Israel defends army’s shoot-to-wound policy

Press, 29 September 1988, Page 11

Israel defends army’s shoot-to-wound policy

NZPA-Reuter Jerusalem Israel has defended its army’s new shoot-to-wound policy in the occupied territories where three Palestinians died on Tuesday after being hit by plastic bullets or live ammunition.

The Defence Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, told a news conference the aim of the policy was to crush a nine-month-old uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. “Our purpose is to increase the number (of wounded) among those who take part in violent activities, but not to kill them,” he said. “I’m not worried about the increased wounding ... as long as they were involved actively instigating, organising and taking part in violent activities.” At least 287 Palestinians and six Israelis have died in the uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip where 1.5 million Palestinians live

under Israeli rule. Rashad a-Shawa, the Palestinian mayor of Gaza for 11 years until Israel deposed him in 1982 for refusing to co-operate with its policies, meanwhile, died of a heart attack at home aged 79. His family said he had influenza but added he had been increasingly troubled by the ArabIsraeli conflict. A Gaza-born member of King Hussein of Jordan’s Hashemite clan and- a prominent businessman, Mr Shawa was regarded by both Israelis and Palestinians as the senior pro-Jbrdanian “father figure” in the Gaza Strip. He was a Palestinian nationalist active in Arab

politics for 40 years but his role had diminished as Jordan lost popular support in the territories to the Palestine Liberation Organisation. A nephew, Aoun Shawa, told Reuters, “The only thing he was looking for was peace for his people and this is what he was fighting for for the last 40 years, and I think he really suffered for that, much more than the age factor.” At least two of the three Palestinians who died on Tuesday were wounded by plastic bullets, which Mr Rabin defended against United Nations criticism. Ballistics experts say plastic bullets, designed to wound, will kill if fired at

close range. Troops wounded 30 residents in the Gaza Strip where the biggest hospital, Shifa, was nearly as crowded as at the tumultuous start of the uprising in December. In Gaza City, youths broke street lights to keep soldiers away at night. Palestinians ■ said the troops tended to avoid dark areas where they could not see demonstrators at night. Demonstrators clashed with police for three hours in the Jebel Mukabar neighbourhood of Jerusalem to protest against the death of a 23-year-old resident, the first Palestinian of the uprising killed by police in the holy city.