Harsher Measures for IDF Split Knesset Committee

The Knesset Interior Committee is split along ideological lines over the refusal of Police Inspector General David Kraus to adopt tough measures used by the Israel Defense Force when the intifada spills over into East Jerusalem.

Kraus made clear to the committee this week that he will not order the police to emulate recent IDF orders to shoot any masked Palestinians, whether or not they are committing overt acts of violence.

Masked men are believed to be responsible for instigating disturbances and killing fellow Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israeli authorities.

But Kraus argued that while the IDF operates in the administered territories, the unified city of Jerusalem is sovereign territory of Israel, where military rule does not apply.

The subject was raised in the Knesset committee after a recent wave of violence in East Jerusalem that culminated in a day of riots in the center of town.

Right-wing Knesset members are pressing the police to adopt tougher methods.

Yehoshua Saguy of Likud, a former chief of military intelligence, proposed that the police use “hunting rifles, drugged arrows and dogs to seize the rioters.”

Labor Knesset member Eli Dayan retorted wryly, “Soon we shall hear of poison arrows.”

Kraus insisted that he saw no point in adopting any IDF techniques to fight the intifada. He rejected proposals to use plastic bullets against rioters. “If we have several casualties, will this calm down the situation?” he asked.

Meanwhile, a coterie of right-wing activists demonstrated Wednesday outside the Justice Ministry, demanding a trial for four prominent Palestinians whom they described as “leaders of the intifada.”

They named Faisal Husseini, a respected Jerusalem intellectual; Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, a lecturer at Bir Zeit University; Raduan Abu-Ayyash, chairman of the Palestinian Press Association; and Elias Freij, the veteran mayor of Bethlehem, who has long preached coexistence.