[News] Israeli Child-killer released ...

[News at freedomarchives.org]

Israeli army commander released
By Laila El-Haddad in Gaza
<http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2250618E-C876-4AEC-BBCB-B4E5C9CF5D69.htm>http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2250618E-C876-4AEC-BBCB-B4E5C9CF5D69.htm
Monday 07 February 2005, 5:19 Makka Time, 2:19 GMT
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At least 644 Palestinian children have been killed since 2000


An Israeli military court has ordered the release of the army commander 
responsible for shooting to death a young Palestinian girl at point-blank 
range in the Gaza Strip last year, according to the Israeli press.

Thirteen-year-old Iman al-Hams's body was found riddled with over 17 
bullets near an army post in the southern <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = 
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Gaza strip refugee camp of 
Rafah last October. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />



The accused commander, identified only as Captain R, was released on Sunday 
after being confined to an army base for two months.



The Israeli army had initially said that Iman was shot because soldiers 
feared she was carrying a bomb in her book bag as she approached an 
occupation watchtower in a security zone that overlooks the refugee camp.



But a three-way radio exchange between the officers that was broadcast on 
Israeli television in November made clear that the soldiers knew al-Hams 
was a young girl that posed no threat.



The soldiers in the recording immediately identified al-Hams as a girl of 
"about 10" that was "scared to death". She was shot in the legs nonetheless.



Captain R then shot the wounded girl twice in the head, and "confirmed the 
kill" by emptying his magazine into her limp body.



He then said he would have killed her "even if she was three-years-old".

Minor charges

The tape also revealed that the soldiers knew Iman was headed eastwards, 
away from the army post and back into the refugee camp, when she was shot.

Captain R faced only minor charges such as illegal use of his weapons and 
conduct unbecoming of an officer.

Iman's outraged parents have said they want him prosecuted for murder.

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Israeli rights groups say soldiers
are allowed to kill with impunity

The girl was one of 172 children killed in Gaza in 2004 - and one of 644 
killed since the start of al-Aqsa intifada in September 2000, accounting 
for about 20% of Palestinian deaths.

But only one Israeli soldier has been found guilty of manslaughter, 
although some1700 unarmed Palestinians have been killed since the start of 
the intifada, according to the Israeli human rights group B'tselem.

That soldier received a punishment of four months in jail and a reduction 
in rank.

The Israeli rights group accuses the Israeli military of granting impunity 
to occupation soldiers who kill Palestinian civilians by issuing what they 
call "offensive sentences".

The Israeli army, they say, has an "intolerable disregard for Palestinian 
life, as reflected in the open-fire regulations which encourage a 
trigger-happy attitude among soldiers, and its policy to cover up and 
refrain from investigating the killing of civilians".

Of the thousands of cases of dead Palestinians, only 90 were investigated 
by the military police, 29 of which were filed as indictments, resulting in 
just one conviction.

Open-fire regulations



The group says that new open-fire regulations established at the start of 
the intifada permit soldiers to shoot at Palestinians in non-combat, non 
life-threatening situations, as they did Iman.



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More than 170 Palestinian children
were killed in 2004 alone

The orders are given to the soldiers orally so the senior command can 
escape responsibility in a trial situation, and so the account of what 
happened will be obfuscated.



At the same time, the Judge Advocate General (JAG) has decided to reduce 
the number of military police investigations into the killing of Palestinians.

In an interview with Aljazeera.net last year given on the condition of 
anonymity, an Israeli army reservist confirmed the accusations, saying the 
leniency of the punishment and lax enforcement of the law, create a 
situation in which Israeli military crimes go unpunished.

"If there is a trial, it will be only the soldier and the battalion 
commander. It's what they call 'discipline': The soldier hears out the 
commander and says to him 'Okay, sure', then spends seven days in prison 
and no one except the unit will know about it, including the press."

The source also spoke of a "code of silence" as well as other unwritten 
laws and behavioural norms that prevail throughout the military apparatus 
and aggravate the problem.

"I don't trust the system. It's hard, even when an investigation is open, 
to get to the truth," the officer said.

Aljazeera
<http://www.al-awdacal.org>http://www.al-awdacal.org
http://www.al-awdasandiego.org/


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