Corruption verdict against general

Press, 20 January 1984, Page 6

Corruption verdict against general

NZPA-Reuter Tel Aviv An Israeli war hero had been found guilty of corruption charges after he resigned earlier yesterday from his post as chief administrator of the Israelioccupied West Bank, an Israeli Army spokesman said. Brigadier-General Shlomo Ilya, who heads the Israeli civil administration in the occupied territory where some 800,000 Palestinians live, had been tried by a senior military officer in a disciplinary court yesterday and “found guilty of most of the charges,” the spokesman

said. Earlier, General Ilya asked to be relieved of his duties and the Defence Minister, Mr Moshe Arens, and the Chief-of-Staff, Lieuten-ant-General Moshe Levi, had agreed. General Ilya had received “severe reprimands and warnings but will remain in the Army and will be given a new assignment,” the spokesman said. The military police had investigated charges that General Ilya had illegally transferred a female soldier to his office and had improperly allowed her to be off duty for several weeks.

General Ilya, a muchdecorated former Intelligence officer who lost a hand in the 1967 NXiddle East war, also had been accused of misusing Army property, the spokesman said. The chief military prosecutor had decided not to court-martial General Ilya, the spokesman said. Some Israeli newspapers said that General Ilya’s attempts to create direct relationships with local Arab figures had angered officials and were what ultimately had led to the probe of his activities. The Independent daily,

“Ha'aretz." said that General Ilya's associates had been “astonished at the charges.” The paper quoted associates and other security officials who had seen the inquiry file as saying that “if the standards cited in the investigation were to be used everywhere, half of the Army’s officers would be court-martialled.” General Ilya’s deputy. Colonel Freddy Zach, temporarily replaces him. General Ilya, a career Army officer, became West Bank administrator in 1982 after the resignation of

Menachem Milson. who had made basic changes in Israeli relations with Palestinians there. Mr Milson promoted the formation of "village leagues" to encourage new leadership in the West Bank’s rural communities to counter the established leadership, which came mainly from the cities and supported the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Israeli leaders, including Mr Milson, decided that the experiment was unsuccessful and General Ilya tried to develop direct ties with local Arabs outside the village league leaders.