were ordered to avenge comrades slain in an ambush on an army checkpoint in the West Bank, a newspaper said on Friday.
The report in the Maariv daily, confirmed by senior Israeli security sources, was the latest public challenge to the Jewish state's official insistence that its forces have abided by a strict code of ethics in battling a Palestinian uprising.
After gunmen from the Palestinian faction Fatah killed six soldiers at a checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Ramallah on February 19, 2002, Israeli PM Ariel Sharon approved stepping up the scale and variety of retaliations.
"The feeling was that this would be 'an eye for an eye'," an ex-soldier who took part in the shooting spree three years ago told Maariv.
Eighteen Palestinians were killed in various retaliatory attacks, including eight policemen shot while manning their checkpoints near Ramallah and Nablus, another West Bank city.
"'We are going to liquidate Palestinian policemen at a checkpoint in revenge for our six soldiers that they killed'," the ex-commando quoted his commander as ordering the troops.
At one of three checkpoints raided the Palestinians managed to return fire, but caused no Israeli casualties, Maariv said.
"The moment we knew we were going to eliminate them, we no longer saw them as human," another former commando said.
Maariv's interviewees, whose names were withheld for what the newspaper called legal reasons, said they decided to come forward as part of "Breaking the Silence," a campaign by former soldiers to expose alleged Israeli abuse of Palestinians.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1132120.cms