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Israel: No Evidence that Boy Killed by Soldiers Posed Any Threat | Human Rights Watch
Second ‘Ambush’ Killing of Child Near Schools in 2013
JANUARY 5, 2014
(Jerusalem) – No evidence has been presented by the Israeli authorities that a 15-year-old boy fatally shot in the back by Israeli soldiers near his school on December 9, 2013, posed any threat to life that would justify such a killing. It was the second incident involving the lethal shooting of a child in the back by Israeli forces deployed near a school in 2013.
A soldier shot Wajih al-Ramahi in the Jalazone refugee camp, witnesses told Human Rights Watch. The evidence obtained by Human Rights Watch is inconclusive as to whether al-Ramahi, who was shot in an area between the school and a market, had joined Palestinian youths nearby who were throwing stones toward the soldiers, but the soldiers were approximately 200 meters away and not at any risk of being hit by stones, the witnesses said.
“Twice this year, Israeli soldiers hiding near schools, apparently to make arrests, have killed children who posed no apparent threat,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “If the past is any guide, these boys’ families can look forward to a prolonged, opaque, and fruitless process that does not hold perpetrators to account or deliver justice.”
In January, Israeli forces who had concealed themselves next to a military fence not far from the boys’ school in the village of Budrus fatally shot Samir `Awad, 16, witnesses said. `Awad had entered an open military gate in the Israeli separation barrier. Soldiers appeared and shot `Awad as he tried to run away, witnesses said. They said that `Awad and other Palestinians in the area had not thrown stones or otherwise threatened the soldiers. The military has not claimed that they did.
The military has said it is investigating both killings.
In the December 9 incident, a soldier near the Beit El settlement shot al-Ramahi in the back from a distance of around 200 meters, witnesses told Human Rights Watch. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on December 11 that a “military official” told the newspaper:
According to medical sources and photographs of the body seen by Human Rights Watch, al-Ramahi had a bullet wound in his back and no exit-wound. The lack of an exit-wound is consistent with statements that the bullet was fired from an assault rifle at considerable distance from al-Ramahi.
There was no apparent justification for the use of live ammunition, Human Rights Watch said. International standards on the use of firearms in policing situations stipulate that lethal force may be used only as a last resort when strictly necessary to protect life. Should the incident be covered by the laws of war, which are applicable in the occupied West Bank, the shooting would violate the prohibition on targeting civilians, so long as the individual was not actively participating in hostilities. An attack on a civilian that is carried out intentionally or recklessly is a war crime.
In the January incident, a military spokesman, Capt. Eytan Buchman, said troops had followed “standard rules of engagement, which included live fire,” Haaretz reported on the day of the incident. The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident, which news reports said involved soldiers from the Armored Corps.
Witnesses to the January incident told Human Rights Watch that they testified at a military hearing in February, with the assistance of an Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, which also documented the incident and provided the information it collected to the military. In May, the Military Advocate General’s office informed B’Tselem that the Military Police Criminal Investigations Division was conducting further inquiries. A Palestinian doctor who had seen `Awad’s body provided testimony in May, and one of the boys who witnessed the shooting testified at a hearing in December.
Israel has indicted only 16 security officials for unlawfully killing Palestinians since September 2000, and convicted only six; the longest jail sentence imposed was for seven months, according to information Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, obtained from the military.
[Click on the link to read four different accounts on these two cases. -- RFS]
Second ‘Ambush’ Killing of Child Near Schools in 2013
JANUARY 5, 2014
(Jerusalem) – No evidence has been presented by the Israeli authorities that a 15-year-old boy fatally shot in the back by Israeli soldiers near his school on December 9, 2013, posed any threat to life that would justify such a killing. It was the second incident involving the lethal shooting of a child in the back by Israeli forces deployed near a school in 2013.
A soldier shot Wajih al-Ramahi in the Jalazone refugee camp, witnesses told Human Rights Watch. The evidence obtained by Human Rights Watch is inconclusive as to whether al-Ramahi, who was shot in an area between the school and a market, had joined Palestinian youths nearby who were throwing stones toward the soldiers, but the soldiers were approximately 200 meters away and not at any risk of being hit by stones, the witnesses said.
“Twice this year, Israeli soldiers hiding near schools, apparently to make arrests, have killed children who posed no apparent threat,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “If the past is any guide, these boys’ families can look forward to a prolonged, opaque, and fruitless process that does not hold perpetrators to account or deliver justice.”
In January, Israeli forces who had concealed themselves next to a military fence not far from the boys’ school in the village of Budrus fatally shot Samir `Awad, 16, witnesses said. `Awad had entered an open military gate in the Israeli separation barrier. Soldiers appeared and shot `Awad as he tried to run away, witnesses said. They said that `Awad and other Palestinians in the area had not thrown stones or otherwise threatened the soldiers. The military has not claimed that they did.
The military has said it is investigating both killings.
In the December 9 incident, a soldier near the Beit El settlement shot al-Ramahi in the back from a distance of around 200 meters, witnesses told Human Rights Watch. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported on December 11 that a “military official” told the newspaper:
According to medical sources and photographs of the body seen by Human Rights Watch, al-Ramahi had a bullet wound in his back and no exit-wound. The lack of an exit-wound is consistent with statements that the bullet was fired from an assault rifle at considerable distance from al-Ramahi.
There was no apparent justification for the use of live ammunition, Human Rights Watch said. International standards on the use of firearms in policing situations stipulate that lethal force may be used only as a last resort when strictly necessary to protect life. Should the incident be covered by the laws of war, which are applicable in the occupied West Bank, the shooting would violate the prohibition on targeting civilians, so long as the individual was not actively participating in hostilities. An attack on a civilian that is carried out intentionally or recklessly is a war crime.
In the January incident, a military spokesman, Capt. Eytan Buchman, said troops had followed “standard rules of engagement, which included live fire,” Haaretz reported on the day of the incident. The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident, which news reports said involved soldiers from the Armored Corps.
Witnesses to the January incident told Human Rights Watch that they testified at a military hearing in February, with the assistance of an Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, which also documented the incident and provided the information it collected to the military. In May, the Military Advocate General’s office informed B’Tselem that the Military Police Criminal Investigations Division was conducting further inquiries. A Palestinian doctor who had seen `Awad’s body provided testimony in May, and one of the boys who witnessed the shooting testified at a hearing in December.
Israel has indicted only 16 security officials for unlawfully killing Palestinians since September 2000, and convicted only six; the longest jail sentence imposed was for seven months, according to information Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group, obtained from the military.
[Click on the link to read four different accounts on these two cases. -- RFS]
Why people get so upset when Israel is being criticized for one issue or another.
