Israel Launches Investigation Into Shooting of Handcuffed Palestinian

Israel's defence minister today promised an investigation would be launched into video footage showing an Israeli soldier shooting a rubber-coated bullet at a Palestinian detainee who was blindfolded and handcuffed.

"The Israeli military will investigate the incident, learn its lessons and hold those responsible to account," Ehud Barak told MPs from his own labor party today. "Warriors do not behave like this."

The military said its advocate general, Brigadier General Avichai Mendelblit, ordered a military police inquiry after he saw the footage, which was released yesterday by the leading Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

The incident happened on July 7 in the village of Nil'in. Several other soldiers were present, including a lieutenant colonel who was holding the arm of the Palestinian man.

The Palestinian, named as Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, was treated for a toe injury and released.

It was the latest incident in which video footage has been used to highlight violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. B'Tselem gave out around 100 video cameras in January last year to allow them to film human rights abuses.

The Nil'in footage was filmed on a private camera by a girl aged 17 who lives in the village. B'Tselem has now given her one of its cameras as part of its 'Shooting Back' project.

Sarit Michaeli, a spokeswoman for B'Tselem, said the footage was intended as much for an Israeli audience as for an international one. She said spoken or written testimony from Palestinians involved in such cases was often given little weight in official police or military investigations into apparent abuses, but video footage was much more powerful.

B'Tselem regularly copies and stores the hours of footage shot on its cameras. In some cases the videos have encouraged the police or military to start or accelerate investigations.

"For us the fact that they are capturing the mundane is also a tool in our attempt to explain that these are not just some rotten apples but that this is a system which encourages whitewashing and impunity," Michaeli said. "I see no better way of encouraging accountability among members of the security forces."