ISM video: IDF solider kicking 12-year old Palestinian in Hebron

Army investigating incident after soldier holds, kicks boy; activist group charges incident occurred during settler dispute.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Israeli soldier and Palestinian youth370 (photo credit: Reuters)
Israeli soldier and Palestinian youth370
(photo credit: Reuters)
The army is investigating an incident in which a soldier in Hebron held a 12-year-old Palestinian by the arm and kicked him on Saturday.
The incident occurred at about 4:30 p.m. near a lookout post in a section of the city under military control. It was caught on tape by the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group, and posted on YouTube.
In the footage one can see two soldiers who appear to be separating two young Palestinians.
They push one out of the way and kick the other. Both boys remain standing. The one who was kicked holds his leg briefly and screams. The soldiers than run off down the road, apparently after another Palestinian.
The IDF said only that the incident was non-routine. The ISM said it occurred while settlers were “causing trouble” on the roof of a private home.
Yosef Hartuv, of the nearby Kiryat Arba settlement, was at the lookout post, which is located on the roof of a private Palestinian home. He said he had come there with visitors, including a woman who spoke Arabic and asked the homeowner for permission to stand on the roof.
“We asked explicit permission in the language of the home owner and he acknowledge to us in Hebrew that he was fine with it,” Hartuv said.
As an unofficial guide, he added, he had brought visitors to the lookout post for years and had often exchanged a few, limited pleasantries with the homeowners.
He added that prior to the incident he had observed Palestinian teenagers fighting among themselves, and that the soldiers appeared to be breaking up the fight.