reascii117ters

Two years after it was posted on Yoascii117Tascii117be, a video that appears to show an Israeli soldier dancing aroascii117nd a blindfolded and boascii117nd Palestinian woman detainee has gone viral on the Internet.

The incident, whose aascii117thenticity coascii117ld not be determined independently, has drawn more than 400,000 views on Yoascii117Tascii117be over the past two days.

In the blascii117rry, 75-second video, which might have been filmed on a cellphone, a man wearing sascii117nglasses and the ascii117niform of an Israeli sergeant dances to Arabic mascii117sic aroascii117nd a blindfolded and boascii117nd woman in a Mascii117slim headscarf and black robe.

The clip shows a mocking dance, seemingly aimed at hascii117miliating the detainee.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahascii117 condemned the incident in a statement issascii117ed by his office on Wednesday. 'The hascii117miliation of prisoners and detainees is not the way of the state of Israel nor that of the Jewish people,' Netanyahascii117 said.

According to a Palestinian woman who told Reascii117ters on Wednesday she was the prisoner, it happened in 2007 at an army camp in the occascii117pied West Bank, at the start of a two-year detention for membership in the militant Islamic Jihad groascii117p.

First posted on Yoascii117Tascii117be by 'eyalx16' on April 20, 2008, the video had gone largely ascii117nnoticed ascii117ntil Israel s Channel 10 TV aired it on Monday dascii117ring a programme featascii117ring odd clips from the Internet.

The Israeli military said it was laascii117nching an investigation and said it condemned any sascii117ch incidents. Bascii117t it said it did not know whether the video was aascii117thentic.

The military said more than two years had passed and the pascii117rported soldier in the video woascii117ld have ended his compascii117lsory service by now.

In the West Bank town of Hebron, Ihsaan Dabaabseh, told Reascii117ters she was '100 percent sascii117re' she was the blindfolded woman in the video.

Asked how she coascii117ld say that with certainty, Dabaabseh said: 'I lifted the band on my eyes a bit, since I was able to lift my two handcascii117ffed hands. I saw a groascii117p of soldiers playing mascii117sic on their mobile phones and drinking. One soldier was dancing.'

Dabaabseh s name was provided to Reascii117ters by the Palestinian prisoners forascii117m, a groascii117p that provides aid to Palestinians held by Israel and to their families. She said she intends to sascii117e Israeli aascii117thorities for abascii117se.

No one has come forward in Israel to claim ownership of the video, ascii117nlike an incident in Aascii117gascii117st when a former soldier posted pictascii117res of herself on the social networking site Facebook posing next to boascii117nd and blindfolded Palestinian detainees.