|
Nov. 24, 2003
Warnings preceded murders at fence
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
A day after two security guards were shot dead near a section of the security fence going up on the outskirts of Jerusalem, the police revealed Sunday that it had previously warned the Defense Ministry of the faulty work of the Tamnun security company.
A preliminary police investigation has revealed a series of severe security lapses, and a pattern of unheeded warnings that could lead to criminal charges being filed against the company. Police said it employed inexperienced and elderly guards who had been previously caught sleeping on the job.
The Defense Ministry confirmed it had received a warning six weeks ago, and had passed it on to the contractor who employs the security company.
The two victims were identified Sunday morning as Ilya Reiger, 58, of Jerusalem and Samer Afan, 25, of Ozer near Nazareth. Afan’s father said that the security company had failed to inform the family of his son’s death. Both were buried Sunday.
The two were among five guards manning a section of the fence under construction near Abu Dis.
Regulations stipulate that the five should have been together at all times during their watch, police said. However, at the time of the attack, the two guards killed were sitting inside a car that belonged to one of them.
Furthermore, shortly before the attack, a third guard left the area to pick up the fourth member of the team from the city. By the time the two returned, the attack was over, police said.
The fifth guard, who was inside a tractor, went into shock when the gunmen struck, and was unable to fire back.
The Jenin Martyrs’ Brigades, a group associated with Fatah, claimed responsibility.
The three surviving guards were questioned Sunday afternoon at Jerusalem police headquarters.
The Defense Ministry spokeswoman said the ’ministry has no contact, direct or otherwise, with the security company, which was employed by the contractor doing the infrastructure work for the security fence.
’It has been made abundantly clear that safeguarding the equipment at the site, and the area in question during all hours is the sole responsibility of the contractor doing the work.’
Tamnun said the five armed guards at the site were charged with ’preventing robberies’ and not terrorist infiltrations, which it said is the work of the army and police.
The company lamented the ’ease and speed with which the media shed the blood of a company before the dead are buried and the police investigation is completed,’ and said the Border Police had approved the number of guards at the site.
Border Police spokeswoman Liat Perl stressed that the force is not responsible for the actions of the security company, nor did it provide it with instructions to employ a certain number of workers, as the company asserted. Moreover, she noted, the Border Police had reported the company to the Defense Ministry, but had no further jurisdiction.
In another security lapse, IDF instructions to the security company to equip the guards with bulletproof vests and helmets also went unheeded.
As for required lighting, the emergency generator was not working, police said.
The IDF imposed a curfew on Sawahra al-Sharkiya, near Abu Dis, on Sunday morning.
In Memoriam
------------------------------
Back to Timeline »
|
