GAZA, March 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on
Tuesday accused Israeli troops of tattooing numbers on the arms of
dozens of Palestinian prisoners in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the
West Bank.
   In an interview with the Abu Dhabi-based Gulf Arab satellite TV
channel in the day, Arafat described the action as "the same the
Nazi was doing against the Jews in Europe."
   "Did you see what the Israeli soldiers put on the arms of the
Palestinian prisoners in Tulkarem? They tattooed numbers on their
arms. Is it the same thing the Nazi did against Jews?" said Arafat.
   Sources from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
confirmed that Israeli troops tattooed numbers on the arms of
several Palestinians arrested in the past few days in an Israeli
detention camp near Tulkarem.
   "What else do they (Israelis) have to say? Isn't this a racism
and a new Nazism?" said Arafat in the interview.
   However, Israel Radio quoted an Israeli army spokesman as saying
that the Israeli army was using color pens in writing numbers on
the hands of the prisoners, and noting that those colored numbers
can be easily erased.
   The action was taken "to organize the prisoners," said the
spokesman, adding that "it is ridiculous to compare what the Nazi
did to the Jews with what the Israeli troops are doing in the
territories."
   "The Israeli army's regulations are to respect the values of
human rights," the spokesman said.
   Several Israeli Knesset (parliament) members have voiced
resentment for the action and called upon the Israeli army chief to
stop the action as soon as possible, said the radio.
   Palestinian sources said that Israeli troops forced Palestinian
prisoners at the Ofra detention camp near the West Bank city of
Ramallah to sign on documents considering them as "prisoners of
war."
   In response, the Israeli army spokesman said that it was an
administrative mistake and Israel has no intentions to consider
Palestinian prisoners "as prisoners of war."
   During raids on several Palestinian refugee camps, Israeli
troops arrested hundreds of Palestinians aged between 15 and 50,
and put them into several detention camps in the West Bank. 
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