Palestinian childrens deaths draw scrutiny of Israeli forces


Knight Ridder Newspapers
 Date: Mon, Dec. 06, 2004

By DION NISSENBAUM

JERUSALEM - The Israel Defense Forces, with a motto of "win and remain a human being," likes to see itself as setting a moral standard for militaries around the world. But that self-image has been tarnished by recent incidents that have the country debating whether Israeli soldiers have behaved inhumanely.

First came the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old Gaza schoolgirl, who was cut down by wary soldiers when she came too close to a military outpost. Then came broadcast images, faintly reminiscent of America's Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq, showing smiling Israeli soldiers standing next to slain Palestinians.

That was soon followed by a video that reminded some Israelis a little too much of the Holocaust: a Palestinian musician playing his violin for soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint.

Israeli newspapers have been filled with articles, letters and editorials deploring the incidents. Haaretz declared a "death of innocence." A Jerusalem Post editorial said the soldiers were "in a real sense, handing the terrorists a victory."

In a time of relative calm after four years of a Palestinian uprising, the incidents have renewed soul-searching for the Jewish nation: Is this who we are? Is this what we've become?

"It's touched a nerve," said Jessica Montell, the executive director of B'Tselem, a leading Israeli human rights group. "What's surprising is that whereas usually these kinds of things are treated as one bad seed, the case of the girl in Gaza has opened a Pandora's box and unleashed a range of issues we have been dealing with for four years."

The shooting of the Gazan teenager, Iman al Hams, has sparked the greatest outrage. Last month, an Israeli captain was charged with emptying his weapon into the schoolgirl to ensure that she was dead.

After initially being cleared of any wrongdoing, the captain came under fire from fellow soldiers who accused him of stepping over the line. Then a top Israeli news program aired tapes of the incident showing that the soldiers knew the suspicious figure was a girl who was "dying of fear."

In an audiotape of radio transmissions, jittery soldiers can be heard describing the figure as a little girl running for cover after they fired warning shots. Four minutes later, the soldiers opened fire on the girl. The captain then can be heard saying, "Confirm the kill.

"Anyone who moves in the area, even if he's 3 years old, must be killed," the captain told soldiers over his radio.

The captain went to check on the girl, fired two shots from his M-16 into her head, then emptied his weapon, according to the indictment.

The impact of al Hams' death grew with the broadcast of photos showing Israeli soldiers appearing to gloat over slain Palestinians. That was followed by the videotape of a Palestinian musician playing his violin so he could pass through a West Bank checkpoint.

The musician said a soldier told him to play something sad, but an internal investigation concluded that the soldier had acted properly by asking the musician to open his violin case so that he could check for explosives and that the musician started to play on his own.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Israeli editors last week that checkpoints are a regrettable, but necessary, reality.

"Let's hope that we reach better days when a violinist like this can play in one of our orchestras," Sharon said.

Palestinians routinely face treatment regarded as abusive, but public reaction to the recent incidents has given human rights activists a rare opportunity to focus more attention on the civilian toll of the occupation.

Of the 3,000 Palestinians killed during the 4-year-old uprising, more than 1,300 were bystanders, B'Tselem's Montell said. There have been 23 indictments of soldiers in the deaths of civilians, including the captain charged in al Hams' death, but only four have been convicted of wrongdoing.

Capt. Jacob Dallal, an IDF spokesman, said the conflict has taken its toll on young soldiers, who are forced to make life-and-death decisions every day.

"This is a very difficult conflict because you can't lose the moral high ground," he said. "And we won't."

Widespread public dismay at the incidents shows they don't reflect Israeli values, said Michel Bar Zohar, a former Knesset member and author of "Facing a Cruel Mirror: Israel's Moment of Truth."

"I don't know any other society that has such moral principles and is so keen on preserving them," he said.

Montell, however, said questions ought to go beyond the incidents themselves.

"It's very comfortable for society to say it's a few bad apples, because if it's not a few bad apples then we have to ask ourselves who is responsible," she said. "What are the implications for our society? Can you expect soldiers to remain humane doing that job?"

Al Hams' father, Samir al Hams, says the answer is no. Although Israelis have denounced his daughter's death, no one from the military has come to apologize or explain what happened.

"Where's the humanity?" al Hams asked. "Maybe you haven't seen them act in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Nothing that is touched by them survives. Every stone, every tree, every home is destroyed."

(Knight Ridder Newspapers' correspondents contributing to this report were Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson from Gaza and Cliff Churgin in Jerusalem.)

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