Israeli soldiers stand trial for misconduct in Gaza war
AFP / AFP
25-Mar-2010

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Two Israeli soldiers went on trial in a military
court on Wednesday, accused of using a nine-year-old Palestinian boy to
check for booby-traps during last year's war in Gaza, army radio
reported.

The two, both staff sergeants in the Givati infantry brigade, are
charged with acting "in breach of military norms" for forcing the child
at gunpoint to open bags they believed might be rigged with explosives.

The child, identified as Majd R., said he feared for his life.

"I thought they would kill me. I became very scared and wet my pants,"
he said in an affidavit to Geneva-based children's group, Defence for
Children International.

"There were two bags in front of me," the boy said. "I grabbed the first
one as he stood one and a half metres (yards) away. I opened the bag as
he pointed his weapon directly at me. I emptied the bag on the floor.
It contained money and papers. I looked at him and he was laughing."

One defendant said in an army radio interview that he felt he and his
comrade were being made scapegoats in the face of international
criticism of Israel's offensive, in which about 1,400 Palestinians were
killed, among them 400 minors.

"They were looking for someone to blame in front of the entire world,"
the soldier said. "Sadly it was people who really didn't... >>>

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