From the end of September 2000 to the end of 2009, the Military Police Criminal Investigations Department (MPCID) opened 1,805 criminal investigation files against soldiers suspected of harming Palestinians and their property. However, only 105 of the 1,805 investigation files led to an indictment against the suspects. This means that the MPCID investigators managed to track down sufficient evidence to issue an indictment against one or more persons in only 5.8 percent of the investigation files.

The investigations Yesh Din monitors deal with suspicions of serious criminal offenses of different kinds: Unlawful shooting, some of which caused the killing and injury of civilians, violent assaults on Palestinians, looting and property damage, taking bribes and other offenses.

The data shows that indictments were issued against 161 soldiers, of which 143 (89 percent of all defendants) were convicted of various offenses, many within the framework of a plea bargain in which the offenses attributed to the soldiers were decreased. As a result, their punishments were more lenient. Eight defendants (5 percent of all defendants) were acquitted of all offenses. Indictments against 10 defendants (6 percent of all defendants) were erased by the prosecution after being issued.

In 2008 Yesh Din published the Exceptions report, which included the first ever collection of figures on the MPCID’s handling of investigations into suspected offenses by soldiers against Palestinians and their property between 2000 and 2007. The report found that during this period, only 6 percent of all investigations into such offenses led to indictments against one or more soldiers. The information in the data sheet demonstrates that the MPCID rate of failure remains at similar levels.