... footage shot earlier this week showed Israeli soldiers apparently forcing Palestinians to stand in front of their armoured jeep.
Israeli law forbids the military from using human shields.
Palestinians and Israeli human rights groups have regularly complained that Israel uses human shields to stop youths from throwing stones at them, but there has often been no proof.
In March, Israeli human rights group accused Israel's army of using two young Palestinians as human shields during an operation in the West Bank.
... B'Tselem says it believes the Israeli soldiers knowingly exposed the three to danger as they expected to find armed men in the houses.
story | BBC (~Note no BBC photos or link to video of Israeli solders using Palestinian children as shields.)
also IDF soldiers use Nablus youths as ‘human shield’ w/link to video? | YNet
The activist said this is the first time he had seen soldiers ordering Palestinians to serve as human shields for army vehicles, but added that in the past few months he had witnessed a number of incidents in which soldiers used Palestinian civilians during their activity.
>related B'T'selem: http://www.btselem.org/English/ (~No photos or videos of Israel's use of human shields here, but there are testimonies.)
~I'm guessing the video is the reason for the commander's suspension; since the March incident reported (and linked) above was not videoed and no mention is made of an Israeli army investigation.
There's a universe out there, not very far from here, where if it's not on video it never happened.
Posted by Stubbornson at April 13, 2007 07:06 PM