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Soldados israelíes reconocen abusos contra civiles palestinos en la última operación en Gaza
El diario ’Hareetz’ publica testimonios de las tropas que hablan de muertes indiscriminadas y vandalismo
dijous 19 de març de 2009, per
El Ejército israelí cometió abusos contra la población civil palestina durante su última incursión militar en la franja de Gaza en la operación Plomo sólido, según testimonios de los propios soldados israelíes, hechos públicos hoy por el diario Hareetz.
"Antes de ir a una zona concurrida, teníamos una reunión sobre las normas de ataque y de abrir fuego dentro de una ciudad, porque, como saben, disparamos muchas rondas y matamos a muchas personas para no resultar heridos o para que no nos disparasen". Es la declaración de un mando militar que participó en la ofensiva los pasados diciembre y enero en la que murieron más de 1.300 civiles palestinos.
La información de Hareetz, que se publicará íntegramente en un reportaje en próximo días, recoge testimonios de diversos oficiales y soldados rasos de las fuerzas de defensa israelíes (IDF, en sus siglas en inglés). Un militar relata al diario israelí situaciones que le molestaron durante la operación y que le han llevado a hacerse preguntas de la manera de actuar de las tropas. "Cuando entrábamos en una casa, se supone que echar abajo la puerta y empezar a disparar dentro y luego ir planta por planta (...). Yo a eso lo llamo asesinato. En cada planta, si identificábamos a una persona, la disparábamos. Me pregunté a mí mismo: ¿Cómo puede ser esto razonable?".
Otro soldado explica cómo murió una familia. "Habíamos tomado la casa (...) y la familia fue liberada y se le dijo que se dirigiese a la derecha. Una madre y dos niños se confundieron y fueron hacia la izquierda (...). Al francotirador del tejado no se le dijo que no pasaba nada y que no tenía que disparar (...). Uno puede decir que sólo hizo lo que le dijeron (...) Le dijeron que no dejase que nadie se acercase por el flanco izquierdo y les disparó".
El soldado dice que no sabe si su compañero primero disparó contra los pies de la mujer y a los niños, como establecen las normas del Ejército, "pero los mató". "Creo que la mayoría de la gente con la que he hablado cree que en Gaza se tenía la sensación de que las vidas de los palestinos eran mucho menos importantes que las de nuestros soldados", asegura.
Notícia original
IDF in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent
During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive.
The soldiers are graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College in Tivon. Some of their statements made on Feb. 13 will appear Thursday and Friday in Haaretz. Dozens of graduates of the course who took part in the discussion fought in the Gaza operation.
The speakers included combat pilots and infantry soldiers. Their testimony runs counter to the Israel Defense Forces’ claims that Israeli troops observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation. The session’s transcript was published this week in the newsletter for the course’s graduates.
The testimonies include a description by an infantry squad leader of an incident where an IDF sharpshooter mistakenly shot a Palestinian mother and her two children. "There was a house with a family inside .... We put them in a room. Later we left the house and another platoon entered it, and a few days after that there was an order to release the family. They had set up positions upstairs. There was a sniper position on the roof," the soldier said.
"The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn’t understand and went to the left, but they forgot to tell the sharpshooter on the roof they had let them go and it was okay, and he should hold his fire and he ... he did what he was supposed to, like he was following his orders."
According to the squad leader: "The sharpshooter saw a woman and children approaching him, closer than the lines he was told no one should pass. He shot them straight away. In any case, what happened is that in the end he killed them.
"I don’t think he felt too bad about it, because after all, as far as he was concerned, he did his job according to the orders he was given. And the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to ... I don’t know how to describe it .... The lives of Palestinians, let’s say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way," he said.
Another squad leader from the same brigade told of an incident where the company commander ordered that an elderly Palestinian woman be shot and killed; she was walking on a road about 100 meters from a house the company had commandeered.
The squad leader said he argued with his commander over the permissive rules of engagement that allowed the clearing out of houses by shooting without warning the residents beforehand. After the orders were changed, the squad leader’s soldiers complained that "we should kill everyone there [in the center of Gaza]. Everyone there is a terrorist."
The squad leader said: "You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won’t say anything. To write ’death to the Arabs’ on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing: To understand how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It’s what I’ll remember the most."
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