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Early release for Israeli soldier who killed British peace activist

peacenik | 19.07.2010 17:58 | Anti-militarism | Palestine | Social Struggles | World

An Israeli soldier convicted of shooting dead a British peace activist has been granted an early release from prison, the Israeli press reported Monday.

A military committee accepted Taysir Hayb’s appeal, and he will be free in one month, the Israeli news site Ynet reported Monday. Hayb shot Tom Hurndall, who died aged 22, during an incident on Gaza’s southern border.

UK peace activist Thomas Hurndall, age 21, was shot dead in Gaza on April 2003
UK peace activist Thomas Hurndall, age 21, was shot dead in Gaza on April 2003




Early release for soldier who killed British activist

Ma'an News Agency, 19 July 2010


An Israeli soldier convicted of shooting dead a British peace activist has been granted an early release from prison, the Israeli press reported Monday.

A military committee accepted Taysir Hayb’s appeal, and he will be free in one month, the Israeli news site Ynet reported Monday.

Hayb shot Tom Hurndall, who died aged 22, during an incident on Gaza’s southern border.

Witnesses reported that the British citizen was watching children play on a street in Rafah when Israeli soldiers opened fire. Most of the children fled, but three, aged between four and seven, were paralyzed by fear.

Hurndall took one of the children to safety and was returning for the two others when Hayb shot him in his forehead.

After a two hour delay at the border, Hurndall was taken to hospital, where he remained in a coma until his death nine months later.

Hayb, an award-winning marksman, faced court after intense pressure from the British government and Hurndall’s parents and in his initial testimony, claimed that he had aimed four inches from Hurndall’s head but missed.

He also claimed Hurndall was wearing military fatigues, although photographic evidence showed he was wearing a fluorescent orange jacket to show he was a foreigner.

The soldier later changed his testimony and "admitted to firing in proximity to an unarmed civilian as a deterrent,” an Israeli army statement at the time said.

An Israeli military court convicted Hayb in 2005 and sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the trial, Hayb said that a policy of shooting unarmed civilians existed at the time.

Hurndall’s killing came one month after US activist Rachel Corrie was killed by a military bulldozer as she tried to stop the demolition of a Palestinian home in Rafah, and one month later British journalist James Miller was shot dead by an Israeli sniper in the same area.

A British inquest in 2006 found Hurndall was intentionally killed. “Make no mistake about it, the Israeli defense force have today been found culpable by this jury of murder,” the family’s lawyer Michael Mansfield said after the hearing.

In his appeal for early release, Hayb told the committee he is engaged and wishes to start a family, Ynet reported.

In journals released by Hurndall’s family since his death, the young photographer wrote, “I want to be proud of myself. I want more. I want to look up to myself and when I die, I want to smile because of the things I have done, not cry for the things I haven't done.”

___________________


from the archives:


 http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1360.shtml


"Not again": Eyewitness Joe Smith writes about the shooting of Tom Hurndall

by Joe Smith, The Electronic Intifada, 12 April 2003


Please not again. We heard the shooting -- we always hear shooting -- but repeated sniper fire like that is especially disturbing. I heard the shot, I heard a scream, and turned to see the fluorescent orange lump lying on the ground, blood coming from his head. I moved back and forth a bit not knowing what to do, and within seconds my medical training clicked in. The Palestinians lifted him to move him from the area. "Set him down!" Alice, the other medic, and I screamed.

Finally we got him down on the pavement, I had my safety pads out and was trying to stop the bleeding. One doesn't consider rubber gloves at times like these. Blood was poring out of the back of his head. I couldn't get it to stop. Seconds later he was lifted again and pulled into a taxi. "Wait for the ambulance!" We tried to convince them, but they were hysterical, and he was torn away from us and rushed to the hospital in a brown Mercedes. The ambulance arrived on the scene minutes later, but it was too late, he was gone.

I looked down to find the bloody safety pad still in my hand. I had a brief instinct to throw it down, like one does any trash on these streets, but was unable to let go of it. I held onto it while in the taxi on the way to the hospital, and still clutched it as I slouched on the ground against the stone walls surrounding his operation room.

He was dead for me from the moment he was set on the ground for us to administer treatment. Alice tried to do mouth to mouth, and I thought it pointless. He was dead for me when he was pulled from our hands and put into the car. Even when he was wheeled out of Al-Najjar Hospital and taken to Europa Hospital in Khan Younis, he was still not alive in my mind.

Now he's on life support in Saroka Hospital in B'ersheva, brain dead but still breathing. No matter how constantly his heart still beats, I continue to speak of him in the past. It took me awhile to accept that Rachel was actually gone, and I think my mind is compensating for that loss by preparing itself for another in advance.

His name was Thomas Hurndall and he was from London. When he arrived, we already had an English guy named Tom so he chose the nickname "Tab", and that is how I knew him. Tab was incredibly passionate about protecting people when and where they needed it most. We were in Yibna, a Rafah refugee camp right on the Egyptian border, because he was aware of the constant Israeli gunfire to which this neighbourhood is victim every day.

He'd learned about the two brothers who'd been shot the previous morning, and was dedicated to maintaining a presence there. He said that he'd gotten extremely angry and determined after listening to gunfire while lying in his bed at the doctor's house Rachel died protecting. He wanted to be in the most dangerous areas, not out of some martyr complex to die but simply because he knew that that is where internationals are most needed.

He was prepared to stay in the house most targeted, and helped us hang large banners on it. He was all about placing a tent in an area in front of a mosque, used every night by an Israeli tank for terrorizing the neighborhood with gunfire. We were on our way to pitch the tent the day he was shot, but had abandoned the project due to the Palestinians' discomfort with the level of gunfire.

The tank was already in its parking spot when we arrived, and was shooting into the area. A nearby security tower had also joined in, and was firing the scary sniper shots. We were positioned behind a large roadblock deciding what to do, and Laura had gone forward with some Palestinians to take a look. She was wearing our trademarked florescent orange jacket with reflective stripes, and was clearly an international.

Despite, or possibly because of this they shot around her. She said that shots were being fired on both sides of her, making it rather difficult for her to move. She had just rejoined us, when the sniper fire from the tower turned onto the roadblock behind which we were standing. There were children playing on the roadblock, as they often do, and many scattered due to the gunfire.

There was one boy, however, that Tab noticed was too frightened to move. Instinctually, he quickly removed him from the area, as he observed shots land around the small and fragile innocent. After successfully evacuating him, he was about to leave when he noticed two small girls down in front of the roadblock, right in the line of fire.

He was going to help them escape when the Israeli soldier in the tower took his aim, and fired a large calibre sniper bullet directly into Tab's head. He was in full view of the tower, and like Laura was wearing the high visibility gear. Our embassies had been informed of our presence in the area, and they had informed the Israeli military.

They knew who he was, they knew what he was, and they knew what he was doing. They knew that he was no threat to their physical safety, but they likely understood the international attention his presence was attracting, and knew how our human shield work had prevented them from adequately terrorizing the Palestinian civilians and demolishing their homes.

In this way, he was a "threat" to them, a threat to the image of Israel it portrays to the world. He was a threat to the validity of the occupation, and a threat to their unquestioned notion of these people as nothing but inhuman terrorists. The sniper couldn't tolerate this kind of challenge, and took lethal measures to end it. We'll only have to see how such an act will backfire.

I didn't know Tab all that well. He'd only been here a week, but planned to stay the full month of his visa. He'd just spent a week doing refugee work in Jordan, before which he'd spent two weeks in Iraq doing human shield and relief work. He was a brilliant photographer, and was passionate about documenting the immense human rights violations being perpetrated on the Arab people.

It was his first trip to the Middle East, but his previous three weeks had made him rather well-versed in this type of work. He was mature and laid back about it all, but incredibly passionate and determined. I was quite surprised to learn that he was only 21 years old, born the same year as I.

I had spent a few hours that day taking him around Rafah to take pictures. We were trying to compile photo images of the city and our presence here for documentation and publicity purposes. The children here love a camera, and would crowd us endlessly. This bothers and overwhelms most people, but Tab thought it a little funny, and would chuckle at the rambunctious children shouting "What's you're name" and "How are you". He mentioned that he'd learned some tricks already, like not pulling out his camera until the absolute last minute.

We had even had a conversation that day about the dangers of this place, and how none of us really understood them or we wouldn't be here. I said that I still felt confident with my international status even after the recent violence against us. I believed that it was not a calculated targeting of internationals, just an increased amount of recklessness and hostility brought on by the increased effectiveness of our work. I said I wouldn't really be intimidated until they openly target an obvious international. Not until they very intentionally kill one of us would I feel the terror experienced by Palestinians. Fate works in mysterious ways.

I don't know if I can stay here now. I believe that internationals need to stay here, and that the Israeli military should not learn that they can intimidate ISM with such violence. I believe that it only shows how effective our work has become, and that now is the time to stay and establish an even stronger presence.

But I only have so much energy left. Rachel's death took a lot out of me, but also inspired me to stay longer and throw myself into the Olympia Sister City project and nonviolent direct action against the Israeli occupation of Rafah. I had planned to stay through the end of May to accomplish these goals, and knew that I had at least that left in me. But this incident has aged me quickly, and makes me question if I can now handle this place and this type of work.

Who knows what's going to happen to him now. It seems likely that his family will have to make that dreaded decision about whether or not to take him off life support. I have to leave here if he dies, I can't do the whole shahid thing again. I also cannot participate in another military investigation. There were plenty of Palestinian and international witnesses willing to cooperate.

I'll continue media and legal work regarding Rachel's death, but I can't handle two. I just can't. Learning my limits has been a crucial part of my personal development here. I have learned to say "no", and I'm saying it now. This statement may be used for any media or legal processes, but that's it, khallas!

What a privilege it is for me to be able to say that. How lucky I am that I can just leave when I've had enough, and catalogue the event in my mental register of intense experiences. I can only leave on the condition that I return with a longer-term commitment, as my solidarity with these amazing people has only just begun.



* Joe Smith is an American activist from Kansas City, Missouri, based with the International Solidarity Movement in Rafah, occupied Gaza. He was a friend of Rachel Corrie's and was with her when she was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer on 16 March 2003.

_______________________

peacenik
- Homepage: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=300848

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

Justice

19.07.2010 18:52

The fact that this soldier was jailed at all shows just what a democratic and fair country Israel is. This is in stark contrast to the countries which surround it, which are backward nations run by unelected regimes which have little regard for the democratic or human rights of their own citizens or anyone else.

Pete


Its a shame.

19.07.2010 19:25

"An Israeli military court convicted Hayb in 2005 and sentenced him to eight years in prison. During the trial, Hayb said that a policy of shooting unarmed civilians existed at the time.'

So this killer was convicted in 2005 and is to be released in 2010. That's five years! Not much is it? for killing a journalist in cold blood.

I bet he was looked after in Jail too, all the trimmings that go with obedience and loyalty to the 'cause'.

And there was a 'policy of shooting unarmed civilians', says it all really!

The politics of terrorism, eh?





Justice for the wicked.


Disgusting

19.07.2010 19:49

"During the trial, Hayb said that a policy of shooting unarmed civilians existed at the time.' "

Didn't the Nazi's do that?

Londoner


Justice 4 pete

19.07.2010 20:25

Old pete he loves it, standard patter, go for it. Just keep on repeating the lies and they become facts, I wondered did you get that from the nazis or did they get it from you ??
If you scour the whole world you will find no regimes that are not backed or installed by UK / USA.
Apart from North Korea and Iran the rest of the world, probably including Russia and expecting China are all run by puppet dictators installed by Colonial powers. The most meddling of all took place in the middle east so lets not hear any bullshit about how civilized Israel is compared to it's seriously fucked up neighbours.

Sandino


Flashback: Extrajudicial assassinations as official Israeli policy

19.07.2010 21:30


Throughout its history, Israel willfully and systematically committed premeditated extrajudicial killings of Palestinians and other Arabs as official state policy - carried out with explicit high-level political, judicial and military authorization and allegedly in "self-defense" against individuals threatening Israeli security.

Almost never do Israeli government or military officials show evidence that targeted individuals acted violently or threatened Jewish citizens. Simply calling them "terrorists" is justification enough - to kill them extrajudicially, with no recourse to due process or respect for international law that bans the practice for any reason.


Extra-judicial killings are indefensible, morally abhorrent, and illegal under international laws and norms. Article 23b of the 1907 Hague Regulations prohibits "assassination, proscription, or outlawry of an enemy, or putting a price upon an enemy's head, as well as offering a reward for any enemy 'dead or alive.' "

Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person." UDHR also recognizes the "inherent dignity (and the) equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family."

So do "just war" principles that rule out gratuitous violence, assassinations, especially if premeditated, war against civilians, and so on, despite the difficulties of distinguishing between combatants, those who've laid down their arms, and the innocent in times of war - let alone dealing with "terrorism" or what one analyst calls the "twilight zone between war and peace." Others say it's justifiable resistance or "blowback" in response to state-sponsored violence and other crimes of war and against humanity.

In 1980, the Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders condemned "the practice of killing and executing political opponents or suspected offenders carried out by armed forces, law enforcement or other governmental agencies or by paramilitary or political groups" acting with the support of official forces or agencies.

The General Assembly also acted in response to arbitrary executions and politically motivated killings. On December 15, 1980, it adopted resolution 35/172 in which it urged member states to abide by the provisions of Articles 6, 14 and 15 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights that cover the right to life and various safeguards guaranteeing fair and impartial judicial proceedings.

The first principle of the 1989 UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions states:

"Governments shall prohibit by law all extra-legal, arbitrary and summary executions and shall ensure that any such executions are recognized as offences under their criminal laws, and are punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account the seriousness of such offenses. Exceptional circumstances, including a state of war or threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency may not be invoked as a justification of such executions. (They) shall not be carried out under any circumstances including, but not limited to, situations of internal armed conflict, excessive or illegal use of force by a public official or other person acting in an official capacity or by a person acting at the instigation, or with the consent or acquiescence of such person, and situations in which deaths occur in custody. This prohibition shall prevail over decrees issued by governmental authority."

These articles and provisions apply to occupied civilian populations, and the Fourth Geneva Convention and its Article 3 affords ones (like the Palestinians) under foreign occupation special protection. It covers all actions related to "Violence to life and person, Murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture." In addition, "The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees....recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples."

Its Article 32 states: "the High Contracting Parties specifically agree that each of them is prohibited from taking any measure of such a character as to cause the physical suffering or extermination of protected persons in their hands. This prohibition applies not only to murder, torture, corporal punishment, mutilation and medical or scientific experiments not necessitated by the medical treatment of a protected person, but also to any other measures of brutality whether applied by civilian or military agents."

Its Article 85 refers to "Grave Breaches" and defines them as "Acts committed willfully and causing death or serious injury to body or health....making the civilian population or individual civilians the object of attack (or)launching an indiscriminate attack affecting the civilian population or civilian objects...."

The 2002 International Criminal Court's Rome Statute also defines these grave violations as war crimes that include (in its Article 8):

-- "Grave" Geneva Convention breaches;

-- "Willing killing...."

-- "Intentionally launching an attack" knowing it will "cause incidental loss of life...."

-- "Killing or wounding" combatants who've laid down their arms;

-- extrajudicial killings; and

-- "Killing or wounding treacherously a combatant adversary...."

In 1982, the UN established the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. It was one of several mandates to address disappearances, torture, assassinations and many other human rights abuses and violations of international law.

Philip Alston currently holds the post to investigate extrajudicial killings, hold governments responsible for committing them, failing to prevent them, or for not responding when they're carried out by others. In May 2008, he issued the latest report of his "principle activities" in 2007 through the first three months of 2008. As of March 2008, he requested permission from 32 countries and Occupied Palestine to visit. In spite of "proceed(ing) with plans for a visit," Israel "so far failed to respond affirmatively." The Palestinian Authority (PA) "issued an invitation."


The US Position On Extrajudicial Killings

In 1976, President Gerald Ford signed Executive Order (EO) 11905 banning the practice against foreign leaders in peacetime and by implication against others. Yet Reagan's Defense Secretary, Caspar Weinberger, argued that only "murder by treacherous means" is forbidden so assassinations are acceptable as long as they're unrelated to "treachery."

George Bush then swept aside subtleties, reversed Ford's EO, and authorized the CIA to assassinate Osama bin Laden, his supporters, and publicly stated that bin Laden "was wanted, dead or alive." His Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, concurred and called killing "terrorists" an act of "self-defense."

In June 2008, Philip Alston visited the US. He met with federal and state officials, judges and civil society groups in New York, Washington, Alabama and Texas. He also conducted a fact-finding tour of US prison and detention facilities and presented his findings at a June 30 press conference. He sharply criticized the Bush administration, the country's flawed judicial system, and continued rule of law violations. He cited:

-- racism in the application of the death penalty;

-- the lack of transparency in Guantanamo prisoner deaths;

-- a lack of information about Iraq and Afghanistan civilian deaths; the unwillingness of Department of Defense officials and others to cooperate; his concern about serious human rights violations as well; and

-- the refusal of the US Justice Department to prosecute mercenary contractors (like Blackwater Worldwide) who commit unlawful killings. Or the US military.


Israeli Extrajudicial Killings

Throughout its history, Israel willfully and systematically committed premeditated extrajudicial killings of Palestinians and other Arabs as official state policy - carried out with explicit high-level political, judicial and military authorization and allegedly in "self-defense" against individuals threatening Israeli security. Government officials even admit that certain persons are targeted, and Dan Haluts, former Israeli Army Chief of Staff, once told the Washington Post (in August 2006) that "Targeted killing is the most important method in the fight against 'terrorism.' " In other words, premeditated murder is acceptable as long as it's properly classified.

In May 2007 on Israeli Army Radio, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, former Infrastructure Minister, defended the practice and said: "We decided to carry out more physical liquidation operations against (Palestinian) 'terrorists"....I think this will eliminate the damage caused to Israeli territory due to the launching of Palestinian rockets."

Almost never do Israeli government or military officials show evidence that targeted individuals acted violently or threatened Jewish citizens. Simply calling them "terrorists" is justification enough - to kill them extrajudicially, with no recourse to due process or respect for international law that bans the practice for any reason.


"My crime was to protest Israeli assassinations"

On January 5, 2007, the London Guardian headlined that comment in reporting on Jewish activist Tali Fahima's first interview following her release from Israeli incarceration. Sitting with her arms handcuffed to a chair's legs 16 hours a day, her captors said they wanted to teach her to be a "good Jew." She was imprisoned for 30 months for traveling to the West Bank, "meeting an enemy agent and translating a simple army document."

She explained and said her crimes were for refusing to work with Shin Bet (Israel's secret service), going to see the Palestinians, then protesting the Israeli assassinations policy. She was kept in isolation for nine months. Finally, at the urging of her lawyer, she struck a plea bargain for a shorter sentence, and ended up being "unbowed" by her experience. She learned how Sin Bet "terroriz(es)" people, both Palestinians and Jews. "About the nature of the government, how they do not want us to see what is going on in our name."

On August 8, 2004, she was arrested and placed under administrative detention in September. In December, she was charged with "assistance to the enemy at time of war." It was trumped up and false. In January 2005, the Tel Aviv district court ruled that she should be placed under house arrest during her trial. Jerusalem's high court overruled it on the grounds that she "identifie(d) with an ideological goal." In December 2005, she pled guilty under her plea bargain to meeting and aiding an enemy agent and entering Palestinian territory. In January 2006, she was released.

She felt compelled to make regular Jenin visits. Talk to hundreds of people, including Palestinian resisters, and for the first time heard their point of view and how hard things are under occupation. For showing compassion and disagreeing with Israeli policies, she was imprisoned for nearly 30 months on false charges. Not even Jews are safe from harsh state retribution against anyone showing defiance or daring to resist injustice.


The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights Documentation of Israeli Targeted Assassinations

The (1995 established) Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) functions independently in Gaza and enjoys "Consultative Status" with the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It's also an affiliate of the International Commission of Jurists-Geneva, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in Paris, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network in Copenhagen, the Arab Organization for Human Rights in Cairo, and the International Legal Assistance Corsortium (ILAC) in Stockholm.

Palestinian lawyers and human rights activists established it to:

-- "protect human rights and promote the rule of law;"

-- create, develop and promote a democratic culture in Palestinian society; and

-- work for Palestinian self-determination and independence "in accordance with international law and UN resolutions."

PCHR issues documents, fact sheets, and reports like its quarterly accounts of Israeli extrajudicial executions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Its latest one is from April through June, and a more comprehensive one covered August 2006 through its latest June 2008 data.

PCHR states: It's "investigated and documented these (killings) in depth (and) concluded that the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) have consistently acted with utter disregard for the lives of (mostly innocent) Palestinian civilians in the OPT, and that IOF have continued to carry out state sanctioned extra-judicial executions, (in violation of) international human rights law....in the overwhelming majority of cases....suspects could have been arrested, but no efforts were made....and they were instead extra-judicially executed" - according to official state policy.


The Human Toll

Since the second Intifada's September 2000 inception through June 30, 2008, and excluding all other Palestinian killings, the IOF carried out 755 OPT executions. Victims included 521 extrajudicially targeted and 233 bystanders, including 71 children and 20 women. In Gaza, 405 were killed. Another 350 in the West Bank. The methods used included:

-- F-16, unmanned drone, and attack helicopter-launched air-to-surface missiles; tank shelling; missile launchers and gunboats;

-- Israeli military undercover units disguised as Palestinians; first established during the first (1987 - 1993) Intifada; they became more active during the second one; could easily have arrested suspects but instead killed them at short range; and

-- IOF targeted house ambushes in the West Bank.

Most often, civilians are attacked in their homes, vehicles, on streets and at workplaces. Sometimes entire families are killed, including children, women, the elderly, and infirm, and a July 2002 incident was typical. It targeted Salah Shehada, an Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades (the Hamas armed wing) leader.

The IOF knew he was with his wife and children. That they lived in a densely populated residential area, and former Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Moshe Ya'alon, admitted that he knew Shehada's wife and daughter "were close to him during the implementation of the assassination....and there was no way out of conducting the operation despite their presence." An Israeli F-16 bombed his home, and completely destroyed it. Two neighboring ones also and damaged 32 others.

The toll was horrific - 77 injured civilians; 16 others killed, including Shehada, his wife, daughter, assistant, eight children, (one a two-month old baby), and two elderly men and two women. It was an indefensible criminal act of wanton murder.

In May 2007, an air-to-surface missile targeted the Al-Hayia family at his eastern Gaza meeting hall. It scored a direct hit. Killed were seven members of his family, another Palestinian and the object of the attack - Sameh Saleh Farawana, a Hamas activist. In addition, three others were wounded.

In July 2006, air-to-surface missiles destroyed Dr. Nabil Abdol Latif Abu Selmeya's home in Gaza City's Al-Sheikh Radwan district. He, his wife, and seven children were killed. In addition, 34 bystanders were injured, including 5 children and six women. At least 15 neighboring homes were also damaged in an operation Israelis said targeted Mohammed Al-Deif, Hamas' armed wing leader and apparently Israel's most wanted man.

In January 2008, an air-to-surface missile struck a civilian vehicle carrying three members of the Al-Yazji family killing Mohammed Al-Yazji, his five-year old son, and his 40-year old brother. Three bystanders were also injured. IOF sources later admitted the attack was in error and was meant for another vehicle carrying Palestinian resistance activists.

In August 2007, a Gaza operation near the Rafah International Crossing Point killed two civilians, injured 12 others and slightly wounded three targeted activists who escaped. Moments later, another vehicle was struck nearby killing the driver, a civilian bystander, and wounding 12 others, including a child.

In November 2006 in eastern Gaza, a vehicle was struck carrying Bassel Sha'aban Ubeid, an Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades member. He and a colleague were killed. In addition, five Amen family members were injured, including two children.

Throughout the reporting period, there were many more killings in Gaza and the West Bank. In November 2006, four Jenin civilians. In February 2007, three others in Jenin. In March 2008, four Bethlehem civilians. Many others throughout the Territories in Ramallah, Nablus, Rafah, Khan Younis, Tul Karim, north, central and southern Gaza, and elsewhere - against activists, resisters, civilians, women and children for the crime of being Palestinians wanting self-determination, freedom, and respect for their rights under international law. For their part, Israelis, with world support and complicity, continue denying it to them repressively and illegally.


Extrajudicial Executions in the Latest Reporting Period - April - June 2008

During the period, the IOF conducted eight OPT assassinations killing a total of 16 people, including two civilian bystanders. Two operations were carried out in the West Bank. Six others in Gaza.

On April 14, an air-to-surface missile killed Ibrahim Mohanned Abu 'Olba, the National Resistance Brigades' (the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine's armed wing) leader in northern Gaza. Two civilians were also injured, including a 15-year old boy. In addition, a number of nearby houses were damaged.

On April 15, an air-to-surface missile killed Abdullah Mohammed al-Ghassain, an al-Quds Brigades' (the Islamic Jihad's armed wing) activist in northern Gaza. Three others were also injured.

On April 17, the IOF besieged a building in Qabatya village, southeast of Jenin in the northern West Bank. They opened fire at a civilian car, ordered people out of the building, and fired shells and demolished it with a bulldozer. Two dead Palestinians were found inside.

On April 20, an air-to-surface missile killed Nour al-Dibari in Gaza. A second missile targeted a number of Palestinians who just left a grocery shop. Its owner was seriously injured as well as his son. At least one other Palestinian was hurt as well.

On June 29, the IOF entered Tubas in the northern West Bank and set a cemetery ambush for a group of Palestinian children there throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at military vehicles. They opened fire and killed one 16-year old from multiple gunshots to the chest and abdomen.

PCHR "asserts that the Government of Israel continues to act recklessly, and with utter disregard for the human rights of the Palestinian people, including (their) right to life" and safety. Israel also fails "to meet its obligations under human rights law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention." An Israeli government representative wasn't available for comment.

Stephen Lendman
mail e-mail: lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net
- Homepage: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10946


not sure if Pete is being sarcastic or not...

19.07.2010 22:31

The sad thing is, I'm not totally sure if Pete is just being sarcastic or if it's a genuine belief.

Could be just an antisemitic troll pretending to be an Israeli supporter putting forward idiotic viewpoints.

anon


Or Pete could be

20.07.2010 18:35

"Could be just an antisemitic troll pretending to be an Israeli supporter putting forward idiotic viewpoints."

There's no such thing as anti-semitism, you've already destroyed it by using it far too much!

Joshua


Re Justice

20.07.2010 19:11

I'm sure Tayb was only tried and convicted because his victim was an ISM outsider not a Palestinian so there was diplomatic pressure. On the other hand where are the convictions for the killers of Baha Moussa, Charles de Mene-zes, etc etc?

Onlyme


Who gives a shit about them

21.07.2010 23:14

What about those bankers who were burnt in Greece? Who got convicted for that? Fucking no one.
Anarchists..... they are all self-serving cunts

tosser


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