Middle East: Almost all investigations by Israeli police into reports of violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinians end in failure, a report by an Israeli human rights group said yesterday.
In a year-long study of the actions of the Israeli police in the West Bank, rights group Yesh Din (Hebrew for "there is law") found that 90 per cent of investigations into settler violence against Palestinians failed because files were lost or closed due to a "lack of evidence".
Yesh Din was unable to give comparative figures for the percentage of cases that end in failure in Israel.
The police said they were studying the report and would make changes if need be, but that all efforts were made to investigate crimes and record testimony from witnesses.
In a separate case, a Jerusalem court handed down a rare conviction to a Jewish settler yesterday, finding him guilty of murdering four Palestinian workers in a shooting last year.
In its report, Yesh Din said its findings and other similar studies showed that "Israel is abusing its obligation to defend the Palestinian civilian population in the occupied Palestinian territories against the criminality of Israeli civilians.
"Failures abound in all stages of law enforcement in cases of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank," it said.
The privately funded group takes no official position on the legality of West Bank settlements, branded illegal by the World Court, but says it is worried by human rights violations.
The Israeli police force in the West Bank ultimately falls under the command of the Israeli army, which has occupied the territory since the 1967 Middle East war.
Yesh Din said the police had failed on several counts, including not taking testimony from key witnesses, rarely conducting identification line-ups of Israeli suspects and not checking Israeli alibis.
The study examined 92 cases since 2002 and found that of the 71 that were concluded, 83 per cent were closed because of lack of evidence or on other grounds, and 7 per cent were lost. Indictments were made in the other cases.
In a response to the findings, the chief superintendent of the Israeli police force in the West Bank said all efforts were made to investigate crimes and record witness testimony, and said procedural reviews were often carried out. "We are presently studying the report and the comments made and, as a learning organisation, we will amend whatever requires amendment [ if anything]," said Supt Moshe Pintzy.
About 240,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, mostly in heavily fortified enclaves, among 2.4 million Palestinian residents. Settlers have greater freedom of movement on many roads than Palestinians have.
Clashes are frequent, with Palestinians and settlers accusing each other of setting them off. Yesh Din did not have figures for the number of complaints filed by settlers against Palestinians.
Settlers have been frequent targets of armed attacks by militants since the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000.
- (Reuters)