JERUSALEM, Aug. 14 (JTA) — An Israeli court has sentenced two border policemen to eight months in prison for beating Palestinians who tried to enter Jerusalem without proper permits. The two policemen, Tzahi Shmaya, 19, and David Ben Abu, 20, were each also given 12-month suspended sentences. The sentences will take effect in 45 days, to give the two time to appeal. Shmaya and Ben Abu had been charged with aggravated assault and abuse of authority relating to an incident last October, when they were caught on an amateur video beating and kicking six Palestinians apprehended while trying to get into Jerusalem illegally. When handing down the sentences Thursday, the judge was quoted as saying that he hoped the punishment would deter recurrences of such actions by border police. The sentences came a day after the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem issued a report describing what it said were 15 cases of “beatings, degradation and serious abuse” of Palestinians by Israeli security forces during the past three months. B’Tselem activists said ill-treatment of Palestinians was extremely widespread among border police. Israel’s Channel One Television broadcast interviews Wednesday with two Palestinians who claimed they were beaten by border police. The two, Ahmed Moussa, 19, and Mahmoud Ghneim, 27, said they were recently beaten after entering Israel without permits during the closure Israel has imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The closure began after the July 30 twin suicide bombing in Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market that killed 14 Israelis and wounded at least 170 others. The television report said that three border policemen took the two Palestinians to an isolated area, where they beat them. Ghneim said that the border policeman tied his leg to a jeep and dragged him along the ground some 60 feet. Justice Minister Tzachi Hanegbi is investigating the incident. Last year, when reports of the incident involving Shmaya and Ben Abu first surfaced, the border police commander said that such violence was unusual and that guards posted in sensitive areas are carefully screened. But the commander added that border police face high pressures as they attempt to prevent Palestinians from entering Israel illegally.
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