From Toronto Star:

U.N. staff see boy shot in back




MITCH POTTER MIDDLE EAST BUREAU

GAZA CITY—An Israeli army officer has been suspended after an unarmed Palestinian youth was shot in the back at close range as he waved goodbye to a delegation of visiting United Nations aid workers, the Star has learned.

Yousef Bashir, 15, remains in serious condition at a hospital in Tel Aviv, where he was taken after the Feb. 18 incident at his family's home near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom in the southern Gaza Strip.

He is partially paralyzed beneath his shoulder blades, with shrapnel lodged against his spine, the boy's father said.

An Israel Defence Forces spokesperson confirmed yesterday an unnamed officer has been suspended in connection with the shooting, pending the outcome of an investigation.

In a conflict marked by a surfeit of civilian casualties on both sides, Palestinian claims seldom result in convictions against IDF soldiers because of conflicting eyewitness accounts.

The Bashir shooting is rare because it happened in plain view of three U.N. personnel who were visiting the family home.

Rarer still, the victim's father, Khalil Bashir, said last night he doesn't want punishment for the shooter.

Instead, he's asking that Yousef's plight become "a turning point for an historic reconciliation with Israel.

"We make a mistake if we let our wounded memory guide our future. Punishment doesn't pay. What pays is a change of mentality," an emotional Bashir told the Star.

"It is time for tolerance and forgiveness. I want the Israelis to know that we, both sides, have no other option. Let us devote ourselves to melting the ice and find a solution to give our children a chance to live."

U.N. field workers are routinely forbidden to speak directly to reporters on security incidents, but the organization has made an exception in this case.

The witnesses were made available to the Star with the approval of their superiors on condition their names not be used.

"The boy was no more than five metres from us, waving goodbye after our visit, with his back to the Israeli observation post," said one of the U.N. field staff.

"It was absolutely quiet. But then a single shot was fired. The boy fell to his knees and then he collapsed on the ground. It was like slow-motion video.

"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind the bullet came from the Israeli army position. They were only about 20 metres away. There was nothing else going on. There is no other explanation."

The shooting comes as the most severe incident in the Bashir family's long struggle with the IDF.

Nearly three years ago, the army confiscated a large swath of the family property to increase the buffer zone for the Jewish settlers of nearby Kfar Darom.

In the process, the family said their greenhouses were demolished, nearly 120 date palms were uprooted and IDF actually moved into the home, establishing military positions on the second and third floors, replete with a closed-circuit television camera and camouflage netting.

Khalil Bashir, a school principal in the nearby town of Deir Al-Ballah, has refused to vacate the home and has moved the family — elderly mother, wife and five children — to a single room on the ground floor.

In recent weeks, the IDF intensified restrictions on the family, forbidding visitors without prior arrangement and giving them outdoor access only to their northern garden.

On Feb. 3 — just as the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unveiled plans for a unilateral withdrawal of the Israeli settlements in Gaza, including Kfar Darom — the Bashir family and other property owners in the neighbourhood were served written orders by the IDF for additional land confiscations.

According to the orders, signed by IDF Maj.-Gen. Dan Harel, the Bashirs and 17 other Palestinian families were required to forfeit 43 dunams (one dunam equals one-quarter acre) for a new security fence to better protect the settlement.

The U.N. field team, based in Gaza City, was visiting the family in order to investigate the new orders when the shooting occurred.

"We arrived in a clearly marked United Nations armoured car, white with black markings," a second U.N. staffer told the Star in a separate interview.

After a brief visit, a soldier shouted for the U.N. visitors to leave.

"Khalil Bashir and his son Yousef walked us back to our car. We climbed in and began to reverse. They waved goodbye and that's when the shot rang out and the boy fell to the ground," the second U.N. staffer said.

"I was terrified we would also be shot. Mr. Bashir shouted at us to come help. We inched forward, opened the door of the armoured car and got the boy inside. His legs were like Jell-O. But he was conscious, speaking in a mix of Arabic and English. We hurried him to hospital in Deir al-Ballah."

Bashir was transferred that night to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Two days later he was moved to better facilities in Israel, where Tel Aviv doctors are weighing the possibility he will be able to walk one day.

The U.N. witnesses have each written reports. So far, they have not been interviewed by Israeli army investigators, but expect their accounts will be raised with Israeli authorities via U.N. diplomatic channels.

"Unfortunately, living in Gaza, we are exposed to some ugly things," said one of the workers.

Khalil Bashir said last night he has not been contacted by army investigators for his account of his son's shooting.

"They (IDF officers) went to my house and apologized to my wife two times, saying the shooting was a mistake. But whether they made a mistake or not, the reality is they shot my son," he said.

"In spite of my bitterness, in spite of my calamity and my tragedy, I thank God my son is still alive.

"In thanks to God, I am more determined than ever to find a way to peace. I ask our friends all over the world, help me exploit this chance to change the mentality. I can forgive. Let us all forgive."