The Israeli army announced that its soldiers in the Jordan Valley had bypassed several instructions when they blindfolded Palestinian detainees.
According to Haaretz, the confession came after 33 Israeli left-wing activists filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court last May against the soldiers´ blindfold to the eyes of Palestinian detainees, especially with repeated incidents in the Jordan Valley, particularly against sheep and farmers.
The petition includes a list of 25 cases in which shepherds and Palestinian farmers were detained by soldiers, and these incidents occurred over two and a half years.
The petition shows that the majority of these arrests were false allegations and only intended to punish. Activists, some of whom accompanied the shepherds, were detained in some cases, and unlike the Palestinians were not blindfolded, suggesting clear discrimination.
The petition shows several cases that were intended to punish or mistreat Palestinian shepherds. A medical opinion was submitted with the petition showing the risks of ophthalmic nerve medically and psychologically.
The activists´ lawyers said they had contacted the IDF several times to investigate these cases, but received no response.
In March 2018, a senior officer issued a confidential document in which he wanted to know how that information reached the activists. In October of the same year, the activists asked for an explanation, but one of the soldiers in the Jericho Liaison and Coordination Department said that the shepherds were being held in punishment and deterrence in accordance with the district commander´s policy to learn not to return to grazing.
The army representative claimed that the soldier who said that "novice and not an actual recruiter, and that what he said does not reflect the principles and political special of the army."
He said these pastoralists were entering restricted areas. He pointed out that the procedures that prohibit ophthalmic nerve will be standardized, and that the instructions are updated from time to time in a very confidential manner, and that it explicitly states that the soldier is not authorized to detain anyone as a punitive or educational step, but the right to detain the person in order to obtain information in case of suspicion of its intention to commit a "crime" or has information about the "crime" may Tqa.ovq newspaper Jerusalem
The IDF admits that its soldiers violated the instructions
