The officer was on his way to a military jail Monday. But before starting a 28-day term for abandoning his post near Jerusalem at the weekend, he blasted his superiors in an Israel Radio interview.

"We have reached a situation where we shoot out of fear" at Palestinians, said the officer, using the assumed name of Ilan.

Repeated Palestinian attacks against roadblocks, a hated symbol of occupation, has troops more jittery than ever at the risks of manning them as a Palestinian uprising enters its 18th month. A raid last week killed six soldiers.

Discontent in the army ranks has been expressed in other ways, including a petition signed by more than 280 reservists pledging their refusal to serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on behalf of what they say is a morally corrupting occupation.

Sunday night, Israeli troops fired at the armored car of Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Korei as it approached a West Bank checkpoint.

Israel apologized for the incident, from which Korei emerged unscathed. The army said the soldiers feared the car was going to hit them.

"We use these bullets as a kind of shield, a wall, because we don't have a wall or concrete to protect us ... in the end the guys become trigger-happy and very jumpy," said Ilan, whose rank was not given in the radio report.

OFFICER SAYS HE WARNED SUPERIORS

Ilan said he walked away after fruitless talks with commanders on a lack of proper procedures which leave soldiers scared for their own safety and make them dangerous to others.

"I am not prepared to go to the parents of one of the soldiers and tell them -- your son died in such a way without a block of concrete to protect him."

One of his superiors, Ilya Shifman, told the radio the army often reviews security and investigates cases of misconduct.

"But it can't be the case that an officer gets up and leaves the company without telling anyone," Shifman said.

The army also said last week it plans to remove many fixed checkpoints and carry out surprise inspections along West Bank roads to provide better security.

Dozens of Israeli military blockades cut through main arteries throughout the West Bank and Gaza, isolating Palestinian cities and villages.

Erected since the first Palestinian uprising in the late 1980s, Israel says they provide a barrier against gunmen and suicide bombers. But Palestinians say the economically crippling blockades mainly punish ordinary civilians.

Palestinians frequently complain of abuse or outright violence by soldiers at the roadblocks. Some troops admit to buckling under the daily pressure of confronting potential assailants in a sea of civilians.

Monday, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man who tried to circumvent a roadblock as he drove his pregnant wife to hospital to give birth. The woman was wounded in the shoulder.

In a separate incident, troops killed a 15-year-old girl who they said ran at their roadblock waving a knife.

She left a suicide note, family members said.

"I have decided by God's will to (attack) those arrogants at the damned checkpoint and kill them to teach them a lesson that they have no security on our land," it said.

Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited

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