Nine out of 10 investigations of Israeli attacks against Palestinians are closed with no resolution, an Israeli human rights group said.
Yesh Din on Wednesday released a data sheet on its monitoring of police investigations of offenses against Palestinians. The data sheet includes findings based on 642 investigation files opened in recent years by the Judea and Samaria police based on complaints filed by Palestinian citizens of the West Bank.
The findings show that 9 percent out of 642 investigations being monitored by Yesh Din have resulted in indictments filed against defendants. Some 91 percent are closed on grounds that suggest the investigation has failed.
“The findings suggest a chronic failure, especially in cases pertaining to violence and damage to property,” said Ziv Stahl of Yesh Din’s research department. “Only a fraction of these cases result in indictments, and most of them are closed. This means that there is a very slim chance that complaints filed by Palestinians for violence or property offenses carried out by Israelis will result in indictments.”
Israeli police said they were looking into the report’s findings, Ynet reported.
Since 2005, Yesh Din has been maintaining a database of cases in which Israeli citizens were accused of acts of violence, theft or damage to property against unarmed Palestinian civilians.
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