New `outstretched arm' to replace IDF's human shields

The Israel Defense Forces has recently developed a new procedure for arresting suspects in the territories. It will replace the human shield procedure, also known as "early warning," under which the IDF used a neighbor to warn a suspect. This method was recently forbidden by the High Court of Justice.

The new policy is known as the "outstretched arm," and allows the IDF to ask Palestinians to assist in mediating between soldiers and the wanted men - but only in very limited situations.

The IDF may ask a wanted man's parents to persuade him to turn himself in - but via megaphone, and only once they have left the residence.

The first clause of the new procedure states that use of the human-shield policy and the modified early warning procedure is forbidden.

Under the early warning procedure, Palestinians were used when the army believed this could help it avoid causing even greater damage; it was also banned by the court last month.

Under the new procedure, no civilian may be asked to enter a building where wanted men are thought to barricaded, even if the civilian consents, the IDF told its commanders.

Instead, when a force surrounds a building where wanted men are believed to be holed up, it may speak with civilians inside who open a door or window. The commander must call to them to come out of the building and to check that all their family members have left. A civilian who asks to leave immediately must be allowed to do so.

In the event that a wanted man is inside the building, he will be called to exit unarmed and with his hands up.

The practice can be used only in the initial stage of an arrest, when there are civilians inside the same building as the wanted armed gunmen.

The new procedure was formulated by the IDF Operations Directorate, and troops in the West Bank have already been instructed to follow it.

Units that detain suspects have already used the new procedure at least twice in the past few weeks.

IDF sources said that the changes were not just "semantics" and that commanders would not force civilians to remain in a besieged building so as to use them to pressure the wanted man to surrender.

The new procedure stresses that there is a total ban on sending neighbors into a building where they do not live or compelling people who have left a building to reenter in order to mediate between soldiers and wanted men.

IDF commanders criticized the High Court's ban on the "human shield" practice at the time of the ruling.

The defense establishment plans to appeal the decision, and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has already said that he will appear before the judges in an attempt to persuade them of the security necessity involved.