Two video clips that were recently disseminated by human rights organizations strengthen Palestinian claims that the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) presence in the West Bank is larger than in the past. Unfortunately, the videos also show that friction between the soldiers and the Palestinian population has escalated and become more violent.
In a video taken by security cameras in the Jericho area and disseminated by B’Tselem on Feb. 22, four soldiers are seen beating a Palestinian youth, Yasin al-Saradih, who tried to attack them. They shoot him at close range, then drag him into an alleyway. Palestinian voices can be heard as onlookers watch what was happening from the store windows, saying, “They are killing him.” His family and B'Tselem claim that for several long minutes, the soldiers prevented Saradih from receiving medical treatment that could have saved his life.
After the incident, the IDF stated that the attacker had run toward the soldiers with an iron rod in his hands. “The [IDF] force fired at him, and evidently he was not harmed by the shots. Afterward, the soldiers used force to arrest him. In the course of this incident, the Palestinian even tried to grab and run away with the weapon of one of the soldiers.” The IDF did not address B’Tselem’s claim that Saradih was severely beaten after he posed no threat.
Another video disseminated by the Yesh Din organization on March 2 documented an Israeli border police officer throwing a stun grenade, for no discernible reason, at a couple holding an infant and running away. The couple had escaped from their home in the West Bank Burin village after a smoke grenade was thrown into it. In response, Israel police released a statement saying the officers discerned two suspects trying to flee the place where dozens of disruptive men stood crowded together and, in response, one threw a single stun grenade toward them. According to the police, the officers had not been able to see the infant. “If the officers had noticed the baby, needless to say they would have acted accordingly,” police said.
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