The Defense Ministry and IDF said Thursday that they bear no responsibility for the actions of private firms guarding the security barrier leaving poorly equipped private security guards to fend off potentially violent anti-fence protests.
The IDF will only assume responsibility for securing the fence once the project is completed. Until then, the contractors are entirely liable for deaths or injuries that might occur during protests, said officials in the IDF and the Defense Ministry.
This follows a report earlier this week on Channel 2 that showed footage of an Ari Security Co. employee firing live ammunition in the direction of unarmed protesters in Beit Likya on Monday, in violation of IDF regulations regarding the use of live fire in such incidents.
Five Palestinians were killed in the past week and dozens wounded in anti-fence protests along sections of the fence northwest of Jerusalem. According to Palestinian sources at least two men suffered bullet injuries in Monday's protest in Beit Likya.
The Judea and Samaria police opened an investigation Wednesday into what it called "an unwarranted shooting," interrogating in turn each man of the five-man team at Beit Likya on Monday. "The suspect opened fire with both his Uzi and his handgun in the direction of the protesters, and we are now deep into an intensive investigation of the incident," said a Judea and Samaria Police spokesman. "This is why it is so crazy to have private security guards who are not properly trained to be on the line," said a West Bank security source.
The police laid the responsibility for the incident at the feet of the IDF. For its part, the IDF Spokesman countered Thursday that the Defense Ministry is responsible should a security guard injure or kill a demonstrator - though senior military sources conceded that the issue was one of growing concern.
The ministry also deflected blame saying that it hired seven contractors to complete the construction of the second section of the barrier - 120 kilometers - at a cost of about NIS 500 million, and has left securing the construction entirely to its subcontractors.
By dumping the task of securing the fence work on the contractors themselves, the ministry shaved millions of shekels from the budget of the increasingly expensive fence, a project widely considered a national priority.
The ministry claimed on Wednesday that its contractors are liable for such incidents, and after them, the IDF and Border Police.
On Thursday when about 25 Palestinian youths rushed a construction site near Beit Duku they easily slipped past border policemen and soldiers, at one point facing off directly against the security guards. One of them, the security guard squad commander, raised his Uzi sub-machine gun in their direction and mock-cocked the gun.
"I was the only thing standing between them and the bulldozers," he said, "so I raised my weapon, and it worked. They ran." Armed with Uzis, carbine rifles, or handguns, the security guards have no tools with which to disperse what could be a potentially violent demonstration. Before soldiers arrive there are no tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated bullets or batons: only live rounds.
The security guards are provided flak jackets, but no helmets or no riot gear.
Palestinians allege that the security guards have itchier trigger fingers than the Border Police or the IDF.
But on Thursday a mid-level security source present at the fighting at Bidu last Thursday where four Palestinians were killed, said that not a single errant bullet was fired. "I was there. I saw every bullet leave each gun, and I'm telling you that no one was killed there." The rules of engagement for the employees of private security firms like Ari Security are strict and theoretically simple: fire only when your life, or the life of the construction workers, is in danger.
The security guards are ordered to fire first in the air and then at the ground near the protesters. "The point is to get the fence built as quickly as possible, and not inflame the area by shooting people," said Danny Gavish, the firm's chief security officer, and a 20-year veteran of the IDF.
