clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Israeli soldiers who torched Palestinian's woodshed jailed for just 60 days

November 11, 2016 at 10:16 am

Palestinians inspect the rubble of their homes after it was demolished by Israeli forces in West Bank on October 9th 2016 [Nedal Eshtayah/Anadolu Agency]

Two Israeli soldiers who admitted torching a Palestinian’s woodshed out of boredom were jailed for just 60 days by a military court yesterday.

The incident occurred two months ago, at a Nablus area checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.

The two colonels, from the 932 battalion of the Nahal infantry brigade, were ordered by their sergeant to steal wood from the Palestinian trader’s shed to burn for light. Later, the two returned to the shed and set fire to a plank of wood, igniting the entire shed.

According to reports, the soldiers “told investigators that they had not intended to start a big fire, but had acted impulsively, out of boredom, on the spur of the moment.”

In a plea bargain, lawyers for the prosecution and defence agreed to downgrade a charge of arson to one of exceeding authority in a manner that endangered life, which carries a maximum prison sentence of three years.

The prosecution, however, only demanded 10-month jail terms, and the military court settled on a two-month sentence, plus one month military labour.