- An Israeli soldier raised a rifle to his shoulder in
a military courtroom yesterday and mimed how his commanding officer pumped
bullets into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl as she lay, apparently dead,
on the ground.
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- The soldier, named only as Staff Sgt Oded, is a leading
witness in a case that has again turned a spotlight on the behaviour of
Israeli troops fighting the Palestinian uprising.
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- A young Druze officer in the army's elite Givati brigade
who by military court order can be identified only as "Capt R"
is accused of illegally using his weapon, obstructing justice, exceeding
the limit of authorised force and conduct unbecoming an officer. The story
has shocked Israelis and challenged the self-image of the defence forces
as a model of ethical probity.
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- On Oct 5 last year Iman al-Hams, dressed in striped tunic,
headscarf and jeans and carrying a satchel, set off for school in the miserable
town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the scene of constant clashes
between the Israeli army and Palestinian gunmen. Her headmistress reported
that after firing broke out she seemed to panic and ran towards an army
observation post half a mile away.
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- Onlookers yelled at her to turn back but she stumbled
deeper and deeper into the military exclusion zone, a wasteland of sand
and scrub.
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- Yesterday Capt R, muscles bulging under his fatigues,
smiled at family members crowding the tiny tribunal in Kiryat Mal'akhi
and muttered objections to his lawyers as Sgt Oded described what happened
next.
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- "I saw a figure in the distance and aimed my gun
but then I saw it was a young girl. I fired a few [warning] shots to the
right of her Ö she slipped, fell down, then got up again. All the
soldiers got really jumpy."
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- Sgt Oded said that after Iman got to her feet "somebody
hit her". The captain approached the girl, who seemed to be dead.
Then he walked away but quickly turned back.
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- "I saw him go back and fire a burst of automatic
fire." Pointing an M16 toward the floor, he went on: "This is
how he held the gun.
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- "I know it was a full burst because I heard the
shots one after the other." Sgt Oded said he could not see where the
bullets struck but his group "were in shock at what happened".
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- The indictment alleges that Capt R broke military law
by firing twice at the victim as she lay on the ground, then returned and
fired 10 bullets "until his magazine was empty".
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- According to the charges he later told his soldiers by
radio to ignore rules of engagement adding: "Anyone who moves in this
area even if he's three years old must be killed."
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- Capt R claims that he was shot at by gunmen when he went
back to the girl and sprayed bullets into the ground in front of him "in
a protective arc" in an attempt to suppress their fire.
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- His lawyers say his remark about shooting a three-year-old
was a figure of speech. It is also alleged that the captain, who had only
recently taken command, was resented by some of his men for removing privileges.
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- His defenders say his ethnic origin may have created
tension in the unit. The 25-year-old is not Jewish but from Israel's 100,000
Druze community who, unlike other Arabs with Israeli citizenship, have
to do military service. An army investigation cleared him but charges were
brought after Sgt Oded and another soldier spoke to a newspaper.
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- In army radio traffic obtained by an Israeli television
station, soldiers are heard describing the intruder as a little girl running
for cover, before firing starts.
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- The captain is then heard saying: "Confirm the kill."
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- Iman's brother, Aihab al-Hams, said Palestinian witnesses
claimed a voice over a loudspeaker ordered her to drop her school bag.
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- Soldiers fired warning shots and aimed fire at her satchel
in case it contained a bomb.
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- A patrol led by an officer approached. The officer, he
claimed, shot her twice at close range then, as the patrol retreated, fired
repeatedly into her body.
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- Palestinian hospital officials said she was shot 15 times.
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- Capt R faces a maximum of three years in prison.
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- * An Israeli policeman was jailed for 14 months yesterday
for joining his unit in beating two Palestinians. One was forced to drink
his own urine before being thrown from an upstairs window.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/.html
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