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Soldiers sold ammo to palestinians Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/07/20/wmid120.xmlhttp://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/07/20/wmid120.xml
Soldiers 'sold ammunition to Palestinians'
By Inigo Gilmore
(Filed: 20/07/2002)
As she prepared the Sabbath meal yesterday, Shiri Shefi was haunted by the thought that the bullets used by Palestinian gunmen to kill her five-year-old daughter Danielle could have been supplied by a neighbour in her settlement.
Hours earlier, news had broken that three young men from Adora, near Hebron - brothers Sela Amar, 23, and Roi Amar, 21, and Oded Malay - were among a number of soldiers arrested in connection with supplying ammunition to Palestinians. Shiri was clearly shaken.
"Of course I am furious," said Shiri, 29, a book keeper who has two other young children, aged four and one. "I don't want to say anything specific until the trial is over and the case has been proven. Then I will let out my rage."
She added: "I am trying not to tear myself apart emotionally again as we are attempting to rebuild this family. I really want to move out of Adora, but there is no support. This country has abandoned its people."
Israeli radio reported yesterday that three more soldiers had been arrested, raising the number of suspects to nine. One of them is a reserve army officer. The radio said military police have not ruled out further arrests.
The disclosures have shocked the nation. The fact that three of the accused come from Adora, where Palestinians killed four people, including Shiri's daughter, on April 27, has heightened the sense of bewilderment and betrayal.
According to police, the detained soldiers have admitted stealing about 60,000 rifle rounds from the army, and are suspected of selling thousands of them to Palestinians in the Hebron area over a three-year period.
If the accusations against the soldiers were proven the army would view their actions as "very grave", an army spokesman said.
Legal commentators have said the offence is treasonable under Israeli law, and if committed in wartime can result in the death penalty or life imprisonment. As the conflict with the Palestinians has intensified over the past 21 months, there have been reports of theft of weapons from army bases, raising suspicions that some of the arms were ending up in Palestinian hands.
Unlike the more religious settlements around Hebron, Adora is a small, close-knit settlement of mostly secular Israelis who came for a better life in its spacious and attractive hillside setting. But now many wonder what the future holds.
Since the terrorist attack in April about half the residents have moved out and the accusations against the young men in Adora have sown potentially destructive seeds of suspicion.
Ofir, 28, a friend of the young men, said the community was now deeply divided and the families of the accused were being shunned.
He said: "We are all very shocked. I have known these guys for a long time and trusted them, and I did reserve duty in the army with Sela just the other day. It is incredible to think that they could have helped Palestinian terrorists, beyond belief. It makes no sense."
At a spacious house nearby, where two cars were parked next to a neat garden, Jacqueline Amar, the brothers' mother, was also angry and hurt.
A Moroccan Jew, Jacqueline and her husband, Gabi, became the first residents of Adora 19 years ago, and she was furious that the Israeli media had already declared her sons "guilty".
"Sela served in an elite border police unit, risked his life to prevent terror attacks and invested his entire life in being an excellent soldier," she said.
"He said to me, 'Do you really think after all that I would go and help the terrorists?' The same goes for Roi."
Glancing sadly towards her husband she added: "People in the community may be gossiping about us, but I don't care. I am convinced of my sons' innocence and the truth will prevail".
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