Israeli forces interrogate Palestinian female patients

6/23/2005

The Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday questioned scores of Palestinian female patients at the Erez crossing to the north of the Gaza Strip.

Israel started interrogating sick patients on their way to 1948 hospitals for medical treatment after the arrest of Wafa Al-Bes at the pretext she was carrying explosives and was planning to blast them at the crossing.

Israeli forces claimed that Wafa, who said she was heading for treatment in the green line (Palestinians lands occupied since 1948), was affiliated with the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah Movement.

But Al Aqsa Brigades dismissed the Israeli claims that Wafa was affiliated with the armed wing.

According to a PA health ministry official, all Palestinian female patients were interrogated at the Israeli intelligence’s offices at Erez for more than three hours.

He called on legal institutions to intervene and try to persuade the Israeli government to facilitate the movement of Palestinian patients on all occupation barriers.

Meanwhile, a recent report, released by the American Human Rights Watch (HRW) organization, accused the Israeli occupation army of failing to prosecute soldiers involved in killing and wounding innocent Palestinians.

The HRW report states that the Israeli troops killed or maimed thousands of Palestinians who were not taking part in the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation.

According to the report, Israeli forces and Jewish extremists killed as many as 4,000 Palestinians, a fourth of them children and minors, since the Palestinian uprising, intifada, broke out nearly five years ago.

The information provided in the 126-page report is supported by similar researches previously carried out by other prominent human rights groups as the London-based Amnesty International and Israel’s own B’Tselem organization which monitors Israeli army behaviors.

The HRW report, released Wednesday at the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem accuses Israel of not investigation most of fatal shootings to determine whether soldiers opened fire lawfully.

The few inquiries into the killings and maiming of innocent Palestinian civilians were inadequate and didn’t meet internationally-accepted standards, the report said.

“Most of Israel’s investigations of civilian casualties have been a sham,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

“The government’s failure to investigate the deaths of innocent civilians has created an atmosphere that encourages soldiers to think they can literally get away with murder.”

The report also cited numerous cases where Palestinian civilians killed or maimed by Israel soldiers who have not been prosecuted or even questioned before being allowed to return to their army units.

Last year, Israeli army soldier, dubbed “Captain R.”, who killed a 9-year-old Palestinian school girl and then shot her with 20 more bullets to make sure that she was dead, was exonerated and acquitted.

The Israeli army rejected the HRW report, calling it “unbalanced and baseless.”