|
TEL
AVIV, Israel (AP) _ After each dive into the polluted
Kishon River, Israeli navy seal Yuval Tamir spent nearly
an hour scrubbing putrid grime from his skin.Commanders
brushed aside his health concerns and Tamir logged 1,100
hours in the dark waters during a 23-year career _ until
he was diagnosed with skin and colon cancer 18 months
ago.
Forty
divers in the 750-man elite unit have contracted cancer
_ and 16 have died _ but the army so far has refused to
acknowledge a link between the diving and the disease.
Now, an independent commission is trying to determine
whether the military knowingly put the men at risk _ and
has raised troubling questions about the military"s
priorities. "They (commanders) left us wounded in
the battle field," Tamir, a burly 43-year-old father
of two, told the three-judge panel Thursday. While the
army maintains it is cooperating with the inquiry, it
has not addressed the question of exactly when it became
aware of dangerous pollution levels.
The
army spokesman says training sessions stopped in 1990,
and that since then, only crucial underwater missions
have been carried out, the last one two months ago. The
elite units, including the seals, have always been considered
one of Israel"s key weapon against terrorism. Members
are imbued by a sense of mission, even invincibility,
and their training is given top billing.
Veterans
of commando units often make a smooth transition into
high-ranking government jobs. Prime Minister Ehud Barak
and his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, are both graduates
of Sayeret Matkal, a crack infantry unit. The Kishon River
and the adjacent Haifa Bay are lined by chemical companies
that have been pouring toxic waste into the water for
decades.
While
the Ministry of Environmental Protection pollution levels
have dropped in recent years, the river is still considered
a health hazard, with signs along its banks prohibiting
swimming. Yoram Aviram, a lawyer who represents the navy
divers, said it has been widely known since 1956 that
the Kishon was polluted. Nonetheless, it was the navy"s
preferred training area for many years.
Former
diver Zvi Stern, 48, who served in the unit from 1970
to 1990, said he and his colleagues sometimes spoke of
their fears. "Every time I went into the water, my
skin would burn, my eyes would be red and bulging,"
said Stern, who has undergone 20 skin cancer operations
since 1998 and has had to give up his job as a caterer.
Stern said that when at one point he refused to dive,
he was locked up at the base for two weeks.
In
another routine disciplinary measure, commanders would
force divers to drink Kishon water from their flippers.
Tamir said that in 18 months of basic seals training,
divers would have to swallow the brew about 10 times.
Tamir, who toward the end of his career headed an underwater
unit that searches for explosives, said his suspicions
grew with every new report that a comrade had contracted
cancer or died of the disease.
Eventually,
the sick men got together and demanded to be recognized
as wounded veterans, meaning they could draw a monthly
stipend. In response, the army launched an internal probe.
Tamir feared a whitewash and appealed to the Supreme Court.
Before the judges could rule, the state created the independent
commission of inquiry, which began hearing the case this
week. It is headed by retired Chief Justice Meir Shamgar,
who in 1996 led the inquiry into the assassination of
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
In
Thursday"s session, the second so far, the judges
heard testimony from Haifa Mayor Amram Mitzna and Robert
Reuveni, director of the Haifa district office of the
Ministry of Environmental Protection. Reuveni said the
Health Ministry ignored his warnings and did little to
stop the deadly flow of toxic waste into the navy"s
prime training location. Aviram, the divers" lawyer,
said each government agency was trying to find someone
else to blame.
The
navy veterans said they were deeply pained by the cat-and-mouse
game. "All our lives, we were in the military,"
said Stern. "It really hurt me when our commander
said: `I dove and I"m not sick." He should be
thankful that he isn"t.""
|
