gelatik
24.05.02, 02:38
PARIS, May 24 - Israeli and West Bank doctors have condemned rubber bullets
fired by Israeli forces to control protestors, saying the weapons have
potentially lethal design flaws and are often misused, resulting in deaths and
critical injuries.
In a study published in Saturday's issue of The Lancet, the British medical
weekly, they assessed injuries sustained by Arab Israeli protestors in clashes
with Israeli police in early October 2000 after the second Intifada erupted,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
“[The] inaccuracy of rubber bullets and improper aiming and range of use
resulted in severe injury and death in a substantial number of people,” they
write.
“This type of ammunition should therefore not be considered a safe method of
crowd control.”
The eight authors comprise two surgeons, a radiologist and trauma doctor at the
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa; a doctor from the Israeli
Police Force Headquarters in Jerusalem; two doctors at the Nazareth Hospital
and Holy Family Hospital in Nazareth; and a doctor at El-Hayat Hospital at Umm
el Fahem.
The authors focus on 201 injuries sustained by 152 people they had treated who
were hit by one of two kinds of rubber rounds used by the Israeli police.
The weapons are the RCC-95, a blunt, rubber-coated metal cylinder with a high
muzzle velocity; and the MA/RA 88, a low-velocity round which comprises 15
metal-cored rubber balls that fan out in a seven-meter (22.75-feet) -wide
circle at a range of 50 meters.
Of the 201 injuries, 46 percent were classified as mild, 35 percent were
moderately severe and 19 percent were severe. Three of the 152 died of their
injuries and three were left blind.
The most dangerous wounds occurred when the rounds hit the thin bones of the
face, which happened in 27 cases. The biggest culprit was the RCC-95.
"Injuries to the eyeball were especially severe, causing brain penetration in
two patients, and visual loss or complete blindness when there was no
penetration into the brain," the authors say.
They blame the inherent design of the rounds, noting that their shape and
velocity made them unstable in flight and liable to tumble end over end. The
inaccuracy was magnified by ricochet.
But the doctors also accuse the Israeli security forces of misuse.
The manufacturers of the rubber bullets say the rounds can be used safely when
fired at the legs at a range of at least 40 meters (50 yards).
But of the 201 injuries, more than half were above the midriff. Sixty-one of
them were the head, neck and face alone.
In addition, 42 patients had types of severe injuries, notably penetration by
the round or broken bones in the limbs or skulls, that clearly came from a
round fired at close range, the doctors say. One patient's back was peppered
with 13 impacts from an MA/RA 88 round.
"New types of ammunition with higher accuracy and less force of impact than
those currently in use are urgently needed for control of civil
demonstrations," the authors say.
"Meanwhile, to prevent serious blunt and penetrating injuries and fatalities,
the anatomic target area should be rigorously limited to the lower limbs, and
the minimum firing range should always be kept above 40 meters (50 yards)."
