Only nine percent of investigations into Israeli citizen violence against Palestinians and their property result in indictments
Yesh Din: Only nine percent of investigations into Israeli citizen violence against Palestinians and their property result in indictments. The organization explained that over the last five years, it had followed 642 investigations by Judea and Samaria police into West Bank incidents of Israeli violence against Palestinians. It added that the actual number of incidents was higher, but it did not have that number.
Out of the 642 investigations, 539 were completed, said Yesh Din in a report issued on Wednesday. In 48 of those cases, 9%, indictments were filed. Three cases were lost and never investigated. And 488 cases, 91%, were closed without indictment, either for lack of evidence and/or because investigators failed to find the suspects, Yesh Din said. It added that in 11 of the 488 closed cases, the investigation was abandoned for “lack of public interest,” and two were closed because the suspect was “exempt from liability.”
In looking at the 642 incidents, 246 involved violence, 249 were about property damage, and 110 were instances where land was seized, Yesh Din said. Most of the incidents of Israeli citizen violence against Palestinians involved beatings, stonethrowing and assaults with clubs, knives and rifles butts, as well as threats and other offenses, according to Yesh Din.