Last update - 00:00 22/03/2007
Border Policemen filmed beating Palestinian youth to face probe
By Haaretz Staff
The Police Investigations Department at the Justice Ministry (PID) is investigating an incident documented on film in which Border Policemen beat a Palestinian youth in the village of Hawara, south of the West Bank city of Nablus.
The video, aired Thursday on the Ynet Web site, shows only part of the incident, in which two Border Policemen are seen assaulting the boy with kicks and punches. There is no indication that the youth had provoked the assualt in any way.
The youth, Hindawi Kawarik, said on Wednesday that the policemen detained him as he was leaving school on suspicion of hurling rocks. According to the youth, the officers beat him with their rifles and abused him, threw him to the floor and kept beating him.
Another policeman who was at the scene tried to persuade his comrades to stop, but to no avail.
The teenager said also that one of the officers tore some of the schoolbooks he was carrying in his bag.
PID said that the Border Policemen would be called in for questioning in the coming days.
Border Police chief, Major General Hussein Fares, said he considers the policemen's actions to be very serious.