Troops may have set W. Bank cars alight

The military police this week opened an investigation into officers from the Givati reconnaisance unit following an incident in which soldiers allegedly attempted to set fire to cars owned by Palestinian civilians in the Hebron Hills.

The new commander of the army's West Bank division, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, suspended a deputy company commander and the team commander on suspicion that, during two separate incidents at the beginning of last week, soldiers under their command attempted to torch vehicles used to transport Palestinian workers seeking to enter Israeli territory illegally. The allegations were based on evidence collected by a researcher for B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights group which works in the West Bank.

In another case, the tribunal of the IDF's Northern Command extended the detention of a soldier after he was indicted for the assault of a Palestinian, who is secretary of a committee in Bil'in that opposes the separation fence.