AL QUDS: An Israeli tank commander is to be charged with negligent homicide after having authorized his tanks to shell a group of Palestinians in a market, killing three children and an adult.

The unnamed lieutenant colonel was in charge of an incursion into Jenin in June 2002 when one of his officers saw hundreds of civilians on the streets in an area that he subsequently told army investigators he believed was under curfew - though in fact it was not. The officer sought permission to open fire and the lieutenant colonel gave it. Israeli rules of engagement permit soldiers to fire a small number of shells or bullets into a vacant open area to warn crowds to disperse.

But even though there was no suggestion that the shoppers, who had flocked to the market after three days under curfew, were any threat, the tank crews fired about 10 explosive rounds and several long volleys of machine gun fire into the crowd.

Palestinian witnesses described how the tanks opened fire from three directions, shooting down streets leading to the market as well as dropping shells into the crowd.

The dead included Ahmed Ghazawi, six, his brother Jamil 12, and another six-year-old, Sajedah Famahwi. The adult killed was a schoolteacher, Helal Shetta.

The next day, the military admitted the soldiers had no right to shoot at the market, but wrongly claimed only two shells were fired. The officer on the ground who gave the order to fire was charged with negligent homicide last year.

On Friday, the Israeli human rights group, Btselem, welcomed the latest indictment. A spokesman, Noam Hoffstater, said: "Generally speaking, the message that the army gives to soldiers is that they don't have to be accountable ... Even in the rare cases where soldiers are actually accused, there is a tendency not to accuse the higher commanders. This is very positive."

But, he added: "The sentences are very low, especially when you compare them to those the Palestinians get." -Dawn/The Guardian News Service.