Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak, the new Israel Defense Force chief of staff, has bowed to the wishes of civil rights activists to investigate charges that Palestinian prisoners have been physically abused during interrogation.
The chief of staff has named reserve Gen. Rafael Vardi to conduct an investigation into the alleged brutal treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
Vardi, 69, who in the past has served as head of the military police, commander of the West Bank and Defense Ministry coordinator in the administered territories from 1967 to 1974, is to investigate charges by B’tselem, the Israeli human rights information center.
The charges, based on interviews with 41 former Palestinian detainees, were published in March, but the IDF dismissed them as unfounded.
However, demands for an independent inquiry were quickly taken up by liberal Knesset members.
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