- 16 Aug 2010
Court: State responsible for Palestinian girl's death
Jerusalem judge rules death of 10-year-old Abir Aramin from rubber bullet in 2007 due to State's negligence. 'Shooting did not target rioters or stone-throwers,' she determines. Court to rule on damages to family in October
The State is responsible for the death of 10-year-old Palestinian girl Abir Aramin in 2007 and will compensate her family, the Jerusalem District Court ruled Monday.
The court determined that the girl was killed by a stray rubber bullet fired by a Border Guard officer. According to the ruling, the shooting was the result of the State's negligence.
In addition to the civil suit, the girl's family filed an appeal with the High Court of Justice, demanding that the Israeli fighters be put on trial, this after the State Prosecutor's Office closed the case against them.
Judge Orit Efal-Gabai said in her ruling that there was no dispute that the shooting, which occurred in the West Bank village of Anata, was conducted in violation of the rules of engagement.
"The shooting did not target rioters or stone-throwers. Abir and her friends were walking down a street from which no stones were thrown at Border Guard forces. There was no apparent reason to fire in that direction," according to the ruling.
The lawsuit, which was filed by Attorney Lea Tsemel on behalf of Abir's parents in July 2007, demanded financial compensation for the family.
Judge Efal-Gabai further ruled that another hearing will be held in October to determine the amount of damages.
The ruling was based on the testimonies of Abir's friends. "They went through a very difficult experience and witnessed her (Abir's) injury," said the judge, adding that the State's version of the events, according to which Abir was hit by a stone and not a rubber bullet, was "unlikely."
Following Abir's death, her family presented a pathological report which determined that she was struck by a rubber bullet. However, Israel Police said an autopsy showed she was not killed by a rubber bullet.
Human rights group Yesh Din and Bassam Aramin, Abir's father, filed a High Court petition against the attorney general and two Border Guard officers, demanding that the officers be prosecuted.
Following the appeal, the State Prosecution announced that the girl's death would be investigated further.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3937640,00.html
17 aug 2010
Abir's father: 'Soldiers are victims too'
After court rules State must compensate Palestinian family for daughter's death by rubber bullet fired by Border Guard officers in 2007, father Bassam Aramin says officers product of 'delinquent society still living the Holocaust they took their frustration out on 10-year-old girl'
"I hope the soldiers who murdered my daughter are brought to justice," said Bassam Aramin, the father of Abir Aramin after the court ruled that the State of Israel must compensate her family for her death.
However, he is not placing all the blame on the Border Guard officers whose rubber bullets killed his daughter. "I think the solders are the victims of their delinquent society, a society that seems to still be living the Holocaust, and thinks that Abir is part of the Nazi machine that exterminated millions of Jews and they therefore took their frustration and anger out on a 10-year-old girl. Maybe I should actually sue Germany," the father said.
Abir was killed in January 2007 near her school in the village of Anta north of Jerusalem, where Border Guard forces were dispersing a violent riot. Police adamantly claimed that according to the autopsy, the child was killed from a stone but a week after the incident, her family, with the help of the B'Tselem organization, published a pathologist's report stating she was hit by a rubber bullet.
The family petitioned the High Court of Justice and demanded proceedings be opened against the officers a petition which has yet to be heard. In addition, the family filed a civil suit against the State. In this lawsuit, the Jerusalem District Court ruled Monday that the girl was indeed hit by a rubber bullet, which was fired against protocol, and that the State was negligent and must therefore compensate the family. The sum of the compensation has yet to be determined.
'I want them to be punished'
"I cannot blame an 18-year-old boy for shooting an innocent 10-year-old girl," said the father, who is known for his activity in the Combatants for Peace organization and his ties with Israeli peace activists. "There is something behind this, and it's the government's policies and the narrative his state has instilled in him. But still, I want them to be punished. I hope it doesn't end where it stands today."
Aramin said despite fears that the truth may be "swept under the rug", which he says in an Israeli norm with regards to Palestinian victims, "I would very much like to hope that the two will be punished, because it can't be that the killer will be freely drinking beers while I am burning inside. We cannot forget the bleeding wound. Just this morning something happened that reminded me and her mother of her, and we started crying."
He added, "When the State of Israel denied responsibility that its men are the ones who murdered my daughter, it was very bad torture. I am glad they at least recognized that their soldiers are the ones who murdered her."
'Attempts to cover up in vain'
According to Attorney Leah Zemel, who helped the family with the case, "Justice has been served, for the family and for the girl who went to by a treat after an exam. All the police and Border Guard's attempts to cover it up, were in vain. This is because things made it to court, and were so obvious and significant.
"Abir was shot with a rubber bullet from a forbidden distance and whoever fired didn't care. He knew that rubber bullet batteries were being fired everywhere, and the bullets' routes could not be controlled. This is why it reached the adjacent street and hit the girl in the head. Afterwards those responsible fled the scene, and covered for themselves as usual, with the IDF and Border Guard standing behind them and not bothering to look into it."
According to Zemel, "without the hard work of the Yesh Din organization, Attorney Michael Sfard, and Attorney Ghadad Hleihel, the truth wouldn't have come out."
Of the girl's father, Zemel said, "He represents the stream that calls for peace in the society from which he comes, and now, his daughter has been killed as well. This is why the court ruled on a just end to this grim affair. There is hope that in other cases of innocent people being injured as a result of the use of crowd dispersal weapons, justice will be served."
Adar Greivski, who also helped the family with its campaign to have the incident probed said, "The court finally ruled that the version of the family and the eyewitnesses is the real version, and that the Border Guard lied and tried to whitewash what happened. I am glad responsibility will be placed with the relevant bodies, and I hope the security forces draw the necessary conclusions to refrain from harming the civilian population."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3938087,00.html 28 apr 2012, 22:54 , Respect -
Maria 16 aug 2010
Explaining Murder: Israeli Hasbara in Full Swing
The hasbara industry is in full swing at the moment as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government pulls out all the stops to create a smokescreen to cover its crimes.
Leading from the front Mr Netanyahu sat in front of the Turkel Commission for four hours on Monday, although anyone hoping to hear anything of interest would have been disappointed.
Netanyahu only spoke in front of the public for ninety minutes of that time during which he regaled the committee with complaints about Hamas, Sderot and Gilad Shalit. He told the committee that Israel had a right to search for weapons on board the flotilla. (Israel has since announced that it found no weapons for Hamas.
Did nine people really have to die so that Israel could confirm the certification the flotilla already had?) He further told them that there was no humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a result of the blockade it was just a ‘bogus rationale […] to break the blockade’. So there we are.
The International Committee of the Red Cross was lying on 14 June when it said:
“The closure therefore constitutes a collective punishment imposed in clear violation of Israel’s obligation under international humanitarian law.”
Or when in 2008 the same august institution said 70% of the Gazan population suffers from food insecurity.
That Judge Turkel allowed him to drone on in this way bodes ill for the end result. As though nine dead (and it could yet turn to eleven), fifty-five injured and the rest of the 700 people abducted, abused, humiliated and subjected to cruel and sadistic behaviour was not important enough for the committee to concentrate on.
But that as always is the name of the game. Only Israeli victim hood is of any consequence. Nine Israeli hoods got a legal beating. That’s important. Nothing else matters.
So we’ve had Prof Ruth Lapidoth prostituting herself on 12 July by cherry picking the San Remo Manual to make it all seem right. She told us Gaza is a state because the Israel Supreme Court said so. Does she recognize no higher authority on international law?
There was no mention of course that San Remo takes six articles to explain that any maritime attack should be solely against military targets for the purpose of gaining a military advantage. That precautions must be taken to ensure that civilians are not harmed. That merchant vessels are civilian objects. That vessels engaged in humanitarian missions are exempt from attack.
Article 102 states absolutely, that a blockade is prohibited if the damage to the civilian population is excessive in relation to the military advantage of the blockade.
Article 103 allows the right of passage, subject to search (but not murder) if the civilian population is inadequately provided with food and other objects essential for its survival.
Article 119 declares that a neutral merchant vessel may be diverted ‘with its consent’.
Article 124 encourages certification (exactly as the flotilla had done) to avoid the necessity for visit and search.
None of this gets a mention in the professor’s assessment. Mr Netanyahu behaves as though it does not exist.
President Obama of course is in on the scam too.
Refusing to condemn Israel on 31 May until he knew the facts, he is now doing his best to see that they are not revealed. Thus the UN Human Rights Commission’s Fact Finding Mission is now deemed surplus to requirements.
Never mind that it is chaired by a judge who served on the International Criminal Court, or that it includes the former Chief Prosecutor of the UN backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, who has extensive experience on human rights, war crimes and terrorism. This is a committee eminently qualified to investigate the facts so it is being sidelined and told it is irrelevant by Susan Rice, who was speaking as though she owned the United Nations.
Just for the record China and Russia voted for this commission, France and Britain abstained, and the other permanent member of the Security Council, without a veto at the UNHRC, could only vote against. The late Charles Wheeler, a redoubtable BBC journalist, once observed that American presidents get worse and worse. Sadly we don’t seem to have reached the nadir yet.
So what is the invertebrate in the White House trying to palm us off with instead?
A committee chaired by a law professor who was prime minister of New Zealand for thirteen months, and representative to the International Whaling Commission. Alongside him will be a man whose period of rule in Colombia was strongly criticised for its abuses of human rights, democracy and the rule of law; and whose main arms supplier was the state of Israel. This Panel will receive reports from Israel and Turkey.
But it will not be able to subpoena witnesses (and Mr Netanyahu has made it clear that it will not be able to subpoena anyone from the IDF). Neither will it venture out of New York (to go to Iskenderun for example to look over the three Turkish ships that have been released).
So we must hope that Sir Geoffrey Palmer is his own man, and that he is a man of courage and imagination. We must hope that he is a man able to appreciate that it was not self defence to shoot Cevdet Kiliclar through the forehead from a helicopter before a single Israeli had even started to descend from a helicopter or disembark from a zodiac. (Mr Kiliclar was taking a photograph at the time of his assassination.)
Let us hope that Sir Geoffrey will ask for proof of the Israeli allegation that their commandos were shot at, and that he will wonder why the infra red footage from the helicopters have not picked up the flashes from the passenger’s guns. Come to that why have we seen so little of the enormous amount of footage that Israel stole from press and passengers on the flotilla?
But even the Israeli film footage provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can be quite revealing. Take a look at the arms cache that Israel made such a fuss about. I have counted the following:
• about 16 kitchen knives,
• three pocket knives,
• fifteen pickaxe handles,
• about twenty lengths of metal bar,
• two ring spanners,
• one pipe wrench,
• four small hammers,
• two sledge hammers,
• four fire axes,
• one paint roller handle,
• ten disc-cutter discs,
• two round files in handles,
• a short length of cord and
• two kaffiyehs.
(There was no blood on any of these ‘weapons’.) This is hardly the equipment prepared by a well-organized terrorist cell that had readied itself to face one of the elite units in the Israel Defence Forces.
Also take a close look at the Israeli infrared film taken from the sea towards the Mavi Marmara. The film unfortunately starts after Mr Kiliclar has been shot dead and other passengers have also been injured and maybe killed. Look close and you can see the pistols being thrown over the side after the commandos are disarmed. Look closely too at the last frame of the infrared footage.
There at the side of the ship is a commando with a pistol raised ready to fire. Mostly likely this is a Glock pistol with a magazine holding 17 rounds which can be fired as fast as the trigger can be pulled.
Now do you understand why the film stops there? The next sequence shows a small bottle of mace-like self-defence spray, and then a small folding saw with a single 5cm long blade. Yet look behind this primitive weaponry and there inside the door to the bridge lounges a commando with what looks like a submachine gun.
The Israeli military said it would do whatever was necessary to stop the flotilla. When it got to the Mavi Marmara the commandos first tried to board at the stern from zodiacs.
They were unable to do this principally because of the fire hoses trained on them, although there were a lot of things like plates and tomatoes thrown at them too. In fact they never did board the ship from this point until after the bridge had been taken and the ship surrendered.
The next move, almost certainly with the full authority of Admiral Marom, was to fire live ammunition onto the upper decks from more than one of the four helicopters, and this was probably sniper fire to begin with. Only then did the commandos start to fast rope onto the deck.
But even then the defence did not crumble and the first rope was tied up by the defenders and then abandoned so that the commandos only used one rope and were picked off as they came down. It looks pretty brutal on the film (which is why we are allowed to see it). But if they did not disable those commandos quickly the men on that upper deck were going to get shot, and shortly afterwards this is exactly what happened.
However it was a close thing. Perhaps if they had tied up both ropes they may have prevented the landing. And then what: what was Israel’s next line of attack, bearing in mind that they had warships and submarines in the near vicinity? If the boarding had failed would the IDF have sunk the ship? One thing is for sure, that would have took a lot of ingenuity for Mr Netanyahu and Prof Lapidoth to explain. It would have needed a lot of excuses from Mr Obama too.
- Richard Lightbown contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59277 28 apr 2012, 22:54 , Respect -
Maria 17 aug 2010
Bassem Barham Al-Dagna 22
Israelis kill Palestinian man in Gaza
Palestinian children cry during the funeral of a relative killed by Israeli fire.
Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian in the southern Gaza Strip, claiming they were heading off an attempted bomb attack near the border with Israel.
The victim, named Bassem Barham Al-Dagna, died on Monday after the troops opened fire on a group of Palestinians east of the city of Khan Yunis, the Ma'an news agency reported.
The Israeli military claimed that the people targeted were trying to place an explosive device at the site, AFP reported.
The Israeli forces have been carrying out regular bloody forays into Gaza ever since the December 2008-January 2009 war, in which they killed over 1,400 Palestinians and caused over $1.6 billion in damage on the Gaza Strip's economy.
Tel Aviv has imposed a strict blockade on Gaza for over three years now, depriving the 1.5 million Gazans of food, medicine, fuel, and other necessities. The siege has also claimed the lives of hundreds of Palestinians.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=139011§ionid=351020202
Bassam Barham Suliman a-Daghmeh 28 apr 2012, 22:54 , Respect -
Maria 17 aug 2010
IDF kills Palestinian suspect in West Bank
A wanted Palestinian suspect was killed by IDF forces during security operations in the West Bank overnight Thursday, IDF spokesperson said in a statement on Friday morning.
The statement said that the suspect had run towards IDF soldiers in a threatening manner, and had ignored the IDF's requests to cease his approach, resulting in the suspect being shot.
The circumstances of the incident are under investigation.
28 apr 2012, 22:54 , Respect -
Maria 17 aug 2010
Israelis pose with dead Palestinians
More humiliating photographs, taken by Israeli troopers and border guards, hit the internet, some featuring the servicemen posing next to dead Palestinians.
The pictures, published by the Israeli human rights group, Breaking the Silence, on the internet social hub of Facebook on Tuesday also showed the Israeli soldiers wearing smiles in cases, while striking a figure beside bound and blindfolded Palestinian prisoners, some of them dead, Israeli website Ynetnews reported.
The photos unpleasantly remind the pictures taken by US forces at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
The group circulated the pictures after a former female Israeli soldier caused a furor by posting similar images of herself onto Facebook, appearing boldly next to Palestinian captives, similarly handcuffed and forced to wear blindfolds.
"The new campaign came into being in the wake of the publication of (soldier) Eden Abergil's photos, in order to show the prevalence of this phenomenon among (Israel Defense Forces) IDF ranks," Breaking the Silence said.
Abergil, who was relieved of her duties a year ago, had posted the pictures under the album name "Army... the best time of my life: )."
"The photographs that had been published are merely the tip of the iceberg. Many people possess thousands of photos, but only a small part is being published."
Around 7,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli detention facilities, reportedly suffering under harsh and life-threatening conditions.
Reacting to Abergil's photos, another rights body, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, had said, "The horrible pictures demonstrate a norm of treating Palestinians like objects instead of human beings - treatment that disregards their feelings as humans and their right to privacy," the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported on Monday.
Israel claimed existence in 1948, when it occupied the Palestinian territories alongside vast expanses of other Arab lands during full-fledged military operations.
In 1967, it went on to annex East al-Quds (Jerusalem), which is hailed as the capital of any potential Palestinian state, and later defied the international community's condemnation of its act.
Jawad Amawi, director of legal affairs for the Palestinian Authority's prisoners ministry, has threatened to take legal action against the former soldier's publication of the pictures. "This is a breach of international law, clearly a breach of human rights," he said.
http://www.jnoubiyeh.com/2010/08/israelis-pose-with-dead-palestinians.html
22 aug 2010
Trophy photos fact of life in Israel, say rights workers
JERUSALEM, (JMCC) - Ripped clothes expose the half-naked body of a man lying on the ground. Rifle pointing at the seemingly dead man, a soldier in Israeli uniform poses for the camera.
This was just one of the photos posted online by Breaking the Silence, an Israeli organization of veteran soldiers that is opposed to Israel’s actions in the occupied territories. The organization published the images after a former soldier caused a storm by posting photos of herself with bound and blind-folded Palestinians on her Facebook page.
Former IDF soldier Eden Aberjil’s photo album, entitled “The army: the best days of my life,” showed both on and off-duty soldiers posing, smiling, or gesturing next to Palestinian captives. The images are reminiscent of snapshots taken by American soldiers of abuse of their captives in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison in 2003.
But the Abu Ghraib photos caused a global scandal, and some of the soldiers were found guilty of breaking US law. In international law, it is illegal to humiliate prisoners of war. Here in Israel, while the military has distanced itself from Aberjil’s photos, little action appears to be forthcoming.
“I don’t understand the fuss and storm in the media around these photos,” says Breaking the Silence’s Yedhua Shaul. “For us, as combat soldiers this is one of the most common things around.”
Many soldiers have these types of photos depicting their deployment in the occupied Palestinian territories, he says. Most simply have not put them on Facebook.
Breaking the Silence released a series of photos similar to Aberjil’s, says Shaul, because the Israeli military’s response was to claim that she was an isolated case.
“Don’t be surprised,” says Shaul. “That is what you see when a Palestinian angers you and you handcuff and blindfold him at a checkpoint for a few hours. She is telling the truth – this portrays the mindset of the soldier.”
DESENSITIZATION
As a former soldier, Shaul remembers how desensitized he became to Palestinians as human beings. “When you handcuff and blindfold people on such a daily basis, you forget that they are people and that they have a life.”
He recalls during the 2002 World Cup locking a family into a room in their home so that the soldiers could watch a match between Brazil and another team.
Louis Frankenthaler, development director for the Public Committee against Torture in Israel, says he notices a growing trend of Israeli soldiers posing with their human “trophies” after a raid.
“This represents dehumanisation,” he says, “and a lack of moral direction in tackling how to relate to Palestinians.”
“The problem,” says Frankenthaler, “is that there is a disconnect between what [the army] does and what [the army] should do.”
While soldiers go through human rights and welfare training, he wonders if they have to dust off the books every time the military has a visitor. Army officials have said the Aberjil pictures were "shameful" and would be investigated.
But cases are not limited to posing for photographs with Palestinian prisoners. Like in Abu Ghraib, evidence exists of torture and abuse of detainees.
The Committee against Torture is currently representing a young Palestinian man who says he had electrodes applied to his genitals while in Israeli prison.
LEGAL ACTION
Human rights workers speak of a general lethargy in the system when it comes to investigating and prosecuting soldiers for abuse of Palestinians.
Since September 2009, Defence for Children International has given the United Nations details of more than 100 cases in which military authorities allegedly abused minors held in detention. Nevertheless, the military prosecutors have filed no charges.
For those cases that do make it to court, human rights defenders say the result is “prosecution lite.” Frankenthaler cites a 2007 case in which a soldier broke the nose of a bound detainee. The soldier was fined 1,000 shekels.
MILITARY SERVICE
Military service is mandatory for male and female Israeli citizens over the age of 18.
Shaul maintains that these photos, while shocking to outsiders, reflect the facts of military life.
“What do you expect when you send your son or daughter into the military,” he says. “What do you think? This is what the occupation looks like.”
The problem, Shaul believes, is wider Israeli society, which accepts that this is an ordinary rite of passage.
“The story is not the military,” he says. “It is Israeli society. Society needs to have the guts to take responsibility for what is being done in our name.”
http://www.jmcc.org/news.aspx?id=1541 28 apr 2012, 22:54 , Respect -
Maria 26 aug 2010
Report: Gaza power cuts lead to 31 deaths in 2010
So far this year 31 residents of the Gaza Strip have died while using electricity generators, according to a report expected to be published in the coming days, Israel Radio reported Thursday.
Residents in Gaza are increasingly using generators as a source of electricity because of reoccurring power cuts in the area.
Thousands of Gazans have purchased electricity generators recently for domestic use, however many of the units are not safe and can be complicated to operate.
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=186063 28 apr 2012, 22:54 , Respect -
Maria 30 aug 2010
Not Guilty: Israeli Soldier Shot Palestinian Girl 17 Times
An Israeli army officer, who killed a 13-year-old Palestinian girl by shooting her 17 times, has been acquitted on all charges by an Israeli military court.
Last year, Iman al-Hams walked into a security zone at an Israeli army post along the Gaza Strip border, an area forbidden for all non-military personnel. She was also carrying a backpack, which is a common carrying-case for explosives for suicide bombers.
A soldier in a watchtower saw the girl, and radioed troops on the ground. In a recording obtained by an Israeli television station, the soldier describes Iman as "a little girl" who was "scared to death." Troops opened fire. She dropped the bag and started running. They then fired at the bag, establishing that it did not contain explosives. The recording reveals she was running away from the army post when she was shot.
An officer identified only as "Captain R" moved in for "confirmation of the kill," which is apparently standard procedure. But Palestinian witnesses say while she was lying on the ground, Capt. R opened fire at the girl, emptying his weapon.
On the tape, Captain R "clarifies" to the soldiers under his command why he killed Iman: "This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the (security) zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed."
Captain R was not charged with her killing, rather he was charged with illegal use of his weapon, conduct unbecoming an officer and perverting the course of justice by asking soldiers under his command to alter their accounts of the incident.
Captain R claimed he did not fire the shots at the girl, only near her. But Dr. Mohammed al-Hams, who inspected the child's body, counted numerous wounds.
"She has at least 17 bullets in several parts of the body, all along the chest, hands, arms, legs," he told the British newspaper the Guardian shortly afterwards. "The bullets were large and shot from a close distance. The most serious injuries were to her head. She had three bullets in the head. One bullet was shot from the right side of the face beside the ear. It had a big impact on the whole face."
Following the verdict, Captain R burst into tears, turned to the public benches and said: "I told you I was innocent."
After the verdict, Iman's father, Samir al-Hams, said the army never intended to hold the soldier accountable.
"They did not charge him with Iman's murder, only with small offenses, and now they say he is innocent of those even though he shot my daughter so many times," he said. "This was the cold-blooded murder of a girl. The soldier murdered her once and the court has murdered her again. What is the message? They are telling their soldiers to kill Palestinian children."
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/not-guilty-israeli-soldier-shot-palestinian-girl-17-times
The Killing of Iman al Hams from Scottish PSC on Vimeo.
Not guilty. The Israeli captain who emptied his rifle into a Palestinain schoolgirl
By: Chris Mcgreal – The Guardian
--· Officer ignored warnings that teenager was terrified
--· Defence says ‘confirming the kill’ standard practice
An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday.
The soldier, who has only been identified as “Captain R”, was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago.
The manner of Iman’s killing, and the revelation of a tape recording in which the captain is warned that she was just a child who was “scared to death”, made the shooting one of the most controversial since the Palestinian intifada erupted five years ago even though hundreds of other children have also died.
After the verdict, Iman’s father, Samir al-Hams, said the army never intended to hold the soldier accountable.
“They did not charge him with Iman’s murder, only with small offences, and now they say he is innocent of those even though he shot my daughter so many times,” he said. “This was the cold-blooded murder of a girl. The soldier murdered her once and the court has murdered her again. What is the message? They are telling their soldiers to kill Palestinian children.”
The military court cleared the soldier of illegal use of his weapon, conduct unbecoming an officer and perverting the course of justice by asking soldiers under his command to alter their accounts of the incident.
Capt R’s lawyers argued that the “confirmation of the kill” after a suspect is shot was a standard Israeli military practice to eliminate terrorist threats.
Following the verdict, Capt R burst into tears, turned to the public benches and said: “I told you I was innocent.”
The army’s official account said that Iman was shot for crossing into a security zone carrying her schoolbag which soldiers feared might contain a bomb. It is still not known why the girl ventured into the area but witnesses described her as at least 100 yards from the military post which was in any case well protected.
A recording of radio exchanges between Capt R and his troops obtained by Israeli television revealed that from the beginning soldiers identified Iman as a child.
In the recording, a soldier in a watchtower radioed a colleague in the army post’s operations room and describes Iman as “a little girl” who was “scared to death”. After soldiers first opened fire, she dropped her schoolbag which was then hit by several bullets establishing that it did not contain explosive. At that point she was no longer carrying the bag and, the tape revealed, was heading away from the army post when she was shot.
Although the military speculated that Iman might have been trying to “lure” the soldiers out of their base so they could be attacked by accomplices, Capt R made the decision to lead some of his troops into the open. Shortly afterwards he can be heard on the recording saying that he has shot the girl and, believing her dead, then “confirmed the kill”.
“I and another soldier … are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill … Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her … I also confirmed the kill. Over,” he said.
Palestinian witnesses said they saw the captain shoot Iman twice in the head, walk away, turn back and fire a stream of bullets into her body.
On the tape, Capt R then “clarifies” to the soldiers under his command why he killed Iman: “This is commander. Anything that’s mobile, that moves in the [security] zone, even if it’s a three-year-old, needs to be killed.”
At no point did the Israeli troops come under attack.
The prosecution case was damaged when a soldier who initially said he had seen Capt R point his weapon at the girl’s body and open fire later told the court he had fabricated the story.
Capt R claimed that he had not fired the shots at the girl but near her. However, Dr Mohammed al-Hams, who inspected the child’s body at Rafah hospital, counted numerous wounds.
“She has at least 17 bullets in several parts of the body, all along the chest, hands, arms, legs,” he told the Guardian shortly afterwards. “The bullets were large and shot from a close distance. The most serious injuries were to her head. She had three bullets in the head. One bullet was shot from the right side of the face beside the ear. It had a big impact on the whole face.”
The army’s initial investigation concluded that the captain had “not acted unethically”. But after some of the soldiers under his command went to the Israeli press to give a different version, the military police launched a separate investigation after which he was charged.
Capt R claimed that the soldiers under his command were out to get him because they are Jewish and he is Druze.
The transcript
The following is a recording of a three-way conversation that took place between a soldier in a watchtower, an army operations room and Capt R, who shot the girl
From the watchtower “It’s a little girl. She’s running defensively eastward.” “Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?” “A girl about 10, she’s behind the embankment, scared to death.” “I think that one of the positions took her out.” “I and another soldier … are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill … Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her … I also confirmed the kill. Over.”
From the operations room “Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?”
Watchtower “A girl about 10, she’s behind the embankment, scared to death.”
A few minutes later, Iman is shot from one of the army posts
Watchtower “I think that one of the positions took her out.”
Captain R “I and another soldier … are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill … Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her … I also confirmed the kill. Over.”
Capt R then “clarifies” why he killed Iman
“This is commander. Anything that’s mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it’s a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over.”
http://fwd4.me/0izp
(2:53) Iman al-Hams
28 apr 2012, 22:54 , Respect -
Maria 31 aug 2010
Police: Teens lynched American in Jerusalem
Police: Teens lynched American in Jerusalem 13, 15 charged with killing 60-year old because he wouldn't give them a cigarette.
Two residents of Jerusalem, aged 13 and 15, are suspected of beating a 60-year old American Jew to death in the city center a week ago, police said Tuesday.
The man, Lance Wolf, was hospitalized and died of his wounds a few days after the attack.
A preliminary investigation suggests that the motive for the beating was the man's refusal to give the boys a cigarette when they demanded it of him after having become inebriated at a friend's birthday party.
The attack occurred last Wednesday. Police say the two teens approached an adult at the site and asked him to purchase alcoholic beverages for them. He agreed, and bought them a bottle of vodka. Later they approached Wolf, asking for a cigarette, and he refused.
The teens told police that Wolf "was insolent and cursed", and that they decided to take revenge by beating him with a wooden plank they found nearby. The beating was caught on film by a security camera , which also recorded the assailants' flight along with three witnesses who had stood by as Wolf was beaten.
The 60-year old man lay bleeding while passersby did nothing, and rescue forces were alerted only after 50 minutes had gone by. Wolf was then taken by paramedics to Hadassah Ein Kerem, where he eventually died of his wounds.
Police say that if paramedics had gotten to him sooner, he probably would have lived.
'Parents have responsiblity'
The two teens were arrested last Thursday at their homes in a northern neighborhood of the capital, but the a gag order was imposed on the case until an indictment could be filed against them.
The victim is an American-born man whose children live in the US. At first police could find no identification on him and assumed he was homeless, but later he was found to have lived for close to two years in Jerusalem. His family has been notified.
Chief Inspector Yedidyah Yaakov, who interrogated the suspects, says they have no criminal records and seem "normative."
"Are they sorry he's dead? I guess so. They understand it. They understand the severity of their actions," he said.
The police officer added: "I want every parent with kids this age to think about where they are and whether they are drinking vodka at some square. The parents have a huge responsibility."
On Monday the two were brought before the court for a hearing. The 13-year old broke out crying, and relatives said it was the first time they had been allowed to see the suspects.
"The detectives have turned him into a killer," said a brother of one of the teens, while a friend of the family said there was no way he was involved.
"The parents are staying up at night, crying. He's a good, sensitive," she said.
Security camera footage of murder: http://fwd4.me/0k1S 28 apr 2012, 22:54 , Respect -
Maria 4 sept 2010
2 Killed, 3 Injured During Israeli Airstrike on Southern Gaza
Two men have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern part of the Gaza Strip, Saturday night. The assault was focused on the smuggling tunnels between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, and injured three others.
The smuggling tunnels are a vital life line for the area due to the military siege of the Strip, imposed by the state of Israel since June 2007. The siege restricts products allowed into Gaza, including healthy food and concrete needed to rebuild Gaza’s damaged infrastructure following Operation Cast Lead.
The Israeli military stated that the attack came in response to attacks, including one rocket fired from the coastal enclave earlier in the day; an attack that was claimed by the Popular Resistance Committee.
Furthermore, four Israelis were killed, and two injured, in two attacks earlier in the week
The Popular Resistance Committee are a coalition of armed groups, based in the Gaza Strip, who have claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against Israel, since their inception in 2000.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59362 28 apr 2012, 22:55 , Respect -
Maria 4 sept 2010
Saleem Mohammed al-Harrab, 19Khaled 'Abdul Karim al-Khatib, 35
from al-Boreij refugee camp
Israeli warplanes bombarded a tunnel at the Egyptian border to the south of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. As a result, two workers were killed and two others were wounded.
Salim Muhammad Badawi al-Hatab
Khaled 'Abd al-Karim Muhammad al-Khatib 28 apr 2012, 22:55 , Respect -
Maria 5 sept 2010
Israel holding remains of Palestinians killed in 1969
NABLUS (Ma’an) -- Israel has not returned the bodies of two Palestinians killed 41 years ago in the northern West Bank, relatives said Sunday.
Ahraf Othman, from Al-Majdal village south of Nablus, said his father Issa was killed by Israeli soldiers on 5 September 1969, and Muhammad Fazi from Qusra, north of the city, was killed on the same day 41 years ago Sunday.
The men, both Fatah operatives, died in a military operation near Jamma'In and Beit Furik, he said.
"I have an official certificate from Israeli forces proving that they killed my father, and all I want is to get his body back," Ashraf said adding that he would cooperate with the Palestinian National Campaign for the Release of Martyrs' Bodies to file a lawsuit against the Israeli government to bury his father in his village.
Last month, Israeli authorities delivered the remains of Mashhur Talab Al-Aruri to his village near Ramallah, 34 years after he was killed. It was not clear why his body was held for so long.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=313326 28 apr 2012, 22:55 , Respect -
Maria 5 sept 2010
Group: Officer who killed Palestinian received public money
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- An Israeli police officer convicted of manslaughter for killing an unarmed Palestinian received over $90,000 of Israeli public money, a rights group said Sunday.
Adalah, the legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel, said Sunday that it had obtained internal Israeli police documentation revealing that officer Shahar Mizrahi received almost 350,000 shekels (over $90,000) in financial assistance from the Israeli police for his legal defense.
In July 2006, Mizrahi shot Mahammoud Ghanayim, 24, in the head at close range after using his gun to smash the window of the car in which Ghanayim was sitting.
Ghanayim was suspected of stealing a car, but investigations by advocacy group Mossawa found that, despite police claims, Ghanayim was the documented owner of the car he was driving.
Mizrahi was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment. The officer appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court.
On 21 July 2010 the Supreme Court overturned Mizrahi’s appeal and doubled his sentence to 30 months, noting that Ghanayim did not pose any threat when Mizrahi shot him at close range. The court also noted that Mizrahi had changed his testimony several times during investigations.
Adalah reported that Israeli police gave Mizrahi over 161,000 shekels (more than $42,500) for legal expenses in the initial criminal case, and a further 186,000 shekels (almost $50,000) for his appeal to the Supreme Court.
The decision of the Supreme Court to extend Mizrahi’s sentence was met with condemnation from government and police officials.
"I won’t merely support a pardon bid, I’ll lead it," Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said, adding that the sentence sent "a terrible message to police officers."
Mizrahi remained a salaried employee of the Israeli police after his indictment, and even after his appeal to the Supreme Court failed, Adalah said.
Orna Kohn, an attorney for Adalah, wrote to head of Human Resources of the Israeli Police, Amihai Shai on 1 September asking under what grounds Mizrahi was granted this support.
"This is an extreme case whereby a police officer was indicted and convicted of manslaughter, appeals to the Supreme Court which upholds the conviction and doubles his sentence, and yet he remained a police officer throughout this entire process. The police gave him extraordinary financial assistance for his legal defense, essentially public money," Kohn said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=313387 28 apr 2012, 22:55 , Respect -
Maria 9 sept 2010
1 dead in West Bank shooting
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Gunmen shot dead one person near the illegal settlement of Ma'ale Adumim in the occupied West Bank late Thursday, Israeli security sources said.
One other person was seriously injured in the apparent attack, medics said.
Israel Radio reported that the victims were Palestinian citizens of Israel, and no suspected motive was immediately announced.
Israel Radio reported that the victims were Palestinian citizens of Israel, and no suspected motive was immediately announced.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=314304 28 apr 2012, 22:55 , Respect -
Maria 12-13 sept 2010
Three shepherds, including elderly man, killed by Israeli forces in northern Gaza
Late Sunday evening, Israeli forces stationed on the Gaza-Israel border fired tank shells across the border into the Gaza Strip, killing three shepherds – although Israel claims the men were fighters preparing to fire a homemade shell into Israel.
The men who were killed were identified as 19-year old Ibrahim Abu Said, 21-year old Ismail Abu Odeh, and the grandfather of Ismail Abu Odeh, according to medical sources.
Although an Israeli military spokesperson claimed that the men were identified as fighters trying to fire a projectile into Israel, local sources report that the men were in fact shepherds. No Palestinian armed group stepped forward to claim that the men were fighters, which the groups always do when any of their fighters are killed.
The killings come after a series of Israeli bombings on Friday, the Muslim holy day of Eid al-Fatr, which destroyed three municipal buildings in Gaza. These bombings sparked the Palestinian resistance in Gaza to shoot off eleven homemade projectiles over the course of the weekend, which landed in open areas in Israel, causing no injuries or damage.
Over twenty Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since last year on the Gaza-Israel border, many of whom were killed for allegedly getting too close to the 'no-man's land' that Israel has established on the Gazan side of the border.
http://www.imemc.org/article/59397
14 sept 2010
Rights group denounces Gaza 'RPG' deaths
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Center for Human Rights denounced on Tuesday Israel's shelling that resulted in the deaths of three civilians in Gaza, which the army has now conceded was likely a mistake.
According to PCHR, three Palestinian shepherds -- two young men and an elderly grandfather -- were killed as well as 30 sheep. So much fire was used that body parts of the victims, including a head, are still missing.
The rights group said in a statement that "these crimes are part of a series of the Israeli crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which reflect [the Israeli military's] disregard for the lives of Palestinians."
The group also called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for its actions.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=314927 28 apr 2012, 22:55 , Respect -
Maria 12 sept 2010
Ismail Waleed Muhammad abu-Oda, 17Ibrahim Abdullah Mousa Abu Es'ayed, 91
Husam Khaled Ibrahim Abdallah Musa abu-Said, 16,
of Block 7 in Jabalya refugee camp, Gaza, killed, with his friend and grandfather, by shrapnel from an IDF shell while farming in abu-Eida, near the Gaza perimeter fence east of Beit Hanoun.