Brigadier General Tamir prosecuted for letting his son drive a military vehicle, but not for killing Palestinian civilians

Haaretz Last update - 09:06 31/07/2008
Neither an officer nor a gentleman
By Gideon Levy

Brigadier General Moshe "Chico" Tamir is a devoted and loving father who let his 14-year-old son drive a military all-terrain vehicle. Being the law-abiding organization that it is, the Israel Defense Forces probed the incident, calling it "serious." As a result, Tamir's promotion may be put on hold and he may be indicted. Certainly, a brigade commander who tried to cover up his son's accident by lying deserves to be punished. But the commander of the Gaza Brigade deserves much more for acts considerably more serious - acts that the world defines as war crimes and for which no one has been held accountable. I would like Tamir, the dedicated father, to meet a girl the same age as his beloved son whose world fell apart when she was 14 years old. I saw her in mourning in November 2006, in the courtyard of her destroyed house in Beit Hanun. Islam Athamneh lost eight family members: Her mother, grandmother, grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins. They fled their house when it was struck by a shell and were killed by another onslaught. The legs of Abdullah, her three-year-old brother, were blown off. Islam, whose father had died years earlier, became an orphan. The soldiers who fired the 11 shells at houses in Beit Hanun were under the command of Tamir, the dedicated dad who let his son take a Tomcar for a joyride. Some 22 people were killed in the shelling and another 40 were hurt. Most lost limbs or sustained head wounds.

It was the Gaza Brigade commander, Tamir, who was responsible for that atrocity, but the IDF quickly absolved him of blame. Instead, they placed it on a faulty electronic component in the gun barrel. It was the chip, not Chico, who was to blame. In the seven days before the heinous shelling, which violates international law, Tamir's troops managed to kill 80 Palestinians, 40 of whom were innocent civilians, as part of Operation Autumn Clouds. Their blood was let and their deaths pale in significance to the Tomcar affair as far as the army is concerned. After all, what's some unlawful killing en masse next to illegally driving an ATV?

If indicted, it won't be the first time Tamir has been tried in court. In the summer of 2002, when he was the commander of the Golani Brigade, his soldiers fired a tank shell at a grocers' market in Jenin. That, too, was a war crime, but not to Israel. A 53-year-old vendor and three other children - two of whom were brothers - died in the shelling. They also had fathers who loved their sons just as much as Tamir loves his. The Military Advocate General believed Tamir was guilty of negligence, but a court cleared him of all charges. A few weeks later, Tamir's tanks fired a shell at the same market. This time, they killed a vendor who was loading onions onto his Peugeot 504.

Former IDF chief Moshe Yaalon once said about this officer and gentleman that he needs "reeducating" because of endemic disciplinary problems in his brigade. The person who bragged that his brigade behaved like Rottweilers; who thought more violence should be used against Palestinians; who said that the destruction his soldiers caused in a Jenin refugee camp did not "cause him any moral dilemmas," may now finally be punished. And for what? A Tomcar. And what might just spare him? For all his misdoings, this man may be cleared of blame because he is considered a "well-respected and important" officer in the IDF.

Soldier filmed shooting bound Palestinian released from detention

Haaretz Last update - 18:58 22/07/2008
By News Agencies

The Israel Defense Forces soldier filmed shooting at a handcuffed Palestinian near the West Bank town of Na'alin last week was released from police detention on Tuesday and sent back to join his unit. The soldier, who was was filmed shooting a bound and blindfolded Palestinian with a rubber bullet at point blank range, told military investigators on Monday that his regiment commander had ordered him to fire. The incident was caught on camera by a villager and released Sunday by the human rights group B'Tselem. The footage apparently shows a soldier firing his rifle toward a Palestinian detained at the protest in the West Bank village of Na'alin. The rifle appeared to have been modified to fire rubber-coated metal bullets.

During his questioning, the soldier said that his commander, lieutenant colonel Omri, had told him "shoot him" three times. He then fired his rifle at the protester's foot. Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday condemnded the incident. "The Israeli military will investigate the incident, learn its lessons and hold those responsible to account," Barak said in televised remarks to legislators in his Labour Party. "Warriors do not behave like this." The soldier was arrested Sunday, but the defense asked for his release saying he did not pose a danger to anyone.

During the course of the investigation, the commander, seen in the video holding the Palestinian detainee, was also questioned. Military sources said that the commander was surprised by the shooting and that the incident had likely resulted from a misunderstanding between the soldier and the officer.

The incident occurred July 7 during protests in the village of Na'alin against the construction of Israel's barrier in the West Bank. The protester, Abu-Rahama, 27, had been tied up and blindfolded and was standing only a few centimeters away. Abu-Rahama told B'Tselem that he was beaten by the soldiers and then herded by soldiers and officers into a military jeep. In the video, a soldier is seen aiming his weapon at the demonstrator's legs from a short range. Abu-Rahama said he sustained wounds to his left foot and then received first aid treatment by an army medic on the spot before being released. An army statement said a military doctor who examined him found he had been "very slightly wounded with swelling to a toe on his right foot".

According to B'Tselem, the shooting was witnessed by several other soldiers and officers. The organization allegedly demanded an investigation be opened into his role and that the soldier who fired the gun "be brought to justice." "This was a serious incident in stark violation of the [military's] rules of conduct and safety," the army statement said. "The advocate-general ... ordered a military police investigation into the incident upon receiving the footage."

The video was filmed by a Palestinian girl, 14, from a window in her home in the village. "But there are questions about the edited parts," Major Avital Leibovitz, a military spokeswoman said, referring to the point where the video stops. The clip then resumes and shows footage of what appears to be a few moments later with Abu Rahama laying on the ground. B'Tselem's spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said the girl had accidentally stopped filming when she was startled by the gunshot and continued as soon as she became aware she had pressed the stop button.

As part of its "Shooting Back" project, B'Tselem has distributed about 100 cameras to Palestinians throughout the West Bank over the last year. Of these, several dozen were handed out in the Hebron area, where friction between Palestinians and Israelis is routine. B'Tselem released a video last month showing the beginning of an apparent assault by masked, stick-wielding settlers on Palestinian farmers. The footage shows four people holding sticks approaching the farmers near the settlement of Susya outside Hebron in the West Bank. One strikes a blow before the camera falls. Israel Police this month arrested two resident of the Susya settlement, one of them a minor, suspected of involvement in the attack.

Police fail to bring indictments in settler attacks on Palestinians

Haaretz Last update - 06:28 09/07/2008
By Jonathan Lis

Only 10 percent of the instances in which Palestinians accused settlers of attacking them ended up in indictments being filed against the suspects, according to data presented today by the human rights group Yesh Din. The group examined 205 different cases of alleged assault by settlers that were reported over the years. The data on the 205 cases also shows that 163 of the cases have been closed by police and prosecution officials. Only in 13 cases, 8 percent, were indictments filed, while 149 cases were closed without charges being brought against the suspects. The group argues that police in the West Bank have failed in completing investigations on suspected attacks against Palestinians there.

'Weak arm of the law' "The weak arm [of the law] avoids enforcing laws on Israelis living in the West Bank, causes the state of Israel to violate its ethical and international obligations vis a vis the population under our control," said Michael Sfard, the legal counsel for Yesh Din. The group says that of the 149 police investigations that were closed, in 91 cases this was done because the "violator's identity was not known." Forty-three other cases were closed for lack of evidence, and the rest because there was no criminal violation, no public interest or for no obvious reason. In response the police in the West Bank said Tuesday that during 2007 "a total of 550 cases were opened in cases of disturbing the peace, involving Israelis against Palestinians, left wing activists or the security forces. Of these only 195 cases were violations against Palestinians." The police also pointed out that "of the 69 indictments of disturbing the peace, 30 of the cases involved a Palestinian plaintiff."

Report: 90% probes into attacks against Palestinians close with no indictment

Report: 90% probes into attacks against Palestinians close with no indictment
Human rights organization Yesh Din releases data showing only small number of police investigations into offenses committed by settlers against Palestinians in West Bank end with indictments filed against defendants. Police say data inaccurate, a respectable number of files reach court

Ynet Published: 07.09.08, 08:02

Nine out of 10 investigations into attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank end without no indictment served, according to data released Wednesday by the human rights organization Yesh Din which monitors the handling of investigations into offenses committed against Palestinians.
The report includes 205 inquiry files opened in recent years, out of which police processing and prosecutorial review have concluded in only 163 files. Out of those 163, only in 13 (8%) of the cases were indictments filed against defendants.

According to the organization, one case file was lost and never investigated, and 149 (91%) investigation files were closed without filing any indictments against suspects.
Yesh Din followed the processing by investigation and prosecution bodies of three main
categories of complaints: Offenses of various kinds of assaults, trespassing on Palestinian
land and offenses of causing damage to Palestinian property.
Out of 81 investigation files concerned with assault offenses, the processing of 62 has been completed. In 53 of the cases the investigation was closed.
Seventy-nine of the cases monitored by Yesh Din are concerned with the offense of criminal trespass and accompanying offenses: Cutting down, uprooting and setting fire to
olive and other fruit trees, seizing land, damaging crops, stealing olive sacks during the
harvest season and others. The police recommended filing indictments in only five of these cases.

In 22 investigation files concerned with damage to Palestinian property – theft, arson, vandalizing agricultural equipment and damage to other property – not one indictment was filed.
Following the findings, the organization asked for the police's explanation on the small number of cases ending with indictments. According to the police, 91 investigation files were closed on grounds of "perpetrator unknown" and 43 cases were closed on grounds of "lack of evidence".
In addition, one case was closed on grounds of "lack of public interest" and nine cases were closed based on "no criminal culpability."

'Settlers violent against Israelis, soldiers as well'
Lior Yavne, who oversees Yesh Din's research, data collection and public information, said that the police and State Prosecutor's Office must conduct a thorough self-examination due to the severe findings.
"In the end of 2006 we revealed the many failures and shortcomings leading to failure in 90% of the police investigations into Israeli civilians' offenses against Palestinians. The fact that the failure rate remains as it was, obligates the police and the State Prosecutor's Office to take real measures in order to fix the failures we revealed in the investigation files," he said.
According to the organization, the settlers' violence will eventually be directed also at security forces personnel serving in the area.
"The weak hand refraining from enforcing the law against Israelis living in the West Bank causes the State of Israel to violate its moral and international duties towards the people we control. And as has been proven in the past, wrongdoing against Palestinians which is not enforced by the law will also be directed against security forces and Israeli civilians who are not part of the settlers' group," said Attorney Michael Sfarad, Yesh Din's legal advisor.

The Judea and Samaria District Police said in response to the report that a total of 550 investigation files into riots of Israelis against Palestinians, security forces and left-wing activists were opened in 2007. Out of all the files, only 195 dealt with attacks against Palestinians.
Out of the 323 files handed over to the State Prosecutor's Office, the police said, indictments were served in 69 cases of riots, and some 30 were opened following a complaint filed by a Palestinian against an Israeli. Out of all the investigation files handled last year, the prosecution obtained conviction in 83 files, some of which began before 2007.

Barak orders demolition of Jerusalem, yeshiva terrorists' homes

Haaretz Last update - 19:59 04/07/2008
By Haaretz Service

Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the Israel Defense Forces to issue injunctions calling to demolish the homes of two East Jerusalem men who had perpetrated terror attacks against Israeli civilians in Jerusalem, Army Radio reported Friday. The first home to be demolished housed Hussam Duwiyat, who plowed a bulldozer into a string of vehicles in downtown Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding dozens more. The second terrorist included in the injunction is Alaa Abu Dhaim who infiltrated the
Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem in March and gunned down eight students, also wounding many. Both perpetrators were killed by security forces during their respective attacks.

Barak's order was mainly based on Thursday's announcement by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz stating that razing homes of terrorists is permissable by law. Mazuz informed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Barak that rulings made by the High Court of Justice over the years clarify there is no constitutional barrier to demolishing the home of a terrorist, although there are legal obstacles in both the local and international arenas that must be considered. However, Mazuz warned Friday that the order could still raise legal difficulties in the international law arena as well as in Israel's law considerations.

A security source on Friday added that Barak's decision is not likely to be implemented immediately, but rather marks only the first stage in a process leading up to the actual demolition. An alternative option that had been voiced in recent days was to seal off the home of the East Jerusalem terrorist, so as to avoid causing damage to two other families who also live in the same building.

In response to Barak's order, human rights group B'Tselem called on Mazuz "not to sacrifice justice and morality on the altar of revenge." The group said that security experts had in the past concluded that the demolition of houses does not deter potential terrorists from carrying out attacks. B'Tselem maintains that these demolitions actually serve to fuel terror rather than eradicate it.

Mazuz arrived at his ruling on Thursday that the demolition was permissable after in-depth discussions, held at his office and at the State Prosecution office over the question of whether Israel is permitted under the law to demolish the home of the East Jerusalem terrorists. Prior to the discussions, the Shin Bet security service and the Military Advocate General submitted to Mazuz their legal opinion on the matter. Barak and Olmert also submitted their views, both backing the demolition of the terrorists' homes. Mazuz added that "the individual examination of the circumstances of each incident must be carried out by the Shin Bet and the army in coordination with the Justice Ministry, as is customary."

Earlier Thursday, Olmert reiterated his call to demolish the East Jerusalem home of Wednesday's terror attack perpetrator. "This is an attack which came from within Israel, into Israel. It creates a string of scenarios we never thought we would have to deal with in the past. We have invested thousands in the construction of a security fence. While it has been very effective, it turns out that a fence cannot give us the answer to the problem of terror which comes from our side," he said.

Speaking from the Ceasaria business forum in the southern port city of Eilat, Olmert also said the social benefits of the terrorist's family should be taken away in light of the attack. "I think we need to be tougher in some of the means we use against perpetrators of terror," Olmert told the conference. "If we have to destroy houses, then we must do so, and if we have to stop their social benefits, then we must do so. There cannot be a case where they massacre us and at the same time they get all the privileges that our society provides," he said.

Ramon: Cut off parts of East Jerusalem from capital

Vice Premier Haim Ramon (Kadima) told Army Radio on Thursday morning that Israel should treat the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Jabel Mukaber and Zur Baher as Palestinian villages, and revoke the permanent residency status of their residents. Wednesday's attacker came from Zur Baher, and Jabel Mukaber was the home of the Mercaz Harav terrorist. In the aftermath of both attacks, Ramon called for the two neighborhoods to be entirely cut off from Jerusalem.

"One of the main reasons that the attack was carried out yesterday with such ease was because there are Palestinian villages that for some reason are called Jerusalem - Jabel Mukaber and Zur Baher. They need to be treated as we treat Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jenin and Nablus," Ramon told Army Radio. "These are Palestinian villages that were never part of Jerusalem, they were annexed to the city in 1967. No Israeli has ever been there, and doesn't go near there," Ramon added, continuing, "If the separation fence was west of the two villages, which we all call Jerusalem, it would have been a lot harder to carry out these kinds of attacks. It's forbidden for [residents of the neighborhoods] to have Israeli identification cards. How many more Israelis will have to pay with their lives until this is carried out?"

Ramon also told Army Radio that he felt, as opposed to the prime minister and his fellow ministers, that demolishing the home of the terrorist's family would not prevent the next terror attack. However, he said that the house should be demolished anyway, if the law allows it. "I doubt that demolishing the house will achieve what it aims to achieve, though if possible, the house must be razed. The laws must be made to fit the policy and we mustn't give up," Ramon said. "What we are permitted to do, we must do as soon as possible." On Wednesday, following the attack, Olmert and Barak called for terrorists' homes to be razed, and Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski echoed this sentiment.

Palestinians: Settlers fired rockets at us

Palestinians: Settlers fired rockets at us
Residents of West Bank village say Jews from nearby settlement trying to take over disputed grazing land by setting it on fire, launching rockets, mortars at their homes
Ali Waked Published: 07.04.08, 00:09

Palestinians from the northern West Bank village of Burin claimed Thursday that in the past few days they have suffered a series of attacks at the hands of Jews from the nearby settlement of Bracha in an effort to keep them away from grazing land.
According to the Palestinians, the settlers set nearly one acre of land on fire, fired into the air and even launched rockets toward their homes. No injuries were reported in either incident.
Abu Morasi, a local shepherd, said the settlers want to abolish him and his fellow shepherds from the disputed land in order to establish a new outpost nearby. According to him, during the past week the settlers have fired mortars toward the village on two separate occasions.
"Yesterday (Wednesday) they set up tents (on the land) but the army came and dismantled them," he said. "They don’t want us anywhere near the land so they can take it over and gradually advance toward the village.
"Today officials from the Civil Administration and the police arrived and tried to clear the settlers from the area, but they left without warning the settlers, and seconds later the settlers continued firing into the air and we threw stones at one another." Abu Morasi, 57, said.
"We shepherds are afraid to go out on our own to the fields for fear of being attacked. The settlers kill a goat or a sheep from time to time without any Israeli authoritative body stopping them."
The Judea and Samaria Police said in response "we have yet to receive a complaint regarding the burning of fields," but added that two days ago Palestinians filed a complaint saying settlers from Yitzhar of Bracha fired a missile. Police said security forces entered the village in search of the missile.

"The Palestinians handed parts of the 'missile' over to the police – or more like pipes they say are used as missiles," police said, "the IDF transferred the parts to Border Guard sappers, and their examination revealed that the parts were either cylindrical bins used to hold flares or firecrackers.
Efrat Weiss contributed to the report

Jerusalem terrorist's family told to take down mourners' tent

Haaretz Last update - 15:59 03/07/2008
By Jonathan Lis, Avi Issacharoff and Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondents

The family of the East Jerusalem Palestinian who killed three people in an attack in the capital on Wednesday was told by Border Police on Thursday to remove a mourning tent it had set up to mark his death. Hussam Duwiyat, 30, from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Zur Baher, was shot dead by security forces after stealing a bulldozer from the construction site where he was working and driving it into a bus and a number of cars on Jaffa Street in downtown Jerusalem. Three people were killed and dozens were wounded. The family lawyer said Wednesday that Duwiyat was not a terrorist and therefore the attack could not be described as terror. "This is a tragic event, the family and I send our condolences to the bereaved families and wish the wounded a speedy recovery,": said Shimon Kokush. "This was a young man who was jailed for rape. He was a junkie and drug-user." According to his family, Duwiyat had been employed as a bulldozer operator in recent years. He was not known to be involved in political activism in his community. However, the Battalions for the Liberation of the Galilee claimed responsibility for the attack, saying Duwiyat was recruited several months ago. Security sources said that the claim was likely false.

Palestinians who approach Gaza fence will be shot, says IDF

Haaretz Last update - 10:05 01/07/2008
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

Israel has informed Hamas it will fire "warning shots" at Palestinians who enter an area west of the Gaza Strip border fence, extending for several hundred meters. Egyptian officials told Hamas of the new procedure, which is expected to raise tensions between the two sides. Israel's representative in truce talks, Amos Gilad, told Egyptian mediators of the decision to declare the area west of the border a "special security zone" and to prevent Palestinians from entering it. The Egyptians informed Hamas, which objects to the plan.

Several incidents have occurred near the fence since a cease-fire came into effect on June 19. Earlier this week the United Nations sources reported eight cease-fire violations by Israel. Most of these violations apparently consisted of Israeli troops firing at people who approached the fence. The information relies mainly on Palestinian accounts.

Israel is interested in maintaining the security zone for fear that Palestinian terror groups will use the truce to plant explosives on the Palestinian side of the fence. This would prepare them if fighting resumes. In the past, explosives aimed at Israel Defense Forces vehicles on the Israeli side have been planted in this area. Israel also fears that Hamas might build a line of fortifications along the fence as a basis for further attacks, as Hezbollah did in Lebanon between Israel's pullout from South Lebanon in 2000 and the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

However, preventing people from approaching the fence will block Palestinian farmers' access to their lands. Farmers have been unable to reach their fields for years because of the fighting along the border. The IDF suspects that some of the farmers are sent by terror organizations to plant bombs or observe Israeli troops.

Throughout the second intifada Israel declared areas along the fence as "security zones." Soldiers were instructed to fire warning shots at people approaching the fence, and for certain periods were allowed to shoot even at unarmed people. These instructions met resistance in the army, with senior officers saying civilians were being killed. The IDF believes that Hamas has recently been taking firmer action to curb other Palestinian factions' attacks against Israel. IDF sources told Haaretz that Hamas' leadership in Gaza apparently wants to maintain the truce and is trying to enforce its authority on the smaller factions. At the beginning of the week Israel opened the border crossings that had been closed last Thursday after Qassam rockets were fired at the Western Negev

B'Tselem cameras pay off for victims of settler attacks

B'Tselem cameras pay off for victims of settler attacks
By Yuval Azoulay
Haaretz Last update - 13:38 17/06/2008

Three months ago, the B'Tselem human rights organization gave Muna al-Nawaja a video camera. Nawaja, 24, lives near the Israeli settlement of Sussya, in the southern West Bank. Between caring for her young son and tending the family's sheep, she learned to use the camera, fell in love with it and now carries it with her everywhere. But its "baptism of fire" occurred last week, on Sunday afternoon. Most Israelis were busy preparing for the Shavuot holiday. But some had a different priority: savagely beating Nawaja's relatives. She managed to capture a few seconds of the beating - in which her 57-year-old aunt was severely injured, and two uncles, age 60 and 33 were hurt - on film. But she never dreamed that it would prove to be the main, and possibly only, evidence available to the police investigating the assault. "There have been previous incidents in this area in which Palestinians were beaten; that is why they gave me a camera," she explained two days ago.

A few seconds before the attack occurred, Nawaja saw four masked men, some carrying clubs, approaching her relatives, who were tending the family flock. They were clearly not dropping by for coffee, so she aimed her camera at them. "I saw them coming from the direction of a Jewish settlement," she said. The men began beating her relatives, but the victims' screams brought no succor. "So at that point, I stopped filming and ran to summon help," she recalled. But by the time the police arrived, the assailants had fled.

B'Tselem, which used to make do with collecting oral testimony from Palestinians about alleged crimes against them, concluded last year that more graphic documentation was needed, on the theory that a picture is worth 1,000 words. "From our past experience, in many cases a Palestinian's word is given less weight than that of a soldier, a policeman or a settler," explained Oren Yakobovich, who heads the organization's video distribution project.

He said a large American Jewish organization, whose members visited Hebron and were shocked, donated a substantial sum of money to purchase the cameras. As part of its "Shooting Back" project, B'Tselem has distributed about 100 cameras to Palestinians throughout the West Bank over the last year. Of these, several dozen were handed out in the Hebron area, where friction between Palestinians and Israelis is routine.

Even in its pilot stage, about 18 months ago, the project proved its worth, when Rajah Abu Aisha of Hebron videotaped his Jewish neighbor, Yifat Alkobi, verbally assaulting his wife, including calling her a slut. A soldier was nearby, but did nothing. Since the "Shooting Back" project was launched, Palestinians have filed 15 complaints of assault or other rights violations, backed by video documentation, with the police and army.

"The army and the police welcome this," said Yakobovich. "They have documentation of the incidents, and that makes the investigation much shorter and quicker." He said the free cameras have also proved popular among the Palestinians. "There are people who call me and request a camera, because they want to feel protected. And undoubtedly, when they carry a camera, they suffer less violence, because a camera is a deterrent. There are even some who go around with a broken camera, just so that people won't come near them."

Nasser al-Nawaja, who distributes the cameras to Hebron-area Palestinians on B'Tselem's behalf, concurred. "Now, they feel that they are safer and better protected," he said. "That is our response. It is better than stones or aggressive weapons. We simply will film what happens here and show it to all of Israel, which doesn't really know what goes on in the territories."

Dichter to police: Demolish home of Jerusalem yeshiva terrorist

Haaretz 17:19 12/03/2008

By Jonathan Lis and Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondents

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter instructed police on Wednesday to demolish the house belonging to the family of the Israeli Arab terrorist who gunned down eight yeshiva students in Jerusalem last Thursday. The house is located in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber. Following the order, police asked the Defense Ministry to examine the legality of the move, and to consider an alternative option of sealing the house.

"I very much hope that in the end that legal establishment will allow us to carry out [the demolition], but without it, nothing can be done," Dichter said at a Knesset session. Alaa Abu Dhaim, the gunman, killed seven teenage boys and one 26-year-old, as well as wounding nine others, when he burst into the Mercaz Harav seminary in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood and opened fire in the library. Dichter also said that police have not destroyed the mourning tent erected for the terrorist since the tent itself is not an offense, and "therefore no [law] enforcement is needed." "I don't suppose the MKs want to live according to Jordanian law," he said, referring to Jordan's refusal last week to allow Abu Dhaim's family to erect a public mourning tent for him in Amman. Dichter maintained that the police are acting according to authorized legal opinions, and not according to their desires and wishes. "Law enforcement is needed when the law is violated. The mourning tent was not taken down because according to the law it cannot be destroyed. I do not recommend interpreting the word 'identification' [with terror] in any other way than the law allows."

Police holding body of yeshiva terrorist in row over funeral

Haaretz 09:32 11/03/2008

By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent

Police are holding the body of the terrorist who attacked the Merkaz Harav yeshiva last week, pending agreement with his family that the funeral would not turn into a show of support for his actions. Police had initially agreed to release the body of the gunman, a resident of East Jerusalem, for burial on Monday. However, shortly before the planned release of the body, the police learned that a large number of people and media had assembled at the cemetery. Police officials decided in response not to hand over the body, saying that the family had breached the terms of their agreement. A proposal that the funeral be held late at night to prevent a large showing was later rejected by police, who claimed the family had broken its promise not to leak the news.

Officers arrested two youths from the terrorist's East Jerusalem neighborhood Monday night on suspicion of putting up Hamas and Hezbollah posters at the mourners' tent erected by the gunman's family. The youths were not members of the terrorist's family and were not involved in the shooting, police said. Probe into initial police response Police will next week release findings regarding their response to last week's terror attack at the Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav yeshiva. A gunman from East Jerusalem killed eight students and injured dozens in the attack. The inquiry is focused on the actions of the police forces that rushed to the incident. It will pay close attention to the response of the first policeman who arrived on the scene; he decided to wait for reinforcement before entering the seminary. The policeman, a rooky who entered the police force only a few months ago, was carrying a gun when the incident occurred. The panel will also examine the policeman's decision to equip Israel Defense Forces soldier, Captain David Shapira, with a police cap to prevent security forces for mistaking him for another terrorist. Shapira entered the building alone armed with his army-issued rifle; he subsequently shot the terrorist dead.

Likud MK to propose ban on public mourning for terrorists

Haaretz 17:44 10/03/2008

By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service

Likud MK Gilad Erdan said Sunday he intends to propose a bill that would ban mourners' tents or any other public form of mourning or remembrance for terrorists. The proposal comes after police said they could not prevent the erection of a mourners' tent in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber honoring Ala Abu Dhaim, who carried out Thursday's terror attack in a Jerusalem yeshiva that killed eight, most of them teenagers. "The State of Israel acts more like a suicidal democracy than a democracy that is defending itself," said Erdan.

"It is our obligation to send a clear message that whoever murders innocent civilians will not only not receive any financial benefits from the state, but also will not be commemorated in public," said Erdan. Meanwhile, six right-wing Israeli activists were detained Sunday afternoon as they prepared to march to the terrorist's home in Jabel Mukaber, where a mourning tent had been set up on Friday. A squad of Israel Police declared the march an illegal gathering and detained several participants.

Knesset speaker calls for demolition of Jerusalem yeshiva terrorist's home

Haaretz 22:10 10/03/2008

By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent

Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik on Monday asked Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to order the demolition of the mourner's tent set up by the family of the terrorist that killed 8 yeshiva boys last week, as well as the demolition of his family's home. On Thursday, Ala Abu Dhaim walked into the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem and began firing. Eight students were killed and nine others were wounded in the attack. The gunman was also killed. According to Itzik, who is currently serving as acting president while Shimon Peres is visiting France, she spoke to Mazuz and said "I know they won't try to stop it. It is not a legal question."

Itzik spoke while touring the Mercaz Harav yeshiva Monday evening. The head of the yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Shapira said "we must destroy the mourner's tent. This isn't normal. In any other place they would destroy it." Itzik replied "it is not a legal question at all. We must demolish the tent and the house." Earlier Monday, Itzik spoke before the Knesset and said "We mustn't politicize the mourning." "Out national unity has been put to the test and we mustn't fail it. This is not the time for partisanship, this is not the time to fight or make accusations," she concluded her speech, in which she called for the establishment of a national unity government.

UN expert: Palestinian terror 'inevitable' result of occupation

Haaretz 19:45 26/02/2008
By The Associated Press

A report commissioned by the United Nations suggests that Palestinian terrorism is the inevitable consequence of Israeli occupation and laws that resemble South African apartheid - a claim Israel rejected Tuesday as enflaming hatred between Jews and Palestinians. The report by John Dugard, independent investigator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the UN Human Rights Council, will be presented next month, but it has been posted on the body's Web site.

In it, Dugard, a South African lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in the 1980s, says "common sense ... dictates that a distinction must be drawn between acts of mindless terror, such as acts committed by Al-Qaida, and acts committed in the course of a war of national liberation against colonialism, apartheid or military occupation." "While Palestinian terrorist acts are to be deplored, they must be understood as being a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or occupation," writes Dugard, whose 25-page report accuses the Israel of acts and policies consistent with all three. He cited checkpoints and roadblocks restricting Palestinian movement to house demolitions and what he terms the Judaization of Jerusalem. "As long as there is occupation, there will be terrorism," he argues. "Acts of terror against military occupation must be seen in historical context," Dugard says. "This is why every effort should be made to bring the occupation to a speedy end. Until this is done, peace cannot be expected, and violence will continue."

Israel's UN ambassador in Geneva slammed Dugard's analysis. "The common link between Al-Qaida and the Palestinian terrorists is that both intentionally target civilians with the mere purpose to kill," Itzhak Levanon said. "The fact that Professor Dugard is ignoring this essential fact, demonstrates his inability to use objectivity in his assessment." "Professor Dugard will better serve the cause of peace by ceasing to enflame the hatred between Israelis and Palestinians, who have embarked on serious talks to solve this contentious situation." Dugard was appointed in 2001 as an unpaid expert by the now-defunct UN Human Rights Commission to investigate only violations by the Israeli side, prompting Israel and the U.S. to dismiss his reports as one-sided. Israel refused to allow him to conduct a UN-mandated fact-finding mission on its Gaza offensive in 2006. The report will be presented next month at the 47-nation rights council's first regular session of the year. The new body has been widely criticized - even by its founder, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan - for spending most of its time criticizing one government, Israel's, over alleged abuses.

Court convicts IDF officer who led troops in W. Bank rampage

Haaretz 17:22 27/01/2008

By Yuval Azoulay and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents

An Israel Defense Forces officer who commanded troops implicated in a West Bank rampage that led to the wrongful shooting of a Palestinian civilian last July was convicted on Sunday of a string of serious charges. Deputy Lieutenant Yaakov Gigi was convicted in the framework of a plea bargain of illegal use of a weapon, giving a false confession, overstepping authority in a manner that endangered lives and behavior unsuitable to an army officer. The plea bargain his defense attorney reached with the prosecution dropped charges of wrongful imprisonment and aggravated assault. The prosecution asked the Jaffa military court that tried Gigi to sentence him to 15 months imprisonment, demotion and a suspended sentence.

The sentence will be handed down at a later date. The incident took place in the West Bank town of Dahariya, located south of Hebron. Gigi and five of his men, belonging to the Lavi Battalion of the Kfir Infantry Brigade, commandeered a local taxi, and forcibly removed its passengers. The driver, Mohammed Issa Mahrazeh, was also removed, tied up, placed back in the cab, blindfolded and was held there for the duration of the operation. He sustained bruises. While driving through the town of Dahariya, the troops took note of a Badham Samamra, an 18-year-old civilian approaching the vehicle. According to the indictment, the officer ordered one of the soldiers to "distance" the Samamra from the car with his weapon, knowing that his gun was loaded and cocked, and that the soldier was not trained in operations such as the one they had improvised. The soldier then pointed his weapon out the window of the taxi and shot Samamra. The bullet hit the left shoulder and exited his body through the chest. He was moderately to seriously wounded by the gunshot. The soldiers then abandoned the vehicle, leaving the driver bound in the back seat. During the ensuing investigation, Gigi submitted a false account of the incident, and military sources say he ordered his soldiers to do the same.

AG mulls U.K. call to charge IDF troops with photographer's death

Haaretz 09:03 06/08/2007

By Akiva Eldar and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz will thoroughly examine the British government's demand that Israeli soldiers be indicted for murder, in the killing of photographer James Miller in Gaza in 2003, Israel promised London over the weekend. However, in his conversation with Mark Lyall Grant, political director of the British Foreign Office, Israeli Ambassador Zvi Hefetz warned that Mazuz may not be able to complete his investigations by Tuesday, as London has demanded. Peter Goldsmith, Britain's attorney general at the time of the incident, wrote Mazuz on June 26 requesting he clarify what he termed new information. He said that if Mazuz did not respond within six weeks, legal proceedings would be launched in Britain against the commander of the force that shot Miller, and who was cleared in a disciplinary hearing, as well as other soldiers and officers. This would necessitate seeking the soldiers' extradition under the Israel-Britain extradition treaty.

The British Foreign Office told Miller's family that Israel thinks the dispute can be resolved by payment of compensation to Miller's widow. However, Lyall Grant told Prosor, the proposed compensation will have to be increased substantially from the sum on offer until now. Miller's brother, John, told Haaretz on Sunday that the sum Israel is currently offering is "insulting," equal to only two years of the slain photographer's earnings. He also said that he doubted Israel would either extradite the soldiers or try them itself, and even if it did try them, he doubted that justice would be done in an Israeli court. In response, the Justice Ministry said that Mazuz thoroughly examined the case when Britain first protested the military advocate general's decision not to indict the soldiers, but has agreed to do so again in response to the new British appeal, and will respond "promptly, according to the Israeli authorities' timetable." Miller was killed while filming a documentary in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt. According to Alrahman Abdallah, a freelance journalist who accompanied Miller as his translator, the photographer was shot as he tried to exit a Rafah house while holding a white flag. A British inquiry, in part based on evidence from the video recording of the incident, showed that Miller was shot in the neck by an IDF patrol. At the time the IDF expressed its sorrow for Miller's death and said that "the entry of photographers into war zones during exchanges of fire endangers both sides." However, according to eyewitnesses, there had been calm in the area at the time of the shooting. Initially, the IDF suggested that Miller had been killed by Palestinians. Ballistic tests carried out on behalf of Miller's family showed that IDF troops killed Miller, and the Military Advocate General ordered an investigation into the killing. Following a lengthy investigation, it was decided in March 2005 not to press criminal charges against those involved because of insufficient evidence. The commander of the Israeli force that shot and killed Miller faced disciplinary proceedings for illegal use of firearms, but was exonerated. Miller's family filed a suit against the State of Israel for murder, and in 2006 a British jury ruled the killing a murder.

IDF to confine soldier who shot innocent Palestinian to his base

Haaretz 21:48 02/08/2007

By Yuval Azoulay and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents

An Israel Defense Forces soldier who apparently shot a Palestinian civilian without justification near Hebron last week will be released to an "open remand" on his base until Tuesday, according to a Jaffa Military Court ruling issued Thursday.The lieutenant who commanded the force, however, will remain in full remand until Tuesday. The other four soldiers involved in the incident, in which they hijacked a Palestinian taxi in the village of Dahariya and shot and seriously wounded an innocent bystander, have already been released.The soldier to be sent to "open remand" on his base is the one suspected of actually pulling the trigger.

On Friday a military court extended the remand of the lieutenant and the soldier suspected of pulling the trigger, while the military police continued its investigation, ordered by GOC Central Command, Major General Gadi Shamni. A central command inquiry is being conducted concurrently. The suspects had originally claimed that one of the platoon's soldiers had sprained his ankle during a morning patrol in the village and was no longer able to walk. According to their testimony, the officer then decided to stop and commandeer a Palestinian taxi. The soldiers, belonging to the Lavi Battalion of the Kfir Infantry Brigade, went on to claim that after they had tied up the driver and taken control of the vehicle, another Palestinian approached the car. The soldiers decided he was acting "suspiciously" and one of them fired shots in his direction, wounding him in the neck. According to the IDF sources, the initial investigation revealed that the soldiers had lied, and that none of them had sprained an ankle. Instead, the platoon had decided on its own accord to carry out an undercover operation, without coordinating the operation with their superiors. They allegedly removed their uniforms, donned civilian clothing and then commandeered the taxi. One of the senior officers conducting the inquiry referred to the soldiers' actions as "stupidity stemming from over-motivation." The investigation into the soldiers' action revealed that they had not stopped to treat the wounded Palestinian, who was reportedly severely hurt, and had in fact left him behind bleeding. The soldiers also failed to report the incident. The affair only came to light after the media reported about the wounded man.