UK/Israel: No accountability in IDF's "shooting range"
01 March 2005
In April, an Israeli military court cleared an officer, known only as Lieutenant H, of the death of the British journalist James Miller. He was killed in May 2003 whilst filming a documentary, about the lives of three Palestinian children caught up in the conflict with Israel, in Rafah at the Egypt-Gaza border. James was shot in the neck in the small gap between his helmet (which bore the letters "TV" in fluorescent tape) and his bulletproof vest (which also carried journalist markings) as he left a Palestinian house at night. His group was also carrying a white flag. The Israeli military's initial claims that they were reacting to heavy fire from Palestinian gunmen smuggling arms across the Egyptian border were shown to be false by another camera crew who caught the incident on film.
Israel had already made it clear in March that the officer would not face public prosecution because of a lack of ballistic evidence proving that the bullet came from his gun - it took investigators 11 weeks to impound the weapon. The Israeli military advocate general found that the lieutenant had fired in clear breach of army rules of engagement and recommended that he face severe internal military disciplinary action. Lieutenant H had admitted to firing his weapon and yet proceedings were halted to the dismay of James's friends and family. His widow says the decision "makes a mockery of Israeli claims that they follow due process where IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] soldiers have acted criminally and outside their own rules of engagement." The British government has launched a formal protest over the case.
In April 2003, also in Rafah, Thomas Hurndall, wearing a fluorescent International Solidarity Movement (ISM) vest, was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper whilst shepherding children to safety. He was flown back to England but remained in a vegetative state until his death from pneumonia in January 2004. After a protracted battle for justice by his family Sergeant Wahid Taysir is currently on trial facing a total of six charges that include manslaughter, obstruction of justice and submitting false testimony. He initially argued the shooting was justified because Thomas was wearing camouflage clothing and carrying a gun but, in the face of 12 eye witness statements to the contrary, later changed his version of events and claimed that Thomas had moved his head into the path of a warning shot. In May 2005, his defence team attempted to deflect blame onto British doctors who they accused of administering too much morphine. Dr. Kugel speaking for the defence, claimed that "the critical cause of death was not the pneumonia, but, firstly, the large amount of morphine that he was getting." Thomas's mother insisted that: "you can't break the causal link between the shooting and his death."
Taysir also argued that he is being used as a scapegoat, by a military that is historically unwilling to prosecute its soldiers, because he is a Bedouin Arab. Hurndall's family have also argued that he is being painted as a "bad apple" to deflect blame from the senior officers responsible for creating a "trigger happy" climate in which activists are fair game. They cite the military's leaking of personal files, which show that he has been investigated for cannabis use, as an example of this. Speaking in May 2005, his mother said "the soldier might be convicted but the trial is not concerned with the wider justice to do with the chain of command and the culture of lies...you can only conclude that the command colluded in the soldier's original lies, and colluded in it for weeks until they couldn't sustain it any more."
The cases of James Miller and Thomas Hurndall are indicative of the Israeli military's behaviour in the Gaza area as is that of Rachel Corrie, an ISM volunteer, who, in March 2003, was run over and killed by the Israeli bulldozer she was trying to prevent demolishing a Palestinian house. As with the two other cases the Israeli mili