A visiting United Nations representative has complained to Israeli government officials about the rising level of violence committed by the Israel Defense Force against Palestinians in the territories.
Ilter Turkmen, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Welfare Agency, apparently has complained to Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin of “trigger-happy” behavior by Israeli soldiers.
He expressed his alarm over the resulting violence, especially child fatalities.
Turkmen also has called for more humanitarian aid and economic investment in the territories by Israel.
Coincidentally, Turkmen’s criticism came the same week as a visit by Finance Minister Avraham Shohat to the Gaza Strip, where he promised that an infusion of money would come.
At the same time, the army chief of staff, responding to a report by the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, insisted that soldiers are constantly cautioned to use restraint.
The B’tselem report charged that 34 children and youths under the age of 17 have been killed by the IDF between Dec. 9 and May 16.
That death rate is higher than any other in the same time period since the beginning of the intifada in 1987, according to B’tselem.
In responding to the B’tselem report, IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak said he regretted the loss of life but that casualties were unavoidable.
“We feel very sorry about any individual child which has been killed,” said Barak, in remarks before members of the Jewish press, most visiting Israel for the Jerusalem Day celebration. “It is inevitably a loss of life which should be avoided.
“We have ordered our soldiers again and again and have taken very careful measures to reduce it to the lowest possible figure but I can’t promise you it won’t happen again,” he said.
“Unfortunately we’re acting in an environment where life and the activities of soldiers are threatened” by “Palestinian adults, youngsters and children.”
Barak went on to say that since the beginning of the intifada, the IDF has killed “some 120 terrorists” and another 700 people unintentionally.
He made a point of noting that in the same period the Palestinians have killed 800 fellow Palestinians.
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