Draconian measures allegedly ordered by Chief of Staff Gen. Rafael Eitan to quell disturbances on the West Bank last spring became the focus of attention over the weekend in the court martial trial of an Israeli major and six soldiers accused of using excessive force against Palestinian civilians in the territory.
Their defense attorney, contending that the accused were only following orders from the highest echelons of the military establishment, presented documents as evidence last week. The Jerusalem Post reported Friday that the documents show that Eitan had proposed “punishment by expulsion,” deliberate harassment of West Bank Arabs to enforce law and order and the establishment of detention camps to hold detainees pending trial.
According to the Post, the Chief of Staff suggested “repeated and arbitrary arrests, punishing parents” of youths charged with disorderly conduct “and using collective punishment such as curfews and economic sanctions against troublesome villages.”
Eitan also suggested, according to the documents reported by the Post, that a “detention exile camp” be built where “normal prison conditions” need not pertain “to hold detainees until the end of their investigation.” The Chief of Staff reportedly recommended “carrot-and-stick” tactics whereby “good” villages would be rewarded and “bad” villages punished.
Charges that harsh measures were being used by the Israeli military in the territory against local demonstrators were first voiced by members of the Peace Now movement who had done their military reserve duty on the West Bank and purportedly witnessed various incidents of maltreatment. They have asked Premier Menachem Begin to publicly dissociate himself from the guidelines proposed by Eitan.
EITAN DEFENDS HIS RECORD
Eitan defended his record in an interview published in Yediot Achronot Friday and said he stood by his orders to the troops on the West Bank. He said that tanks had not been used in Nablus during his first four years as Chief of Staff, and that only 44 Arab homes had been destroyed in that period compared to 163 four years earlier. According to Eitan, from 1967 until he became Chief of Staff four years ago, 853 persons had been expelled from the occupied territories compared to only four persons during his tenure.
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