Row over Israel border violinist

The army says the soldiers were reprimanded (image credit: Horit Herman Peled)

The Israeli army has cleared soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint of forcing a Palestinian man to play his violin.

But 28-year-old Wissam Tayem rejected the findings, saying he was told by the soldiers to "play something sad".

Human rights monitors who filmed the incident have also denied army claims that they back its version of events.

The footage has sparked a debate in Israel, where some media compared the army's conduct to Nazi coercion of Jewish musicians during the Holocaust.

Concentration camp prisoners were forced to perform classical music for their Nazi guards in the World War II.

The human rights group's film of the West Bank incident shows Mr Tayem playing to an audience of border guards and waiting Palestinians as his documents are checked.

'Not disrespectful'

An Israeli army investigation concluded Mr Tayem "opened the case and started to play the violin of his own volition".

"Several moments later, the Palestinian was asked by the liaison officer to stop playing," it said.

The army report added that the officer in charge of the checkpoint had been praised for his work both by his superiors and by local Palestinians.

The army faulted the soldiers for having failed to stop Mr Tayem from playing sooner, but said their actions were not disrespectful or humiliating.

When the incident came to light last week, the Israeli army said its soldiers had asked the Palestinian man to play his instrument to show it did not contain weapons or explosives.

Explosives

Mr Tayem has said he was humiliated at the checkpoint and the army's accounts do not make sense.

"They asked me to open the case and show them the instrument, which was fine by me," he told Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

"But then they asked me to play. I did not offer to play," he said.

He added that the soldiers would have asked him to step back and play his violin at a distance if they feared it might contain explosives.

Volunteer claims

Film footage of the checkpoint violin recital was shot on 9 November by Horit Herman Peled, a volunteer with women's human rights group, Machsom Watch, which monitors the conduct of Israeli troops.

In its report released on Tuesday, the Israeli army said another volunteer present at the checkpoint supported their claim that Mr Tayem was not forced to play his instrument, Haaretz reports.

However, the volunteer later told Haaretz that she and her colleagues were unable to hear the exchange between Mr Tayem and the border guards and therefore had "no reason to prefer [the army's] version of events over his".

Israel says its border checkpoints are designed to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers and militants from entering its territory.

Palestinians and rights groups say the border controls impose dangerous and humiliating restrictions on their freedom of movement, and have crippled their economy.