General reprimanded in human shield case

The commander of Israeli forces in the West Bank was reprimanded Thursday following an investigation into allegations that troops used a Palestinian man as a human shield during an operation in the West Bank city of Nablus.

The army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, reprimanded Brig. Gen. Yair Golan and held up his advancement, the military spokesman's office said in a statement.

The practice of using Palestinian civilians to shield Israeli soldiers in confrontations with militants in the West Bank was outlawed by the Israeli Supreme Court in 2005.

In February, AP Television News captured footage of what appeared to be such an incident. It showed Sameh Amira, 24, accompanying troops as they entered apartments in the city's casbah, or Old City.

Amira said he was jolted awake by pounding at the front door of his house and was forced to lead the heavily armed soldiers from house to house. "I was afraid I would die," he said in an interview after the incident.

The army statement Thursday said as a result of an investigation into the case, Golan would be passed over for promotion for at least the next nine months.

The Israeli rights group B'tselem, which monitors Israeli human rights violations in the West Bank, praised the decision.

"We welcome the fact that the army took this seriously and investigated the case and took action," spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said. Golan "was a senior officer who broke the law, and we hope that this will send a message to officers that they cannot give orders like this to soldiers."

Human rights groups have long complained about activities of the Israeli military in the West Bank, citing roadblocks that stifle the local economy, searches, armed raids, random violence and other cases. Israel contends the measures are necessary for security.

Until 2005, soldiers employed a tactic of making civilians knock on their neighbors' doors to warn them of an impending raid, claiming this protected bystanders by spurring militants to surrender peacefully. But in a landmark ruling, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled the tactic illegal and barred any use of civilians in military operations.

In August 2002, a 19-year-old Palestinian student, Nidal Daraghmeh, was killed when troops in the West Bank town of Tubas forced him to knock on the door of a neighboring building where a Hamas fugitive was hiding. Gunfire erupted and Daraghmeh was killed.