Killing with impunity: Israel ‘s hidden units in Palestine New Israel-Palestine Conflict

Ramallah, occupied West Bank – The grief and anger were evident when the women cried, the young men raised their fists and the men in the mask shot into the air at the funeral of Ahmed Fahd, a 24-year-old Al-Amari refugee camp.

Fahd’s family told Al Jazeera that secret agents first arrested him and then shot him in the back around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday before he was allowed to die in blood on a street in the Um al-Shayaret neighborhood of Ramallah on Tuesday. .

“My son was mercilessly shot. He was a loving son, he had a lot of friends and he was always smiling, ”Um Fahd said holding up his son’s poster and uncontrollably crying.

Fahd, an employee of El Bireh municipality, was due to get married within a few weeks.

Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Muhammad al-Awda told Al Jazeera doctors at Ramallah Hospital said Fahd had been shot several times at close range.

“Doctors reported that a bullet that went into his back made a 2.5-cm entrance hole, but when he came out of his stomach the hole was 7 cm, proving that he was shot at close range,” al-Awda said.

Palestinian doctors on the ground have reported that Israeli forces are using live rounds known as “butterfly bullets,” which “explode” in a blow, crushing tissues, arteries and bone, causing serious internal injuries and major exit wounds.

“He also had several bullet wounds in his legs,” a health ministry spokesman added.

Family friend Sabrin Abu Libdeh told an official at the Israeli home intelligence agency Al Jazeera that he later called the family to apologize, saying agents had no intention of killing the younger Fahd, accusing them of participating in “terrorist activities.”

“What good is their forgiveness now?” Asked Ahmed’s sister Roseann, her eyes watering with tears. “Will that return?”

“Palestinians killed”

Although the Israelis acknowledged the “mistake” in that particular incident, Shawan Jabareen, a human rights activist at Al-Haq in Ramallah, said Israeli security forces, especially covert units, were not killing the Palestinians continuously.

“We are currently investigating his death, but the killing is part of an Israeli policy deliberately carried out by secret units and ordinary troops known as Musta’ribe to assassinate Palestinians at close range,” Jabareen told Al Jazeera.

“Soldiers enter Ramallah almost every night from 02:00 to make arrests.

“In some cases, Shin Bet intelligence officials called the families of dead Palestinians and prevented them from firing and evacuating ambulances with serious injuries – accusing the youth of armed attacks on Israeli soldiers and settlers,” he said. “The account has now been resolved.”

“So clearly, they were acts of revenge,” he said.

Jabareen explained that his organization documented numerous cases of Israeli security forces killing Palestinians when they did not risk their lives.

“We presented statistics and documentation to various international organizations showing that 95% of deaths were unnecessary.”

The most Musta’ribe are the special forces known to the Israelis for their savagery, which are disguised as Arabs and operate in Palestinian societies. The commandos dress like Arabs, represent the customs and protocols of Arab culture, and speak Arabic well in the appropriate dialect.

‘Promoting the situation’

Middle East adviser Gary Spedding said Musta’ribeen’s activities “allow the Israeli military and border police to identify protesters who want to be arrested and detained.”

Israeli affairs expert Antoine Shalhat described Musta’ribeen’s main missions as “gathering intelligence and gathering anti-terrorist operations.”

These covert units have also taken part in an ongoing campaign to arrest Palestinians in northern Israel, following protests against the deaths in Gaza and the expulsion of Palestinians occupied in East Jerusalem.

The Israeli People’s Committee Against Torture (PCATI) said that “hidden agents had denounced the protest and encouraged the situation, attacking civilians very violently and making serious threats, especially against minors.”

“There have been some cases where undercover agents were unidentified when people, including minors, took to the streets, which made the arrests look like kidnappings,” PCATI said.

Since the new unit, which is specially covered for operations in Arab areas, has been set up, Yes, The Israeli Arab Minority Rights Center sent a letter to Israeli police officials and politicians saying that world democracy would not approve the creation of a police unit aimed at a specific ethnic group.

Israeli forces fire on Palestinian protesters near the Beit El Jewish settlement near the occupied West Bank in Ramallah [Abbas Momani/AFP]

‘Rules of legitimate commitment’

However, the killings of Palestinians almost daily continue unabated in the 28 incidents of arrests or arrests of at least 28 Palestinians killed in the West Bank in May alone in Israeli security forces.

And also the impunity of the Israeli security forces.

“As in most cases where security forces harmed Palestinians, none of those responsible has been charged,” said the rights group B’Tselem. he said in a report.

Citing some examples of the start of the second Intifada in late 2000, B’Tselem called for an investigation into 739 cases in which soldiers killed, wounded or beaten Palestinians, used them as human shields, or damaged Palestinian property.

The rights group said data from mid-2016 showed that in a quarter of cases the investigation was never launched, almost half of the probe was closed without further action, and allegations were made against soldiers indicted only in very rare cases.

B’Tselem said he would no longer bear any responsibility for “whitewashing” military investigations into cooperation.

Meanwhile, Israel’s human rights group Yesh Din pressures Israeli military to investigate Palestinian deaths in Gaza The Great March of the Return, when Palestinians protested the siege of the Israeli fence.

“Combining the rules of lawful commitment to firing on armed protesters and the law enforcement system that prevents effective effective investigation into the deaths of protesters is deadly,” Yesh Din said in one of his latest reports.

“The result is the abandonment of the misfortune and unnecessary loss of many lives, the irresponsibility of harming the innocent and the defenseless loss of life against the ghost of loss of life in Gaza.”