Army cameras catch soldiers' abuse
http://maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=9641
IDF video crew, assigned to shoot PR footage at Hawara checkpoint six
months ago, captured abuse of Palestinians instead. Footage seen by NRG
Maariv.
Eitan Rabin

An IDF video crew was assigned in February to document events at the Hawara
checkpoint near Nablus to record footage showing the world what really goes
on there. The result was far from a PR film. The bleak pictures recorded
that day have led to a trial of the checkpoint commander.

The Hawara checkpoint is known as one of the most difficult and complex for
IDF soldiers. Some days, thousands of Palestinians pass through, and on
many occasions, guards have blocked the entrance of terrorists and
weaponry. An IDF Education Corps film crew that arrived at the checkpoint
in February encountered Palestinians being abused by soldiers, and they
captured the scene on their cameras.

During that day, Sergeant Major B. was in charge of the checkpoint while
under his command were soldiers of the 202nd Paratroop Brigade who have
served considerable time in the current Intifada. "The idea was to make a
PR film, and instead we photographed abuse", said a military source
involved in the filming.

The tape was handed over to IDF commanders, who passed it on to the
Military Police, which then investigated the checkpoint commander and his
soldiers. B. was handed an indictment following the investigation and will
be tried in the Central District Military Court. He is charged with
aggravated abuse, assault, willful wrongdoing, and improper conduct.
Moreover, the IDF has decided that the checkpoint will now be commanded by
an officer rather than a soldier.

The full videotape, revealed by NRG Maariv, was used as key evidence in the
trial of the checkpoint commander. It contains several violent scenes, one
of which shows IDF soldiers beating a Palestinian man in full view of his
two children and screaming wife. They then force the man into a closed
shelter, out of the range of the film crew's cameras.

On film, the commander explains his actions: "If he gets through, everyone
will get through. So, there's a limit, and there's a red line. For example,
Here, right now, no one is going through. Why? Because that guy got a
beating.It bothers me to beat a grown man. But I try not to be near people.
That's why I took him aside. And no one knows what I did with him. They
have no trouble with the beatings, but the humiliation in front of all
those people - his wife and children - that's why I took him aside".

B.'s attorney, Shlomi Tsippori, told the military court last week that "as
early as last February, the IDF shot a videotape on what was going on at
that checkpoint. No one said anything to the checkpoint commander or the
soldiers, and they let them continue to act in the same way.But today
they're accusing the commander. Why didn't they stop it then"?

Tsipport told Maariv, "The IDF, not the soldiers, should be on trial. The
entire senior staff of the IDF should be called to trial. Let them come and
explain why they assign young soldiers with an impossible task".

He claims that the IDF "does not give soldiers the tools to cope, and what
happened could have been foreseen - we're all rolling our eyes and walking
away from the soldiers".

The IDF has recently begun a course for checkpoint commanders that
clarifies the ethical and military demands of the job. An IDF spokesman
commented: "After learning of the beating of a Palestinian by a commander,
we immediately removed him from duty and opened a military police
investigation, after which he was arrested. The IDF is aware of the
complexity and difficulty of commanding checkpoints in Judea and Samaria.
Nevertheless, the IDF demands a high moral level of its commanders and
treats exceptions harshly".