Arab Teen Reportedly Used as Shield
JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers forced a Palestinian teen-age boy to sit on the front of their jeep in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, apparently as a human shield to prevent attacks by Arab stone-throwers.
The incident was filmed by Visnews, the London-based international television news agency, and screened for reporters. The footage showed three soldiers shooting rubber bullets toward stone-throwers in the town center.
The film then showed the troops driving through Ramallah in a jeep with a Palestinian teen-ager sitting on the jeep’s hood, grasping a metal bar and looking frightened.
Reporters monitoring army radios in the area said they heard a soldier say: “It’s OK now. We have a kid on the front of the jeep. We won’t get stoned.”
An army spokesman said a soldier has been summoned to a disciplinary hearing in connection with the incident.
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