OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 6 May — Army units have been squabbling over dozens of Palestinian four-wheel-drive vehicles confiscated during Israel’s offensive in the West Bank launched at the end of March, an Israeli newspaper reported yesterday.
The head of a unit which besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in the town of Ramallah for a month up until Thursday seized as many as 23 Land Rover cars, said Haaretz.
It said the army command has ordered the unit to transfer the vehicles from its base to the military’s logistics department in charge of war booty.
A senior officer told the paper that the vehicles were not "looted" and voiced regret that Israeli tanks operating in Palestinian towns had crushed cars parked on the side of the road rather than seizing them.
Other officers, who asked not to be named, complained at the chaos in which the booty, including weapons, was being distributed.
Israeli soldiers were responsible for widespread vandalism and also committed thefts during the West Bank offensive against Palestinian militants, Haaretz reported Tuesday. The army confirmed it had received seven complaints from Palestinians about soldiers looting, all of which were being checked. Five soldiers have been indicted, while investigations have been opened against other soldiers suspected of vandalism or looting, an army spokesman told AFP. A senior army officer, quoted anonymously by Haaretz, said: "Unfortunately, it turns out that there was widespread vandalism."
