JERUSALEM (AP) -- The young Palestinian man was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt on a cold winter morning as he walked in front of heavily armed Israeli soldiers on a door-to-door sweep of three apartments in a crowded West Bank neighborhood.
The scene - caught by an Associated Press Television News camera - has raised questions about whether the Israeli army is still using Palestinian civilians during military operations, despite a Supreme Court order barring the practice.
Human rights groups call the tactic a violation of local and international law that places innocent civilians in the line of fire.
In its initial reaction to the footage, the Israel Defense Forces said there appeared to be no wrongdoing by its soldiers. In a statement, however, the army pledged it would "pursue a thorough inquiry" into the case.
The incident occurred Sunday in Nablus, where the army has been conducting broad arrest raids throughout the week. The army says most suicide bombings over the past year, including an attempted attack last week, have originated in the Nablus area.
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In August 2002, a 19-year-old Palestinian student, Nidal Daraghmeh, was killed in such an incident in the West Bank town of Tubas. At the time, troops called Daraghmeh out of his house and forced him to knock at the door of a neighboring building where a senior Hamas fugitive was hiding. Gunfire erupted and Daraghmeh was killed.
The Hamas fugitive later died in a shootout with soldiers.
After the AP footage of the Nablus incident was broadcast on Israeli TV earlier this week, B'Tselem, a leading human rights group, sent a letter to the army requesting an investigation.
"As you know, no doubt, the Supreme Court has prohibited any use of human shields in any possible form," the letter said, adding that it was the fourth time the rights group has complained to the army about the practice.
Jessica Montell, B'Tselem's executive director, said "the video raises serious concerns that the army is violating the high court judgment and forcing a Palestinian to ... illegally take part in the military's operations."
She added, however, that known violations have been rare since the 2005 court order.
While the army declined to comment on the video beyond its statement, a military official said the army has carefully obeyed the Supreme Court ruling and would launch a criminal investigation into suspected violations. The official, who was not allowed to be identified under military rules, said he had not seen the video.
Yaacov Amidror, a retired general who is a security specialist at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said the use of civilians in arrest raids remains the best way to protect soldiers and innocent people.
"The procedure is the most moral and logical thing in the world," he said. The court's ban, he said, "seems liberal, but is in fact a bad decision for the residents of the house and for other civilians nearby."
Addressing the issue of Amira being taken to his own home by the soldiers, Sarit Michaeli, spokeswoman for B'Tselem, said the issue is "danger to the civilian," not which apartment he is sent to by soldiers, even his own.
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Associated Press writer Ali Daraghmeh in Nablus contributed to this report.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://news.lycos.com/dynamic/stories/I/ISRAEL_NABLUS_RAID?SITE=LYCOS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Israel has the 2nd scariest army in the world, still IDF has to use human shield, chicken or brave?