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Photo:
Israeli soldiers patrolling in the West Bank last month. Credit: Majdi Mohammed / AP Published by IMEMC News
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The army has yet to decide whether to disband the unit and what to do with its soldiers, who have been documented in recent months abusing Palestinians and left-wing activists in the West Bank

by Hagar Shezaf for Haaretz
Dec 19, 2023

The Israel Defense Forces have halted the operational activities of its Sfar Hamidbar (Desert Frontier) unit, which recruits hilltop youth from illegal outposts in the West Bank for army service, until a decision is made on whether to close the unit and what to do with its soldiers.

The army acted following a series of incidents in which the unit's soldiers behaved violently towards Palestinians and due to concern about the alleged performance of its commanders.

In response to reports about violent behavior, the IDF said the unit's soldiers were recruited as trackers to take advantage of the skills they had gained in herding sheep. Recently, the unit made headlines because Aviad Frija, the reservist who accidentally shot dead the civilian Yuval Kestelman during a Jerusalem terrorist attack in November, had served in the unit during his regular service.

In October, Haaretz reported that soldiers from the unit, along with civilians, abused Palestinians and left-wing activists at the Palestinian village of Wadi al-Siq. For an entire day, they beat three Palestinians severely, stripped them and photographed them bound and in their underwear. They urinated on two of them and extinguished cigarettes on their bodies, even trying to insert an object into one of them.

In September, a soldier on leave from the unit was filmed with a civilian settler attacking Palestinians near the settlement of Ma'ale Hever. A month earlier, another soldier from the unit was documented entering a home in a Bedouin village in the West Bank without permission.

Two weeks ago, the army was reported to be holding discussions on the possibility of disbanding Desert Frontier. On Monday, it said a "decision regarding the continued operation of the Desert Frontier unit is under consideration."