LIGHT UNTO NATIONS?

An IDF officer directing Palestinian pedestrian traffic at the Hawara checkpoint near Nablus.








IDF troops beat two handcuffed Palestinians at Nablus checkpoint

By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent

"Israel Defense Forces soldiers brutally beat two Palestinian brothers at the Hawara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus early Sunday morning.

Three brothers - Nadel, Nidal and Ahmed Shatiyeh - were arrested by security forces in their home in the village of Salem overnight and interrogated at a military base near the checkpoint between the hours of 2 A.M. and 6 A.M. Sunday.

Following the conclusion of their interrogation, Nadel and Nidal were transferred to Hawara from where they were to be released home by IDF soldiers at the checkpoint. (The third brother, Ahmed, remained in custody and was not released).

Upon their arrival at the checkpoint, soldiers placed the two brothers in a small holding cell blindfolded and with their hands tied together.

One of the brothers told Haaretz on Sunday that after five hours in the cell, human rights activists threw a bottle of water into the cell.

The brother said they attempted to remove their blindfolds at which point two soldiers entered the cell and retied the blindfolds over their eyes.

The soldiers then began to beat the two bound and blind-folded brothers with their assault rifles.

"They hit us all over - our back, our waist, our chest - until we lost consciousness. They were not human. They were wild animals," one of the brothers said.

An activist from Rabbis from Human Rights, Zakariya Asade, told Haaretz the two brothers were not able to get up after they were beaten. Asade called an ambulance which took the brothers to a Nablus hospital.

Asade said he has photographs of one of the soldiers involved in the beating and said he intends to hand the image over to the IDF.

Machsom Watch activist Ditza Yitzhaki, who was at the scene, confirmed the report of the brothers' beating by the IDF soldiers.

The IDF Spokesperson said it was unaware of any incident of abuse."