http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=176872&thesection=news&
thesubsection=world
Israeli troops fire lethal dart grenades
13.03.2001
GAZA - A Palestinian farmer was buried in Gaza yesterday, his body riddled
with nail-like projectiles fired by Israeli soldiers using a type of
anti-personnel ammunition not seen in the Palestinian conflict before last
week. Relatives said the man was shot near the Karni Crossing. The Israeli
Army said he was in an area where there had been attacks on Israelis. He was
admitted to Shifa Hospital in Gaza with one of the projectiles in his left
eye, two pointing in opposite directions in his pelvis and one in his left
lung, x-rays showed. Hospital officials could not immediately identify the
ammunition used on the farmer, and on another man on March 2. An Army
spokesman, when asked what type of weapon had been used, said: "The IDF uses
means best suited to the overall security conditions and specific threats in
the area." But Palestinian security sources said the Army appeared to have
used a type of cluster bomb or rifle grenade which explodes, spraying the
target with dozens of needle-like projectiles about the size of an average
nail. Known as flechettes, the objects have tiny stabilising fins, like those
used to stabilise rockets in flight or darts thrown at a dartboard in a pub.
Israel has developed its own version of the flechette round, but the Army was
not known to have used this type of ammunition in the Palestinian conflict
before last week. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accused Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat of doing nothing to stop violence against Israelis as
Palestinians yesterday blamed Sharon for turning their cities into prison
camps. Troops have dug trenches and put up sand embankments near the West
Bank cities of Ramallah, Jenin and Jericho and placed tanks near Ramallah,
sealing the Palestinian-ruled cities off from other parts of the West Bank,
home to two million Palestinians. Witnesses said additional roadblocks had
been set up in the heart of Jerusalem, a prime target of Islamic militant
suicide bombers who have vowed to launch a rash of attacks with Sharon's rise
to power. Sharon told Fox News yesterday that Arafat's security forces,
including his personal guards, were involved in "terrorist activities." "Most
of the terrorist acts at the present time are carried out by Palestinian
armed forces, security services and even the closest to Arafat forces, that
is, what you call Force 17, the presidential guard," he said. The 73-year-old
former general, who took power last week after defeating Ehud Barak in a
February election, said he would shake Arafat's hand in a meeting only once
the fighting ended. Sharon has previously said he would never shake the hand
of Arafat, whom he has branded a "war criminal." Sharon said he was
disappointed Arafat did not call for a end to hostilities in a speech to
Palestinian lawmakers on Sunday in which he lashed out at what he called
Israeli aggression. The Palestinian leadership issued a statement calling for
the United Nations Security Council to convene and for the international
community to act "to bring an end to this new racist Israeli policy that can
lead to a full explosion in the entire region." Palestinian Information
Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo has accused the new Government of officially
launching what he called a new war against the Palestinian people.
