Israeli papers lambast army after Hebron blunder

2003-03-14 10:49

Jerusalem - Israeli newspaper poured vitriol on the defence forces on Friday morning, after troops misidentified their target and killed two Israelis, both of them former officers from an elite infantry unit.

The two were killed on Thursday afternoon near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, when Israeli troops backed by a helicopter rained fire on a car which had mistakenly been identified as carrying Palestinian militants preparing an attack.

"The Hebron Hills Fiasco" was the main headline of the popular Maariv daily on Friday.

"In the past, elite units would prepare for such operations for weeks even. Due to the intensity of combat, such operations are now being carried out with several hours' notice," it explained.

The top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily had another explanation, charging this was another case of deaths caused by troops who had become increasingly trigger-happy since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising 29 months ago.

"This is another episode in an ongoing fiasco. This illness is called flawed professionalism, and one of its symptoms is a too-light finger on the trigger," said the newspaper.

"There is a feeling that the demands of the top security echelon from the army to implement a more aggressive policy receive a problematic interpretation in the field: the law can be left on the western side of the seamline" between Israel and the West Bank", Yediot added.

In an editorial entitled "Accidents Are Inevitable - But Not Ones Like This," the Haaretz daily also blamed the lowered standards of the army for the two Israeli deaths.

"Incidents in which Israel Defense Forces troops accidentally shoot the wrong man are hardly rare in the territories," the left-leaning daily pointed out.

The newspaper quoted a report it published a day before and in which the defence establishment admitted that nearly 20% of the Palestinians killed since the beginning of the intifada were innocent civilians.

"It was only a matter of time until this phenomenon claimed Israeli victims, as well," Haaretz said.

Major General Moshe Kaplinsky, head of the army's central command, said in a statement the incident was the result of "an operational failure with painful and tragic consequences".

"The observation force reported they had identified some armed people in the target area," he said, adding that troops were on alert for wanted Palestinians feared to be preparing an imminent attack in the area.

One of the men got into the car and started driving, so the soldiers shouted to stop, which he did after a few metres. He tried to get out of the car which the soldiers saw as a threat, so they opened fire, Kaplinsky said.

The second Israeli saw the shooting and called the security unit at Kiryat Arba settlement, saying, "terrorists dressed as soldiers had fired at his friend". He then began running and was gunned down by the helicopter, the statement said.

Expressing his deep sorrow over the incident, Kaplinsky said it was "a professional mistake by the observation force".

- AFP