Region | Palestinian Territories

Israeli police lax in prosecuting settlers in West Bank: report

Israel has failed to press charges in 90 percent of recent cases involving Palestinian complaints of assaults or vandalism by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli rights group said on Wednesday.

  • Reuters
  • Published: 09:16 July 9, 2008
  • Gulf News

Jerusalem: Israel has failed to press charges in 90 percent of recent cases involving Palestinian complaints of assaults or vandalism by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli rights group said on Wednesday.

Yesh Din, a liberal watchdog of Israeli policies in occupied land, said in a report that indictments were filed for just 13 of 205 complaints filed by Palestinians in the past two years.

In a six-page report, Yesh Din, which means "There is judgment", said it found that there had been a "failure on the part of the district police to investigate offences committed by Israeli civilians against Palestinians".

Another 149 cases were shut for lack of evidence or failure to track down a suspect, the report said, adding that one file was said to have disappeared without explanation. The other complaints were still pending, it added.

Palestinians complained of offences such as Israeli civilians hitting them with rifle butts or stones, having property vandalised, farm animals killed, olive trees uprooted and industrial waste dumped on farmland, the group said.

Danny Poleg, a spokesman for Israeli police in the West Bank, challenged the watchdog's figures.

Poleg said 30 indictments had been filed as a result of investigations into Palestinian complaints in 2007. In all, 195 complaints were investigated.

Jewish settlements are a frequent source of friction between Israelis and Palestinians.

Half a million Jews live on West Bank land captured by Israel in a 1967 war, including East Jerusalem. The areas are home to some 2.5 million Palestinians and where Palestinians seek a state.

Hundreds of Palestinians in the territory have died in recent years in confrontations with Israeli soldiers and settlers.

Settlers regard the land as a biblical birthright and dozens have been killed, shot or had stones and firebombs thrown at them by Palestinians.

The World Court has ruled that the settlements are illegal. Israel disputes this.

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