'Israel rarely prosecutes troops for violence against Palestinians'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
In the past seven years, the IDF has indicted just 10 percent of soldiers suspected of criminal offenses against Palestinians, an Israeli human rights group reported Tuesday, saying the figures raise questions about Israel's willingness to prosecute. The Yesh Din group said just 9 percent of investigations led to convictions. The conviction rate was less than 7 percent when the investigations focused on the killing and injury of civilians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, it said. "The low number of investigations opened and the minute number of indictments served reveal the (military's) de facto derogation of its duty to protect the civilian Palestinian population against offenses committed by its soldiers," said Michael Sfard, Yesh Din's legal counsel.