Official Calls for Guidelines on Violence

Israeli Atty. Gen. Yosef Harish, responding to widespread allegations of beatings of Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories, has urged Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin to issue strict written guidelines prohibiting soldiers from using physical force except when dispersing rioters or making arrests.

In a letter released Monday, Harish told Rabin he had received so many “complaints of cruel treatment” that he doubted Rabin’s claim that such acts were “irregular deeds.”