New Israeli Policy Stresses Beatings, Not Bullets : Shamir Defends Use of Physical Force Against Demonstrators; U.S. Is Critical

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Thursday that a new army policy of using beatings and other forms of physical force against Palestinian demonstrators has been approved by the Cabinet.

Speaking on the eve of the Muslim Sabbath, during which new disturbances are expected in Jerusalem, Shamir said on a tour of the south that the new policy is one of self-defense and “not a violent move.” His remarks were quoted on Israel Radio.

Israel has come under widespread international criticism for its use of gunfire to quell disturbances in the occupied territories in recent weeks, during which dozens of Palestinians have been killed.

The U.S. State Department on Thursday criticized the contention that beating demonstrators is more humane than killing them, saying, “We believe both are wrong.”

Meanwhile, a senior Israeli military commander told Israeli journalists that although the new methods have proved effective, he is concerned about their long-term impact on the mental state of his soldiers.

Scores of Arabs Beaten

Israeli, U.N. and Palestinian sources have reported scores of Arabs beaten by soldiers this week under a policy that the army says is intended to cut down on the need to use live ammunition against rock- and firebomb-throwing demonstrators.

The Israeli news agency ITIM said that five Palestinian youths were admitted to a hospital in the West Bank town of Janin on Thursday with broken bones. They said they had been beaten by paramilitary border policemen, who are in large part responsible for security on the occupied West Bank.

The agency said there have been several similar incidents in recent days and that many injured Palestinians stay away from hospitals out of fear that they will be arrested.

U.N. officials said that 79 residents of the big Jabaliya refugee camp in the occupied Gaza Strip were treated for injuries received in beatings by soldiers Tuesday and Wednesday. Ten of the injured required hospitalization for fractures and head wounds, the officials said.

Continuing for 10 Days

One U.N. official said the beatings have been going on for at least 10 days.

“It’s not a new policy,” the official said, “but it’s becoming more and more a clear policy.”

The Palestine Press Service, which supports the Palestine Liberation Organization, said Thursday that there were hundreds of beating incidents Wednesday and Thursday in the Hebron, Ramallah and Nablus areas on the West Bank and in the Rafah, Khan Yunis and Nusseirat refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin publicly enunciated the new policy Tuesday when he told Israel Radio, “The security forces’ first order or priority is to use force, strength and blows to prevent violent demonstrations.”

That same day he reportedly told Israeli legislators that “no demonstrators have died from being thwacked on the head.”

36 Palestinians Killed

The unrest began Dec. 9, when rumors swept the Gaza Strip that a traffic accident, in which four Gaza Arabs were killed the previous day, was a deliberate act on the part of the driver of an Israeli truck. Since then, the disturbances have spread to the West Bank, with its larger Palestinian population, and evolved into a protest over the Israeli occupation.

With Israeli troops using lethal force during the unrest, 36 Palestinians have been shot to death and hundreds wounded in recent weeks.

In announcing the new policy, Rabin said, “The goal is to act against violence with punches and blows and not live ammunition,” according to Israel Radio.

The radio quoted an otherwise unidentified “senior army source” as saying: “We want the people to be afraid of the army. We want the residents of the territories to remember this so they won’t run wild.”

The respected Hebrew-language daily newspaper Haaretz reported Thursday that senior officers in the Gaza Strip are concerned about “the long-term effects of soldiers’ violent contact with residents there.” As a result, the paper said, teams of military psychologists have begun work in the field investigating the effects of the new orders.

“It is feared that soldiers will take advantage of the order to release tensions and will use force in situations where it is unnecessary,” Haaretz said.

From House to House

According to Palestinian and U.N. sources, many beating victims were not demonstrators. “During curfew hours, they just go from house to house,” one U.N. official said, referring to soldiers in the Gaza Strip, where eight Palestinian refugee camps have been under curfew for most of the last two weeks.

The army eased the Gaza Strip curfews early Thursday to allow men in four of the eight camps to go to their jobs in Israel. Also, according to U.N. officials, residents of four camps were given three to four hours to stock up on food and other supplies. U.N. supply trucks were allowed into the camps.

Rabin in Gaza Strip

Rabin, who toured the Deir al Balah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, dismissed as “total nonsense” reports of hunger in the curfewed camps. The U.S. State Department had demanded a day earlier that Israel allow relief supplies to be taken into the areas without hindrance.

Relief agency officials concurred that there was no food crisis in the camps, although William Lee, information officer for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees, which runs the camps, said that “whatever (the Israelis) say, (the situation) is still not completely satisfactory from our point of view.”