26 june 2014
The photo released of the pair
The Israeli military on Thursday officially identified Marwan al-Qawasmeh, 29, and Ammar Abu Eisha, 33, as the two main suspects in the kidnapping of three Israeli youths who went missing two weeks ago.
The military said in a statement that the pair, who they identified as "Hamas operatives," were behind the disappearance of the youths from the Gush Etzion settlement in the West Bank on June 13.
The military also said that the two, who are both from Hebron, were identified within 24 hours after the "kidnapping" but that they were still at large.
The military said their wives had been detained for questioning and their homes raided, adding that both of the men have previously served time in Israeli prison.
Qawasmeh was detained at the age of 18 and sentence to 10 months in jail, which he served, and was re-arrested four times in the years since, including for administrative detention.
In his last interrogation by Israeli forces in 2010, the military said, he admitted to having been "recruited to the Hamas' military arm in Hebron since 2009," and said he had undergone combat training in the Hebron area. He was then imprisoned until March 2012.
Eisha, meanwhile, was first arrested in Nov. 2005 and was held without trial or charge by Israeli forces until June 2006, the military said. He was re-arrested in April 2007 for a short period of time.
Eisha's brother was shot dead by Israeli forces in Nov. 2005 while ostensibly trying to "throw an explosive" at them, and his father had been arrested by Israel multiple times, the Israeli military added.
The disappearance of the three youths has set off the largest Israeli military deployment across the West Bank in more than a decade, and has led to the deaths of eight Palestinians in less than two weeks.
Israeli forces initially accused Hamas of the kidnapping, which it vigorously denied, and authorities vowed to "crush" the Palestinian political and militant group.
More than 120 Palestinians have been injured in the military operation, which Israel dubbed "Brother's Keeper," and more than 1,350 homes and offices, including numerous universities, have been raided.
The Palestinian Prisoner's Society said on Thursday that 566 Palestinians have been detained in the campaign, including 12 members of parliament.
The Israeli military on Thursday officially identified Marwan al-Qawasmeh, 29, and Ammar Abu Eisha, 33, as the two main suspects in the kidnapping of three Israeli youths who went missing two weeks ago.
The military said in a statement that the pair, who they identified as "Hamas operatives," were behind the disappearance of the youths from the Gush Etzion settlement in the West Bank on June 13.
The military also said that the two, who are both from Hebron, were identified within 24 hours after the "kidnapping" but that they were still at large.
The military said their wives had been detained for questioning and their homes raided, adding that both of the men have previously served time in Israeli prison.
Qawasmeh was detained at the age of 18 and sentence to 10 months in jail, which he served, and was re-arrested four times in the years since, including for administrative detention.
In his last interrogation by Israeli forces in 2010, the military said, he admitted to having been "recruited to the Hamas' military arm in Hebron since 2009," and said he had undergone combat training in the Hebron area. He was then imprisoned until March 2012.
Eisha, meanwhile, was first arrested in Nov. 2005 and was held without trial or charge by Israeli forces until June 2006, the military said. He was re-arrested in April 2007 for a short period of time.
Eisha's brother was shot dead by Israeli forces in Nov. 2005 while ostensibly trying to "throw an explosive" at them, and his father had been arrested by Israel multiple times, the Israeli military added.
The disappearance of the three youths has set off the largest Israeli military deployment across the West Bank in more than a decade, and has led to the deaths of eight Palestinians in less than two weeks.
Israeli forces initially accused Hamas of the kidnapping, which it vigorously denied, and authorities vowed to "crush" the Palestinian political and militant group.
More than 120 Palestinians have been injured in the military operation, which Israel dubbed "Brother's Keeper," and more than 1,350 homes and offices, including numerous universities, have been raided.
The Palestinian Prisoner's Society said on Thursday that 566 Palestinians have been detained in the campaign, including 12 members of parliament.
Further raids planned
At least 18 Israeli settlers, again led by Rabbi Yehuda Glick and guarded by Israeli police, have stormed al-Aqsa mosque through the Moroccans' gate.
Israeli forces arrested, this morning, Ziad Abu Rahal, a Palestinian student from Nazareth, as he attempted to prevent the settlers from storming the compound.
According to Al Ray, Director of Media in Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage, Mahmoud Abu Atta, said that Israeli forces tightened restrictions on worshiper and student access to the mosque and confiscated their IDs.
Israeli special police and rapid intervention forces deployed to the yards of al-Aqsa, where hundreds chanted "Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest)" in trying to prevent the storming of the mosque, Atta said.
Yesterday morning, Israeli forces attacked a woman and a child in the compound.
According to the PNN, an eyewitness said that the Israeli army assaulted one Meslah Naser Shhadeh and his teacher, Randa Abu- Sneineh, next to the mosque.
The two were transferred to a nearby hospital.
The previous day, four children, aged between 11 and 14, were abducted from the grounds after flying a kite comstructed with a plastic bag.
The PNN further reports that around 80 settlers raided the compound accompanied by Israeli police, one of the groups apparently coming from the Moqour Haeem School, where the three missing settlers attend classes.
In recent months, groups of Jewish Israeli settlers accompanied by Israeli forces, have repeatedly forced their way into the Al-Aqsa complex, often leading to violent confrontations.
The al-Aqsa organization has called on the international community to protect the mosque, as further raids are in the works.
The so-called "Temple Mount" group, led by Glick, has called for a general campaign against al-Aqsa as the month of Ramadan approaches for Muslim devotees.
At least 18 Israeli settlers, again led by Rabbi Yehuda Glick and guarded by Israeli police, have stormed al-Aqsa mosque through the Moroccans' gate.
Israeli forces arrested, this morning, Ziad Abu Rahal, a Palestinian student from Nazareth, as he attempted to prevent the settlers from storming the compound.
According to Al Ray, Director of Media in Al-Aqsa Foundation for Endowment and Heritage, Mahmoud Abu Atta, said that Israeli forces tightened restrictions on worshiper and student access to the mosque and confiscated their IDs.
Israeli special police and rapid intervention forces deployed to the yards of al-Aqsa, where hundreds chanted "Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest)" in trying to prevent the storming of the mosque, Atta said.
Yesterday morning, Israeli forces attacked a woman and a child in the compound.
According to the PNN, an eyewitness said that the Israeli army assaulted one Meslah Naser Shhadeh and his teacher, Randa Abu- Sneineh, next to the mosque.
The two were transferred to a nearby hospital.
The previous day, four children, aged between 11 and 14, were abducted from the grounds after flying a kite comstructed with a plastic bag.
The PNN further reports that around 80 settlers raided the compound accompanied by Israeli police, one of the groups apparently coming from the Moqour Haeem School, where the three missing settlers attend classes.
In recent months, groups of Jewish Israeli settlers accompanied by Israeli forces, have repeatedly forced their way into the Al-Aqsa complex, often leading to violent confrontations.
The al-Aqsa organization has called on the international community to protect the mosque, as further raids are in the works.
The so-called "Temple Mount" group, led by Glick, has called for a general campaign against al-Aqsa as the month of Ramadan approaches for Muslim devotees.
Israeli forces near a PA police station in Ramallah during a raid on Sunday
By Al-Shabaka
Al-Shabaka is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self-determination within the framework of international law.
This policy brief is authored by Mouin Rabbani, a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies and a Contributing Editor to the Middle East Report.
The disappearance of three Israeli youths in mid-June 2014 while hitchhiking home from a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has brought an already volatile situation to the boiling point.
At a time of growing Palestinian agitation on account of a mass hunger strike by prisoners and amidst Israeli legislative initiatives to authorize force-feeding them, the Israeli military has launched its largest offensive in the West Bank since the end of the 2000-2005 Palestinian uprising.
The Israeli government instantaneously blamed Hamas for the alleged abduction, yet almost two weeks on has yet to provide a shred of evidence to validate its assertions. It was a transparently political claim made well before the Israeli security forces were in a position to seriously examine the matter.
Similarly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas directly responsible for the fate of the missing Israeli youths, even though their last known position was in an area of the occupied West Bank under the sole and exclusive control of the Israeli military, and there is no evidence the youths were subsequently moved to an area under Palestinian Authority control -- areas where Israeli forces have in any case been operating without restriction for over a decade.
What is clear is that the search for the missing youths is at best a secondary objective of Israel’s current organized rampage throughout the West Bank. No one, for example, seriously believes that the missing youths would have been transported from Hebron to Jenin or Salfit in the far north of the West Bank.
The campaign's key aims, which Israeli leaders have hardly been coy about, are to deal a significant blow to Hamas in the West Bank, and more importantly to undermine the recent Palestinian reconciliation agreement to the point where it begins to unravel.
It additionally hopes to even further weaken Mahmoud Abbas so that he becomes more pliable, dependent and responsive to its demands when bilateral negotiations are resumed or Israel implements unilateral measures in the West Bank. The prospect of a renewed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip should also not be discounted.
Many have speculated that Israel is also seeking to provoke mass Palestinian unrest at a time when Palestinians remain fragmented and are insufficiently organized, and can be more easily beaten down. The Israeli campaign may also produce sustained protests against the Palestinian Authority, which to the growing anger of its constituents has maintained unconditional security coordination with Israel -- a relationship Abbas recently characterized as "sacred."
These developments are of course not transpiring in a vacuum. Israel is facing growing diplomatic isolation, and today even its closest allies are warning it of the consequences of its blatant violations of Palestinian rights and international law, and have all, at least implicitly, recognized the new Palestinian government without much talk of the sanctions that have accompanied previous reconciliation agreements.
From Israel's perspective, changing the narrative from colonialism to terrorism -- even as its soldiers have killed five Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy -- has obvious advantages.
For the Palestinian people at large, Israel's military crackdown poses one of the most serious challenges since the Hamas-Fatah schism of 2007. Palestinians within and without the occupied territories will be challenged to find ways to respond that strengthen their position rather than complicating it further.
First and foremost, they need to properly rebuild national institutions so that these develop into an inclusive, representative, and dynamic national liberation movement capable of formulating and implementing a coherent and effective strategy, both on the ground and around the world.
Secondly, Palestinians must pursue a serious strategy of internationalization that is based on attaining their inalienable rights, first and foremost the right to self-determination on the basis of the prevailing international consensus and international law. It is an approach incompatible with the Oslo process and therefore requires an irrevocable disengagement from it.
The challenges are huge but hardly insurmountable. Implemented properly, a dynamic Palestinian strategy can turn Israel’s continued depredations against the Palestinian people into an effective weapon against its extremist leaders, robbing the latter of the structural advantages they seek to derive from their colonial project and organized rampages such as we have seen in the past two weeks.
As always, the key objective should be to arrest and reverse Israel's impunity in its dealings with the Palestinian people and to replace this with effective and meaningful accountability.
Originally published on Al-Shabaka's website on June 26, 2014.
By Al-Shabaka
Al-Shabaka is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self-determination within the framework of international law.
This policy brief is authored by Mouin Rabbani, a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies and a Contributing Editor to the Middle East Report.
The disappearance of three Israeli youths in mid-June 2014 while hitchhiking home from a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has brought an already volatile situation to the boiling point.
At a time of growing Palestinian agitation on account of a mass hunger strike by prisoners and amidst Israeli legislative initiatives to authorize force-feeding them, the Israeli military has launched its largest offensive in the West Bank since the end of the 2000-2005 Palestinian uprising.
The Israeli government instantaneously blamed Hamas for the alleged abduction, yet almost two weeks on has yet to provide a shred of evidence to validate its assertions. It was a transparently political claim made well before the Israeli security forces were in a position to seriously examine the matter.
Similarly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas directly responsible for the fate of the missing Israeli youths, even though their last known position was in an area of the occupied West Bank under the sole and exclusive control of the Israeli military, and there is no evidence the youths were subsequently moved to an area under Palestinian Authority control -- areas where Israeli forces have in any case been operating without restriction for over a decade.
What is clear is that the search for the missing youths is at best a secondary objective of Israel’s current organized rampage throughout the West Bank. No one, for example, seriously believes that the missing youths would have been transported from Hebron to Jenin or Salfit in the far north of the West Bank.
The campaign's key aims, which Israeli leaders have hardly been coy about, are to deal a significant blow to Hamas in the West Bank, and more importantly to undermine the recent Palestinian reconciliation agreement to the point where it begins to unravel.
It additionally hopes to even further weaken Mahmoud Abbas so that he becomes more pliable, dependent and responsive to its demands when bilateral negotiations are resumed or Israel implements unilateral measures in the West Bank. The prospect of a renewed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip should also not be discounted.
Many have speculated that Israel is also seeking to provoke mass Palestinian unrest at a time when Palestinians remain fragmented and are insufficiently organized, and can be more easily beaten down. The Israeli campaign may also produce sustained protests against the Palestinian Authority, which to the growing anger of its constituents has maintained unconditional security coordination with Israel -- a relationship Abbas recently characterized as "sacred."
These developments are of course not transpiring in a vacuum. Israel is facing growing diplomatic isolation, and today even its closest allies are warning it of the consequences of its blatant violations of Palestinian rights and international law, and have all, at least implicitly, recognized the new Palestinian government without much talk of the sanctions that have accompanied previous reconciliation agreements.
From Israel's perspective, changing the narrative from colonialism to terrorism -- even as its soldiers have killed five Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy -- has obvious advantages.
For the Palestinian people at large, Israel's military crackdown poses one of the most serious challenges since the Hamas-Fatah schism of 2007. Palestinians within and without the occupied territories will be challenged to find ways to respond that strengthen their position rather than complicating it further.
First and foremost, they need to properly rebuild national institutions so that these develop into an inclusive, representative, and dynamic national liberation movement capable of formulating and implementing a coherent and effective strategy, both on the ground and around the world.
Secondly, Palestinians must pursue a serious strategy of internationalization that is based on attaining their inalienable rights, first and foremost the right to self-determination on the basis of the prevailing international consensus and international law. It is an approach incompatible with the Oslo process and therefore requires an irrevocable disengagement from it.
The challenges are huge but hardly insurmountable. Implemented properly, a dynamic Palestinian strategy can turn Israel’s continued depredations against the Palestinian people into an effective weapon against its extremist leaders, robbing the latter of the structural advantages they seek to derive from their colonial project and organized rampages such as we have seen in the past two weeks.
As always, the key objective should be to arrest and reverse Israel's impunity in its dealings with the Palestinian people and to replace this with effective and meaningful accountability.
Originally published on Al-Shabaka's website on June 26, 2014.
Amnesia, or even insanity, must lie behind Israel’s constantly repeated, but spectacularly ineffective, reliance on massive military force when its citizens are abducted.
People have short memories. It’s an all-too-human quality that frankly allows politics to continue. But even so, there are times when Israelis’ short-term memory loss can leave me breathless.
When three yeshiva students were kidnapped two weeks ago, the collective response was immediate, and visceral: Bring the boys home, and spare no effort, no matter how costly or violent. The nation’s security forces leapt into action, and Israelis’ prayers were mixed with palpable rage. Few worried that dozens and then hundreds of people – Palestinians -were being swept up in a massive and indiscriminate dragnet; few paused to consider the efficacy or ethics of raiding well more than a thousand targets, including private homes, universities, and media outlets; few questioned the wisdom of using live fire against those who dared protest it all, killing (among others) a 15-year old boy and a mentally unstable man on his way to morning prayers.
Military spokesman Peter Lerner told us, and few questioned it, that the government and military “are committed to resolving the kidnapping and debilitating Hamas terrorist capacities, its infrastructure and its recruiting institutions.”
And perhaps – perhaps – if these methods had successfully resolved past abductions, if the forces intent on grabbing Israelis had abated, perhaps we could at least understand the impetus, struggle as we might with the unending horror of this unending war. But the simple fact is that all of these methods, all of them, have been used time and again, and all have failed spectacularly.
I don’t ask that our memories be terribly long. Just 25 years, a single generation. Consider Nissim Toledano, Nahshon Waxman, Avi Sasportas, Ilan Saadon, Yaron Chen, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev, and ask yourself if massive, indiscriminate Israeli reaction to the capture of those men helped them in any way. For that matter, consider Gilad Shalit. He did come home, thank God, but it wasn’t because of wars, or raids, or crackdowns. It was because of a prisoner swap that tore the Israeli people apart.
Contrary to the heartbreaking list above, neither Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, nor Naftali Frenkel were wearing an IDF uniform when they were taken, so their capture was (if anything) even worse – a war crime, in fact, because targeting noncombatants is a war crime, even if those doing the targeting suffer the consequences of a political ideology that undergirds the noncombatants’ living arrangements. That the three were hitchhiking in occupied territory does not change their noncombatant status.
Yet the fact that they remain missing points to another fact that hasn’t changed: Israel has never managed to demolish, destroy, or debilitate the capacities, infrastructure or recruiting of anyone. These massive operations, down to and including those campaigns that were as good as wars (eg: 2006’s Operation Summer Rains) or were, in fact, actual wars (Lebanon 2006, Gaza 2009, Gaza 2012) may have killed hundreds and hundreds of people, decimated the infrastructure of whole communities, even disrupted the operations of Hezbollah, Hamas, et al, for a time – but I think we all know the answer as to whether any of these groups have ever been “debilitated.”
It’s always the same blistering bluster, the same ferocious promises, rinse and repeat, as if we’ve never heard any of it before. I’ve been reporting on the Israeli government’s insistence that it was about to deliver a death blow to Hamas since 1994, and here we are. Again. Twenty years later.
All of this is, to put it mildly, the very definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. I do not know, we do not know, no one inside or outside of Israel knows, what would happen if Israel tried something fundamentally different, but we do know what happens every time Israel does this: It looks just like every other time Israel did it.
I cannot even begin to imagine what the families of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, and Naftali Frenkel are going through right now, and I fervently hope that each young man is returned safely and soon to those who love them.
But there is a larger question at stake, one that encompasses every Israeli: How is the country to go forward? Successive Israeli governments have proven – again and again and again – that they are incapable of militarily eliminating the threat posed by forces hostile to Israel’s citizens. Will the country’s leaders begin to ask different questions, and seek different answers?
Or will they simply bank on the fact that the people they serve are likely to forget their incompetence, once more time?
Emily L. Hauser is an American-Israeli writer currently living in Chicago. She has studied and reported on the contemporary Middle East since the early 1990s for a variety of outlets, including The Chicago Tribune and The Daily Beast. Follow her on Twitter: @emilylhauser
People have short memories. It’s an all-too-human quality that frankly allows politics to continue. But even so, there are times when Israelis’ short-term memory loss can leave me breathless.
When three yeshiva students were kidnapped two weeks ago, the collective response was immediate, and visceral: Bring the boys home, and spare no effort, no matter how costly or violent. The nation’s security forces leapt into action, and Israelis’ prayers were mixed with palpable rage. Few worried that dozens and then hundreds of people – Palestinians -were being swept up in a massive and indiscriminate dragnet; few paused to consider the efficacy or ethics of raiding well more than a thousand targets, including private homes, universities, and media outlets; few questioned the wisdom of using live fire against those who dared protest it all, killing (among others) a 15-year old boy and a mentally unstable man on his way to morning prayers.
Military spokesman Peter Lerner told us, and few questioned it, that the government and military “are committed to resolving the kidnapping and debilitating Hamas terrorist capacities, its infrastructure and its recruiting institutions.”
And perhaps – perhaps – if these methods had successfully resolved past abductions, if the forces intent on grabbing Israelis had abated, perhaps we could at least understand the impetus, struggle as we might with the unending horror of this unending war. But the simple fact is that all of these methods, all of them, have been used time and again, and all have failed spectacularly.
I don’t ask that our memories be terribly long. Just 25 years, a single generation. Consider Nissim Toledano, Nahshon Waxman, Avi Sasportas, Ilan Saadon, Yaron Chen, Ehud Goldwasser, and Eldad Regev, and ask yourself if massive, indiscriminate Israeli reaction to the capture of those men helped them in any way. For that matter, consider Gilad Shalit. He did come home, thank God, but it wasn’t because of wars, or raids, or crackdowns. It was because of a prisoner swap that tore the Israeli people apart.
Contrary to the heartbreaking list above, neither Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, nor Naftali Frenkel were wearing an IDF uniform when they were taken, so their capture was (if anything) even worse – a war crime, in fact, because targeting noncombatants is a war crime, even if those doing the targeting suffer the consequences of a political ideology that undergirds the noncombatants’ living arrangements. That the three were hitchhiking in occupied territory does not change their noncombatant status.
Yet the fact that they remain missing points to another fact that hasn’t changed: Israel has never managed to demolish, destroy, or debilitate the capacities, infrastructure or recruiting of anyone. These massive operations, down to and including those campaigns that were as good as wars (eg: 2006’s Operation Summer Rains) or were, in fact, actual wars (Lebanon 2006, Gaza 2009, Gaza 2012) may have killed hundreds and hundreds of people, decimated the infrastructure of whole communities, even disrupted the operations of Hezbollah, Hamas, et al, for a time – but I think we all know the answer as to whether any of these groups have ever been “debilitated.”
It’s always the same blistering bluster, the same ferocious promises, rinse and repeat, as if we’ve never heard any of it before. I’ve been reporting on the Israeli government’s insistence that it was about to deliver a death blow to Hamas since 1994, and here we are. Again. Twenty years later.
All of this is, to put it mildly, the very definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. I do not know, we do not know, no one inside or outside of Israel knows, what would happen if Israel tried something fundamentally different, but we do know what happens every time Israel does this: It looks just like every other time Israel did it.
I cannot even begin to imagine what the families of Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, and Naftali Frenkel are going through right now, and I fervently hope that each young man is returned safely and soon to those who love them.
But there is a larger question at stake, one that encompasses every Israeli: How is the country to go forward? Successive Israeli governments have proven – again and again and again – that they are incapable of militarily eliminating the threat posed by forces hostile to Israel’s citizens. Will the country’s leaders begin to ask different questions, and seek different answers?
Or will they simply bank on the fact that the people they serve are likely to forget their incompetence, once more time?
Emily L. Hauser is an American-Israeli writer currently living in Chicago. She has studied and reported on the contemporary Middle East since the early 1990s for a variety of outlets, including The Chicago Tribune and The Daily Beast. Follow her on Twitter: @emilylhauser
From top: Eyal Yifrah, Naftali Fraenkel and Gilad Shaar. Center: The car thought to be used in the kidnapping.
Investigation finds police returned abducted teen's SOS call eight times, but didn't check his identity.
Operators at the Judea and Samaria police station tried eight times to return the call of one of the abducted teens who phoned late at night on June 12 and said he had been kidnapped, but they did not look into his identity.
These preliminary conclusions were submitted on Thursday by a team that is investigating the conduct of the police operators on the night the three teenagers were abducted from a West Bank hitchhiking station.
Several committee members ruled that the career policewoman whose job was to decide whether the call was a hoax or an alarm that required attention was derelict in her duties.
The police recording shows clearly that the call was first answered by a police operator who thought it sounded suspicious, and transferred it to the more veteran policewoman, who tried unsuccessfully to re-establish contact with the caller.
Eight attempts were made to re-dial that number, which belonged to one of the kidnapped boys, but none were answered. The investigation showed that the police did not try to establish who the phone belonged to, as is the normal procedure when there is a suspicion of foul play. The committee believes that the public should be allowed to hear the first part of the recording, in which the operator’s response and the words “I’ve been kidnapped” are clearly heard.
The committee will continue to investigate the conduct of other policemen who were on duty at the time. It will examine if there was some supervision of the station’s call center, if lessons were learned from earlier events in which the system had failed, and whether all staff at that station had undergone the required training before being placed there. The committee consists of six police officers, headed by Brig. Moshe Barkat, unit head at the police’s Operations Branch.
The call from the abducted teen came at 22:25 on Thursday night, two weeks ago. However, relevant military authorities were only informed of the incident at 4 A.M., after the parents of one of the teens showed up at a police station to report him missing.
The police have changed their version of that phone call twice. First they said it was short and garbled, making it impossible to understand. They later claimed that the reported kidnapping could only be deciphered by an expert who listened to a subsequent playback.
At 3 A.M., the parents of one of the teens showed up at the police station to report him missing. They said that another friend who was with their son had disconnected his phone as well, indicating a possible abduction. The first hours between this call and the time the army started investigating the case were the most critical.
Investigation finds police returned abducted teen's SOS call eight times, but didn't check his identity.
Operators at the Judea and Samaria police station tried eight times to return the call of one of the abducted teens who phoned late at night on June 12 and said he had been kidnapped, but they did not look into his identity.
These preliminary conclusions were submitted on Thursday by a team that is investigating the conduct of the police operators on the night the three teenagers were abducted from a West Bank hitchhiking station.
Several committee members ruled that the career policewoman whose job was to decide whether the call was a hoax or an alarm that required attention was derelict in her duties.
The police recording shows clearly that the call was first answered by a police operator who thought it sounded suspicious, and transferred it to the more veteran policewoman, who tried unsuccessfully to re-establish contact with the caller.
Eight attempts were made to re-dial that number, which belonged to one of the kidnapped boys, but none were answered. The investigation showed that the police did not try to establish who the phone belonged to, as is the normal procedure when there is a suspicion of foul play. The committee believes that the public should be allowed to hear the first part of the recording, in which the operator’s response and the words “I’ve been kidnapped” are clearly heard.
The committee will continue to investigate the conduct of other policemen who were on duty at the time. It will examine if there was some supervision of the station’s call center, if lessons were learned from earlier events in which the system had failed, and whether all staff at that station had undergone the required training before being placed there. The committee consists of six police officers, headed by Brig. Moshe Barkat, unit head at the police’s Operations Branch.
The call from the abducted teen came at 22:25 on Thursday night, two weeks ago. However, relevant military authorities were only informed of the incident at 4 A.M., after the parents of one of the teens showed up at a police station to report him missing.
The police have changed their version of that phone call twice. First they said it was short and garbled, making it impossible to understand. They later claimed that the reported kidnapping could only be deciphered by an expert who listened to a subsequent playback.
At 3 A.M., the parents of one of the teens showed up at the police station to report him missing. They said that another friend who was with their son had disconnected his phone as well, indicating a possible abduction. The first hours between this call and the time the army started investigating the case were the most critical.
Chief of staff of the Israeli occupation army Benny Gantz said the army and its intelligence have yet to find any information leading to the kidnapped Israelis.
Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday morning quoted Gantz as saying the Israeli army might reconsider the sanctions imposed currently against Palestinian civilians.
He added that the army has approved a decision for the demolition of Ziyad Awad’s home in Idna village in retaliation for the alleged murder of an Israeli intelligence officer.
The Israeli occupation army is also thinking over issuing bans and restrictions on the entry of Palestinians to the 1948 occupied Palestine during the holy month of Ramadan, Gantz further declared lamenting the difficulties lying ahead of the Israeli attempts to rally international support around the issue of the missing Israelis.
He confirmed that the search for the missing teenagers are ongoing but with the passing of time fear grows over the lives of the hostages, who are most probably alive in Gantz’s view.
Gantz said the area is large and there is enough room for camouflage and concealment, but the Israeli army works day and night to get to the kidnappers.
Yedioth Ahronoth on Wednesday morning quoted Gantz as saying the Israeli army might reconsider the sanctions imposed currently against Palestinian civilians.
He added that the army has approved a decision for the demolition of Ziyad Awad’s home in Idna village in retaliation for the alleged murder of an Israeli intelligence officer.
The Israeli occupation army is also thinking over issuing bans and restrictions on the entry of Palestinians to the 1948 occupied Palestine during the holy month of Ramadan, Gantz further declared lamenting the difficulties lying ahead of the Israeli attempts to rally international support around the issue of the missing Israelis.
He confirmed that the search for the missing teenagers are ongoing but with the passing of time fear grows over the lives of the hostages, who are most probably alive in Gantz’s view.
Gantz said the area is large and there is enough room for camouflage and concealment, but the Israeli army works day and night to get to the kidnappers.
Dozens of Israeli soldiers and police officers invaded, late on Wednesday at night, various Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem, and clashed with dozens of local youths, causing dozens of injuries. An elderly man was kidnapped in the al-Aqsa Mosque, Thursday.
Local sources said the soldiers and police invaded various Arab neighborhoods in the occupied holy city, an issue that led to violent clashes between them and dozens of local youths. Medical sources reported several injuries among the Palestinians.
The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that dozens of soldiers invaded Sur Baher town, south of Jerusalem, and initiated one of the largest home invasions and searches, causing excessive property damage.
Soldiers also invaded the as-Suwwana neighborhood, and kidnapped one Palestinian identified as Mohammad Shehab, before taking him to an interrogation facility in the city.
Medical sources have reported that dozens of Palestinians received treatment for the effects of teargas inhalation, while several residents have been shot, and injured, by rubber-coated metal bullets.
In the Old City, clashes took place between dozens of invading soldiers and local youths, in the al-Wad street, leading to the al-Aqsa Mosque.
The clashes led to dozens of injuries among the Palestinians, and the army stormed and ransacked several homes.
Late on Wednesday at night, soldiers invaded Bab Hatta neighborhood, adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City, and clashed with local youths.
Clashes also took place near the northern entrance of the ar-Ram town, north of Jerusalem, and the soldiers fired firebombs, gas bombs, concussion grenades, and rubber-coated metal bullets.
Furthermore, eyewitnesses said an Israeli military bulldozer, and various jeeps, invaded Shu’fat town, in Jerusalem, raising fear that the army intends to demolish the Ribat Mosque that is still under construction, WAFA said.
On Thursday morning, soldiers kidnapped an elderly Palestinian man from one of the yards of the al-Aqsa Mosque, and took him to an interrogation facility in the city.
The man was kidnapped after a number of Palestinians stopped a several Israeli extremists, storming the yards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Local sources said the soldiers and police invaded various Arab neighborhoods in the occupied holy city, an issue that led to violent clashes between them and dozens of local youths. Medical sources reported several injuries among the Palestinians.
The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) has reported that dozens of soldiers invaded Sur Baher town, south of Jerusalem, and initiated one of the largest home invasions and searches, causing excessive property damage.
Soldiers also invaded the as-Suwwana neighborhood, and kidnapped one Palestinian identified as Mohammad Shehab, before taking him to an interrogation facility in the city.
Medical sources have reported that dozens of Palestinians received treatment for the effects of teargas inhalation, while several residents have been shot, and injured, by rubber-coated metal bullets.
In the Old City, clashes took place between dozens of invading soldiers and local youths, in the al-Wad street, leading to the al-Aqsa Mosque.
The clashes led to dozens of injuries among the Palestinians, and the army stormed and ransacked several homes.
Late on Wednesday at night, soldiers invaded Bab Hatta neighborhood, adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City, and clashed with local youths.
Clashes also took place near the northern entrance of the ar-Ram town, north of Jerusalem, and the soldiers fired firebombs, gas bombs, concussion grenades, and rubber-coated metal bullets.
Furthermore, eyewitnesses said an Israeli military bulldozer, and various jeeps, invaded Shu’fat town, in Jerusalem, raising fear that the army intends to demolish the Ribat Mosque that is still under construction, WAFA said.
On Thursday morning, soldiers kidnapped an elderly Palestinian man from one of the yards of the al-Aqsa Mosque, and took him to an interrogation facility in the city.
The man was kidnapped after a number of Palestinians stopped a several Israeli extremists, storming the yards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
25 june 2014
Israeli troops patrol the area between the West Bank village of Halhul and the adjacent city of Hebron, on June 24, 2014 as they search for three Israeli teenagers who went missing in the West Bank
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday for condemning the alleged kidnapping of three teenagers, but criticized the Gaza-West Bank government the PLO agreed upon with Hamas.
Netanyahu spoke as Israel began to wind down a huge crackdown on the Islamist movement, having arrested hundreds in an operation to find the youngsters who went missing in the southern West Bank nearly two weeks ago.
Israel was coming under increasing international pressure to use restraint in its manhunt, after Israeli raids across the West Bank killed four Palestinians.
"I appreciate what president Abbas said a few days ago in Saudi Arabia, rejecting the kidnapping," Netanyahu told his Romanian counterpart Victor Ponta at a meeting in Jerusalem.
"I think these were important words," he said.
Abbas condemned the alleged kidnapping, telling a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that "those who kidnapped the three teenagers want to destroy us."
"We will hold them accountable," he said, but did not blame Hamas.
US Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Abbas for his "courageous stand in support of efforts to find the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers" in telephone talks, a senior State Department official said.
Kerry also "emphasized the need for restraint from all sides during this difficult time," the official added.
Blame game
Israel immediately accused its Islamist foe of kidnapping the youngsters, who went missing on June 12 at a hitchhiking spot near the city of Hebron.
Hamas has denied that it kidnapped the teens, and Israel has provided no evidence for its involvement.
Israel has used that as a pretext to uproot the Islamist movement's West Bank network, arresting 354 Palestinians, 269 of them Hamas members, according to the army.
But the Palestinian Prisoners' Society puts the number of detained at over 500.
Israeli forces have also killed five Palestinians and injured dozens throughout their West Bank operation, largely considered the most extensive deployment since the Second Intifada.
Abbas, meanwhile, has pledged to continue security coordination with Israel, which he said was in Palestinians' "best interest" since it would "help protect us."
Israel seized on the opportunity presented by the operation to try to rupture a reconciliation agreement between Abbas and Hamas, under which the two sides formed a merged administration for the West Bank and Gaza earlier this month for the first time in seven years.
In remarks aired Tuesday, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal told Al-Jazeera television that "we do not have information about what happened," but stressed his support for "every resistance attack against the Israeli occupation."
'No alliance with kidnappers'
Afterwards, Netanyahu reiterated that if "Abbas really means what he said about the kidnapping, and if he is truly committed to peace and to fighting terrorism, then logic and common sense mandate that he break his pact with Hamas."
"There can be no alliance with the kidnappers of children," he said.
Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said Israel was beginning to wind down its arrest operation, which has cost the lives of four Palestinians and sparked public anger in the West Bank.
"The operation by the Israeli army against Hamas has been mostly completed," he told public radio, adding that the number of wanted Palestinians still at large had greatly diminished as "dozens and dozens" were now in custody.
Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair said Tuesday he was "deeply troubled by the ongoing events" and Palestinian deaths.
"Israel must act with restraint when operating in populated Palestinian areas –- including Gaza –- and ensure that civilians are not harmed," he said in a statement, calling for a limit on restrictions on movement and access in the West Bank.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned the alleged kidnappings, but implored Israel to "respect international law... and use proportional force" in its arrests.
Palestinian lawyer Hiba Masalha slammed Israel's ultimatum against kidnapping as hypocritical on Tuesday, noting that the number of Palestinian children in Israeli jails had surpassed 250 in the wake of the arrest campaign.
"Detaining Palestinian children from their houses in the middle of the night without informing their parents and families of the reasons for their detention is kidnapping," Masalha said.
Tensions have risen among Palestinians over the death toll from the Israeli operation, particularly as it comes ahead of next week's start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
A former top army commander, Israel Ziv, said it was in Israel's interest to focus the operation on intelligence gathering rather than physical intimidation.
"There are casualties, and definitely we have to reconsider when is the right timing to change this mode of operation and to move towards what is more effective, which is ... intelligence or psychological warfare," he said.
Israeli forces had withdrawn from the center of Hebron, where they had been concentrating their operation, but were still blocking off roads around the city and were stationed in large numbers a short distance outside, security sources told AFP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday for condemning the alleged kidnapping of three teenagers, but criticized the Gaza-West Bank government the PLO agreed upon with Hamas.
Netanyahu spoke as Israel began to wind down a huge crackdown on the Islamist movement, having arrested hundreds in an operation to find the youngsters who went missing in the southern West Bank nearly two weeks ago.
Israel was coming under increasing international pressure to use restraint in its manhunt, after Israeli raids across the West Bank killed four Palestinians.
"I appreciate what president Abbas said a few days ago in Saudi Arabia, rejecting the kidnapping," Netanyahu told his Romanian counterpart Victor Ponta at a meeting in Jerusalem.
"I think these were important words," he said.
Abbas condemned the alleged kidnapping, telling a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that "those who kidnapped the three teenagers want to destroy us."
"We will hold them accountable," he said, but did not blame Hamas.
US Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Abbas for his "courageous stand in support of efforts to find the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers" in telephone talks, a senior State Department official said.
Kerry also "emphasized the need for restraint from all sides during this difficult time," the official added.
Blame game
Israel immediately accused its Islamist foe of kidnapping the youngsters, who went missing on June 12 at a hitchhiking spot near the city of Hebron.
Hamas has denied that it kidnapped the teens, and Israel has provided no evidence for its involvement.
Israel has used that as a pretext to uproot the Islamist movement's West Bank network, arresting 354 Palestinians, 269 of them Hamas members, according to the army.
But the Palestinian Prisoners' Society puts the number of detained at over 500.
Israeli forces have also killed five Palestinians and injured dozens throughout their West Bank operation, largely considered the most extensive deployment since the Second Intifada.
Abbas, meanwhile, has pledged to continue security coordination with Israel, which he said was in Palestinians' "best interest" since it would "help protect us."
Israel seized on the opportunity presented by the operation to try to rupture a reconciliation agreement between Abbas and Hamas, under which the two sides formed a merged administration for the West Bank and Gaza earlier this month for the first time in seven years.
In remarks aired Tuesday, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal told Al-Jazeera television that "we do not have information about what happened," but stressed his support for "every resistance attack against the Israeli occupation."
'No alliance with kidnappers'
Afterwards, Netanyahu reiterated that if "Abbas really means what he said about the kidnapping, and if he is truly committed to peace and to fighting terrorism, then logic and common sense mandate that he break his pact with Hamas."
"There can be no alliance with the kidnappers of children," he said.
Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said Israel was beginning to wind down its arrest operation, which has cost the lives of four Palestinians and sparked public anger in the West Bank.
"The operation by the Israeli army against Hamas has been mostly completed," he told public radio, adding that the number of wanted Palestinians still at large had greatly diminished as "dozens and dozens" were now in custody.
Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair said Tuesday he was "deeply troubled by the ongoing events" and Palestinian deaths.
"Israel must act with restraint when operating in populated Palestinian areas –- including Gaza –- and ensure that civilians are not harmed," he said in a statement, calling for a limit on restrictions on movement and access in the West Bank.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned the alleged kidnappings, but implored Israel to "respect international law... and use proportional force" in its arrests.
Palestinian lawyer Hiba Masalha slammed Israel's ultimatum against kidnapping as hypocritical on Tuesday, noting that the number of Palestinian children in Israeli jails had surpassed 250 in the wake of the arrest campaign.
"Detaining Palestinian children from their houses in the middle of the night without informing their parents and families of the reasons for their detention is kidnapping," Masalha said.
Tensions have risen among Palestinians over the death toll from the Israeli operation, particularly as it comes ahead of next week's start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
A former top army commander, Israel Ziv, said it was in Israel's interest to focus the operation on intelligence gathering rather than physical intimidation.
"There are casualties, and definitely we have to reconsider when is the right timing to change this mode of operation and to move towards what is more effective, which is ... intelligence or psychological warfare," he said.
Israeli forces had withdrawn from the center of Hebron, where they had been concentrating their operation, but were still blocking off roads around the city and were stationed in large numbers a short distance outside, security sources told AFP.
Israeli Defense Minister, Moshe Ya’alon, stated that the ongoing search for the three missing Israelis is heading in the right direction, and that locating the three Israelis, and their “kidnappers”, in only a matter of time.
Ya’alon stated the search has proven to be positively advancing, and that the search and arrests, managed to achieve some major goals, the Israeli Radio has reported.
His statements came as he visited an Israeli army post, close to the border with Lebanon.
He said the number of arrests against Hamas members and supporters in the West Bank has been reduced “not due to orders from the political leadership, but because the operation against Hamas managed to achieve significant progress”.
Ya’alon added that Israel would continue its military offensives as long as it is takes, and as long as it requires to locate the missing Israelis.
On Monday, The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported that Israeli soldiers have kidnapped 529 Palestinians, during daily invasions and assaults, since three Israeli settlers went missing nearly two weeks ago.
Many children have been kidnapped during the ongoing offensive, as the army invaded and searched hundreds of homes in different parts of the occupied West Bank.
Ya’alon stated the search has proven to be positively advancing, and that the search and arrests, managed to achieve some major goals, the Israeli Radio has reported.
His statements came as he visited an Israeli army post, close to the border with Lebanon.
He said the number of arrests against Hamas members and supporters in the West Bank has been reduced “not due to orders from the political leadership, but because the operation against Hamas managed to achieve significant progress”.
Ya’alon added that Israel would continue its military offensives as long as it is takes, and as long as it requires to locate the missing Israelis.
On Monday, The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has reported that Israeli soldiers have kidnapped 529 Palestinians, during daily invasions and assaults, since three Israeli settlers went missing nearly two weeks ago.
Many children have been kidnapped during the ongoing offensive, as the army invaded and searched hundreds of homes in different parts of the occupied West Bank.