Israel To Halt Nighttime ‘Mapping’ Of Palestinian Homes

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it is reining in a controversial practice of conducting late-night raids of Palestinian homes in the West Bank aimed at gathering information about the houses and their inhabitants.

The military has in the past defended the practice, known as “intelligence mapping,” as a necessary measure to counter militant groups. But human rights groups say the policy served only to intimidate civilians.

Under the practice, soldiers would rouse families in the middle of the night to document the dimensions and inhabitants of homes in the territory.

Rights groups said the raids, conducted in homes where no one was suspected of illegal activities, served no strategic purpose and caused deep psychological trauma.

The change in policy came half a year after Yesh Din, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, and Breaking the Silence, three Israeli activist groups, published a report on what they described as “arbitrary invasions” of private Palestinian homes. They said the practice “effectively serves as a means to oppress and intimidate the Palestinian population and increase control over it.”

In a letter to Yesh Din on Tuesday, the army said its raids “were not random operations” and were “intended for an operational-intelligence purpose.” It said there were strict guidelines for such operations “in order to minimize the damage and disturbance to the residents’ quality of life.”

Nonetheless, it said the raids would be halted “except in exceptional circumstances.”

The Israeli military confirmed the policy change but did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.

Yesh Din executive director Lior Amihai called the military’s decision “very significant.”