18 June '09: Soldiers arrested on suspicion of abuse at Ein Gedi checkpoint

Late in the evening of 28 May ‘09, several Palestinian youths traveled to the Dead Sea for a night out. According to testimonies given by three of them, soldiers saw them park their car near the 'Ein Gedi checkpoint and forced them to enter the checkpoint.

They complied, and then soldiers beat two of them, ‘Ata ‘Ariqat and Ramzi Salah, and tied one to an electricity pole and the other to a signpost. Later, according to the testimonies, a jeep arrived at the scene with more soldiers, who also attacked the two handcuffed youths.

‘Ariqat related the events in his testimony:

'Ata 'Ariqat after the beating. Photo: Kareem Jubran, B'Tselem, 1 June ‘09.

"The soldiers got out of the jeep and rushed over to me and beat me. One of them grabbed a large stone and threw it on my shoulder. I thought it fractured my shoulder. One of them hit me with the butt of his rifle, another kicked me hard. They beat me from all sides. I couldn't stand it any longer, and fell to the road. I felt one of them step on my shoulder, the same shoulder that had been hit by the stone. It hurt so much that I thought I was going to lose consciousness. The soldier went from me over to Ramzi."

B'Tselem wrote to the Judge Advocate General demanding that he immediately order an investigation into the incident. An Israeli television broadcast on the incident, on 9 June, reported that “military officials informed Channel 10 News that the Palestinian youths had reached the checkpoint drunk and began to provoke the soldiers, and even threaten them.”

On 17 June, Ynet reported that two soldiers from an armor battalion were arrested on suspicion of beating ‘Ata ‘Ariqat and Ramzi Salah at the checkpoint, and that their detention had been extended by the military court.