Tag: Gaza

Israel bombs Gaza on the eve of Eid ul-Fitr – the second attack since peace talks resumed

Palestinians walking along the edge of the bomb crater in Gaza City - Photo: Tilde de Wandel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

10 September 2010

Gaza City, GAZA STRIP

The Israeli military carried out air strikes on three regions of the Gaza Strip late last night, as inhabitants were preparing to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end the holy month of Ramadan that starts today. It constitute the second missile attack by Israel on Gaza since negotiations resumed on 2 September 2010.

Just before 11PM (midnight Israeli time) last night (9 Sept. 2010) Israel dropped two missiles on Gaza City, three on Rafah, one on Beit Hanoun and a further missile on Deir Al Balah, a second central Gaza location.

Following the Gaza City bombing, which witnesses on the scene said landed inches from the spot of a previous missile attack near Arafat’s Compound one month ago, only two slight injuries have been reported so far.

However in Rafah, in south Gaza, it is feared that there may be casualties as there are currently reports of missing persons, predominantly among men who work in the tunnels connecting the besieged Gaza Strip to Egypt. The Jerusalem Post reported that Palestinian security forces had announced at least five injured.

As well as the missile dropped from the air on Beit Hanoun, in the north of the Gaza Strip, an Israeli tank also fired six shells. The target was a military training site of the armed wing of Hamas.

There are also unconfirmed reports of missiles in Khan Younis.

At the time of writing, one hour after the attacks, war planes were still hovering over Gaza, and residents said they feared further attacks.

Background

Media contacts:
ISM Gaza, Adie Nistelrooy: 05977 176 96
ISM Media Office, Ramallah: 05461 800 56

A bomb crater in Gaza City - Photo: Tilde de Wandel

The lucky ones had third degree burns: survivors of Israel’s latest Rafah tunnel bombing tell their story

8 September 2010 | ISM Gaza

Peace talks started on September 2nd. Following the resumption of negotiations, Israel refrained from attacking Gaza for just 2 days. Then it ordered the bombing of 2 Rafah tunnels, killed 2 workers, and left 2 severely injured. ISM activists filed this report

“Out of the blue, the tunnel was bombed, there was an enormous crash and I fell unconscious, I didn’t feel anything. When I woke up, I found myself at the tunnel entrance, screaming for help. There was fire all over the place, fire over me.”

This was 22 year old college student Ali Al-Khodary describing the horror of Israel’s bomb attack on Gazan tunnels four days ago (4 September 2010 – two days after ‘peace talks’ resumed) which left him and another man, Hassan Abu Armana, covered in severe burns. The bombing set alight the entrance of the tunnel – where they were delivering gasoline.

Yet it could be said that they were lucky. Two of their co-workers, Salim Al Khatab and Khaled Halawa, were killed in the same strike. According to witnesses, at 11:30pm Saturday night, Israeli F16s flew over the area to observe it. At midnight they returned and bombed 2 tunnels, one a tunnel for gasoline and the other for delivery of goods into Gaza. The missiles they used were silent in flight, making it impossible for people to escape. Each pierced a large hole in the tunnel before exploding inside.

“I was at a house above ground and the owner took me to hospital”, explains Ali. “The medics came inside and pulled out another person, also burned. I heard later that 2 people were still trapped in the collapsed tunnel.”  Large parts of Ali’s body were severely burned: he had 3rd degree burns covering his face, hands and arms.

His father, Alaa Al-Khodary, was against his son working in the tunnels. But to continue his studies (in sociology, at the University of Al Quds) Ali needed a source of income. “I started to work in the tunnels because there are no jobs in Gaza, there was no place else to work in this region.” said Ali.

“Thank god he came out in one piece. We hope he will recover from his injuries and the burns”, his mother told us.

Tunnel workers are not just young men, Hassan Abu Armana, 45 years old and married with 12 children, also suffered second degree burns stretching from his chest to his head and across his arms. He started working in the tunnels 3 or 4 months ago in an attempt to earn more money for his family than he could in his previous job as a taxi driver. When his wife was informed of the attack, she was terrified and ran immediately from the house to take a car to the hospital.

Nineteen year old Khalil Muhammad Al-Hattab from Bureij Refugee Camp, central Gaza, did not survive. He had decided to begin in the tunnels only 3 weeks before. When we visited the mourning tent in Bureij, his uncle, Hussien Al-Hattab, told us that Khalil was killed while working at the petrol tunnel and was burnt to death once the petrol caught alight. Khalil had a large family who were very poor; he had wanted to contribute to his family’s welfare, so he took the job.

When Khalil’s brother, who had been working in the tunnels for over 4 years, heard about the bomb he went to search for his brother and began digging for him. After over an hour, 30 metres below the ground, he saw some of his brother’s body and he was able to bring him up.

His uncle Hussien also had a brother, Gazy Badowy Al-Hattab, killed when he was 19 – during the first intifada. He was walking in the street with his sister when he was shot during an Israeli Incursion.

“Israel can’t reach the armed resistance in Gaza so they just attack civilians”, Hussien told us.

The second person killed was 35-year-old Khalid Abed Al-Kareem Al-Khateeb, married, and the father of three daughters and one son. His brother told us he was killed directly by the missile’s impact, in the goods delivery tunnel where the workers were operating. Their family discovered this at 2am early Sunday morning. Then they went to the hospital to see his body and take it back to Al-Bureij. Khalid also had a brother, Waleed Al-Khateeb, killed in 2003 during an Israeli incursion on Bureij camp.

“Israel wants complete control of the people of Gaza with the siege and bombings. Israel decides what it wants to do against us no matter how violent, with full support from America. The situation is so bad, if people were allowed to leave they would because of this oppression,” says Alaa, the father of the badly burned Ali.

“Why are tragedies allowed to continue like this?”

For much of the Western media the 2 dead Palestinian workers and 2 severely injured during the Israeli Occupation Force bombings in Rafah on Saturday night were merely faceless, disposable lives of the Middle East “impasse”. Meeting their distraught family members reminds us that they are brothers and fathers loved by their families, guilty only of having hopes for a better life when all their educational and job opportunities have been taken away from them. They were driven to work in the tunnels transporting goods from Egypt to Gaza not because they wanted to, but because of the dire conditions imposed on the Gaza Strip, which have seen their economy and infrastructure intentionally sucked dry by the four year Israeli siege.

But Palestinian civilian loss of life – even in violence that occurs at a time when Israel is presenting itself as in pursuit of peace – is apparently acceptable to the international community and to the Western media, as compared to the outrage that erupts over the much rarer cases which involve Israeli casualties. When the same scrutiny of, empathy with, and action to prevent Palestinian casualties exists, and the siege on Gaza, the 47 years of occupation and the 62 years of dispossession of Palestinian land are taken seriously as the crimes they are, the day might come when Middle East peace summits attempt real justice for the people of Palestine.

All photos: Tilde de Wandel

Early release of Tom Hurndall’s killer symptom of wider Israeli crimes

8 September 2010 | ISM London

UPDATE:

Tom’s Killer was released this morning. The Hurndall family was not informed by any representative of the Israeli government. The British Foreign Office did contact Jocelyn this morning, but not before the news had reached her via ISM London. We are re-publishing our press release from July as our statement today.

20 July 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) condemns the early release from prison of the Israeli soldier that murdered photography student and ISM volunteer Tom Hurndall in Gaza in 2003. The Israeli press yesterday reported that Taysir Hayb will be released three years early from an already short eight-year sentence.

Tom in Gaza shortly before he was shot

His murder was only a symptom of a much wider culture of impunity in the Israeli army.

This early release serves to reinforce the notion that the Israeli army can continue to commit war crimes against Palestinians without fear of serious consequences.

Tom’s mother Jocelyn Hurndall told ISM London that: “this reduced sentence comes at a time when the world is becoming more sceptical about Israel’s investigations into its own actions. It’s a reminder of Israel’s disregard for international law and opinion.”

When Hayb was sentenced in 2005, human rights activist, Raphael Cohen, who was with Tom on the day of the shooting said, “On the very street where Tom was shot, two children had been shot just days before. This is why he and the rest of the group went to that spot, to protest against the shooting of children as they played outside their homes. There has never been any investigation into the shootings of those children.”

To this day, there has still been no investigation of these deaths or of the thousands of other Palestinian civilians killed by Israeli soldiers. Only last month in Jerusalem Ziad Joulani, 41, a Palestinian shopkeeper and father of three with no criminal record or history of political activism, was killed when Israeli police opened fire as he got out of his car. [1] His killing is not being investigated.

Tom’s family had to fight hard to achieve even the eight-year manslaughter conviction that they won in 2005, against a system of Israeli obfuscation and lies, and an indifferent British government. In a statement yesterday the Foreign Office merely said: “We note the court’s decision to release Taysir Hayb and recognise the grief this decision will cause to the Hurndall family,” describing the deliberate act of murder as “a tragedy”.

Tom’s father Anthony hit back in the Guardian today, condemning this as a “weak response” by the British government, and demanding to meet with ministers. He said: “I would like them to say that this is not just a tragedy but that the Israeli government is directly responsibile for Tom’s death and should acknowledge this and take steps to put matters right by changing policies to ensure that civilians are not shot or killed indiscriminately.”

Israel did not even bother to inform the Hurndall family in advance of the news reaching the Israeli press, and Tom’s sister Sophie only learnt the news when ISM London contacted her yesterday.

Hayb shot Tom in the forehead with a high velocity bullet using a rifle with a telescopic sight, while he attempted to rescue Palestinian children in Gaza from Israeli gunfire. According to an Observer report from the 2005 trial, Hayb was “an award-winning marksman”. [2] Tom never regained consciousness, dying nine months later in a London hospital at the age of 22.

Jewish nurse and peace activist Alice Coy, who saw Tom shot, said Hayb was only part of “a culture of impunity in which generations of Israelis are taught that Arabs hate them and are subhuman. They are then given guns and they know they can get away with killing Palestinians. The occupation and aggression of Zionist policy is harming ordinary Israelis as well as Palestinians.”

Amnesty International says that: “The shocking truth is that Israeli soldiers kill civilians in Gaza with near-total impunity, week in week out” [3]

B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights organisation, report that “From the beginning of the [second] intifada, on 29 September 2000, to the end of 2008 (not including Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, which began on 27 December), [Israeli] security forces killed more than 2,200 Palestinians who were not taking part in the hostilities at the time they were killed. However, a Military Police investigation was opened in only 287 cases of suspected illegal shooting by security forces. This number includes investigations into cases in which civilians were wounded. Only 33 of these investigations resulted in the filing of indictments” [4]

Israeli human rights group Yesh Din clarifies that of these, Haib is the only soldier to have been convicted for an offence causing death: “From the beginning of the second intifada until the end of 2009, Courts-Martial convicted soldiers of offenses connected with the deaths of only four civilians: three Palestinians and one British national. One soldier was convicted of manslaughter, and he was the only one convicted of an offense of causing death. Four other soldiers were convicted of offenses of negligence.” [5]

For more information:
Alice Coy, UK: +44 7828 540512
ISM Media Office, Ramallah: +972 59 760 6276   or +972 2 241 0604
ISM London: +44 7913 067 189

References
[1] “Family of Palestinian driver killed by police demands investigation”. LA Times online, 14th June 2010 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/06/israel-family-of-palestinian-driver-killed-by-police-demands-investigation.html

[2] “Parents fight to learn why Israeli sniper shot their son”. Observer, 30th January 2005 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/jan/30/israel

[3] “Hurndall case: Israeli military forces still kill civilians with ‘near-total impunity’” Amnesty International statement, 7th October 2008 http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17897

[4] “Military Police investigations during the al-Aqsa intifada” B’Tselem http://www.btselem.org/English/Accountability/Investigatin_of_Complaints.asp

REVISION, 21st July: The initial version of this press release erroneously stated that Ziad Joulani had been shot “last week”. In fact he was killed on the 14th of June, as stated in the text of our reference. This online version has been revised to read “last month”. The final paragraph with the Yesh Din figures on convictions was also added.

Rachel Corrie trial: Israeli military Colonel states, “There are no civilians in war zones.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

6 September 2010 | Rachel Corrie Foundation

Haifa, ISRAEL – Several State witnesses testified in Haifa District Court on Monday, September 6, 2010, in the civil law suit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza.

Rachel Corrie / Courtesy Rachel Corrie Foundation

Rachel Corrie, an American human rights defender from Olympia, WA, was crushed to death on March 16, 2003, by a Caterpillar D9R military bulldozer. She had been nonviolently demonstrating against the demolitions of Palestinian homes.

One of the witnesses, known to the court as Yossi, was a Colonel in the Engineering Corps. He was responsible for writing operating manuals for military bulldozers and other equipment. He also conducted a simulation of what the bulldozer driver would have been able to see. In his testimony:

  • He repeatedly insisted that there are no civilians in a war zone. His assertion disregards the reality in the Palestinian Occupied Territories as well as international humanitarian law, which was created to protect civilians in armed conflict situations.
  • Yossi contradicted his own March 2003 testimony, given to military investigators, that the armored personnel carrier (APC) at the incident was intended to protect both soldiers and civilians. Today, he said the APC was there only for the safety of the drivers.
  • In his affidavit, Yossi wrote that he conducted a reenactment of the incident. However, he testified today that he did not reenact the scene, but rather filmed a bulldozer of the same model with a bulldozer operator, and another soldier, to get a sense of what the operator at the incident might have seen. He also said he did not view the military’s surveillance video of the incident in creating his simulation.
  • Yossi claimed that the manual on operating instructions for mechanical engineering equipment in low intensity conflict did not apply to real conflict situations, but rather only in training and administrative activities.
  • Yossi stated that the bulldozer driver and commander have the exact same field of vision and that the commander sat at the same level as the driver, contradicting the government’s expert witness, who stated that the commander had a better field of vision because he sat higher.

Another witness for the state, Major Yoram Manchori, testified as an expert witness on the bulldozer’s field of vision. He was responsible for purchasing heavy engineering equipment and readying it for military use. In May 2010, he created an animated simulation of what the bulldozer driver and commander’s vision might have been.

  • Manchori insisted he used in the simulation a bulldozer identical to the one that killed Rachel. However, the bulldozer he used had multiple bars on its windows, whereas the bulldozer that struck Rachel had no bars. Upon being informed of this discrepancy, he claimed that the bars did not impact visibility.
  • He conducted his simulation on terrain that was very different than the terrain at the scene.
  • He determined the simulated location of the bulldozers based on eyewitness recollections given over 7 years after the incident. He did not cross-check them with eyewitness accounts from the time of the killing, nor did he view the military surveillance video of the incident.
  • Manchori testified that the price of a Caterpillar D9R bulldozer is currently $700,000 and the cost of arming it is an additional $200,000 – $250,000, figures not previously disclosed. In light of this, it is now known that the cost of mounting a camera, which is often cited as being prohibitively expensive, would be less than 10% of the price of the bulldozer itself.
  • Manchori testified that after Rachel’s death the Israeli military installed cameras on one bulldozer but due to the high cost, limited increase in field vision and other problems, the installation was discontinued.
  • Manchori testified that prior to Corrie’s killing, the Israeli military tested the D9R bulldozer field of vision and that he personally had sent three charts of the results to the military investigators in March 2003. In court today, the Corries’ lawyer requested to obtain a copy of this report, stating that he needed it in order to analyze the bulldozer visibility claims made in the military police investigation of Rachel’s killing. The State argued that the report was classified and should not be allowed into evidence, although the Israeli Supreme Court previously ruled that this report was relevant to the case. Judge Gershon upheld the State’s argument.

Regarding the multiple references that there are no civilians in war zones, Cindy Corrie, Rachel’s mother said, “This was startling to our family, and to others in the courtroom. Rafah is a densely populated town. In fact, Rachel was killed defending the home of two Palestinian families-a pharmacist, an accountant, their wives and small children. It was extremely troubling for their existence to be categorically denied.”

Court today was attended by representatives from the US Embassy, Human Rights Watch and Adalah, a legal and human rights organization.

The trial is slated to resume in October, when the bulldozer driver, the bulldozer commander, and the head of the military police team that investigated Rachel’s killing are expected to testify.

For press related inquiries and further information please contact:
stacy@rachelcorriefoundation.org
Phone: +972-52-952-2143

Military police investigator’s testimony reveals additional flaws in the investigation into Rachel Corrie’s killing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

5 September 2010 | Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice

Haifa, Israel – On Sunday, September 5, 2010, the civil law suit filed by Rachel Corrie’s family against the State of Israel for her unlawful killing in Rafah, Gaza, resumed in the Haifa District Court. In March, the Corrie family called their witnesses to the stand. Today marked the beginning of the State’s testimony.

Rachel Corrie, an American human rights defender from Olympia, WA, was crushed to death on March 16, 2003, by a Caterpillar D9R military bulldozer. She had been nonviolently demonstrating against the demolitions of Palestinian homes.

The first state witness, a Military Police investigator known to the court as Oded, was part of a three-person team that investigated Rachel’s killing. Oded corroborated much of the testimony provided by El’ad, an investigator who testified in March, and added additional details about the inadequacy of the investigation.

  • Oded confirmed that a commander of the unit involved in Rachel’s killing interrupted the questioning of the bulldozer operator, telling him that Doron Almog, head of the Israeli military’s Southern Command, had ordered that the questioning cease. He also said that, in his experience, interference of this nature from military commanders was not uncommon.
  • When asked why he did not challenge the intervention, Oded said that as a junior investigator, it was not his place to do so. He was 20-years-old at the time, with only a high-school education and three-months of training in investigation.
  • Corrie’s case was the first civilian killing that Oded investigated from beginning to end.
  • Like El’ad, Oded stated that neither he nor any other investigator visited the site of the killing.
  • Oded said that he did not obtain the video-audio recording from the military surveillance camera which filmed 24/7 until March 23, a week after he began the investigation.
  • Oded said he did not request the video-audio recording with radio transmissions of the 2 bulldozer drivers and commanders from the hours leading up to the incident, transmissions which might have provided further context to the killing. Oded stated he did not believe they were relevant, even though Rachel and her friends from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) were protesting the bulldozer activity for several hours prior to her death.
  • When military police transcribed the radio transmissions, they failed to include an exchange in Arabic in which one soldier said, “Yem mawatu!” which in English means, “What, Did you kill him?!” and another soldier replied, “Allah Yerhamo,” “May God have mercy on him.” When asked about the discrepancy, Oded said that he did not understand Arabic and the investigation team did not think it was important. Oded testified that none of the investigators interviewed any of the Palestinian witnesses – including medical personnel who examined Rachel immediately following the incident. When asked why, he said he did not think they could provide any useful information.

According to a 2005 Human Rights Watch Report, Israel’s military investigative system is not independent, impartial or thorough. The military rarely has brought wrongdoers to justice, and existing practices have exerted little deterrent effect. Furthermore, the report found that the system is opaque, cumbersome, and open to command pressure.

“Our family and the US government’s long standing position has been that there was never a thorough, credible and transparent investigation. Today’s testimony further confirms that stand,” said Sarah Corrie Simpson, Rachel’s sister.

Attending the trial today were the US Consul General, Andrew Parker, and representatives from Al Haq and Adalah, human rights organizations based respectively in Ramallah and Haifa.

The trial is slated to resume on Monday, September 6 at 9:30 a.m.

For press related inquiries and further information please contact:
Stacy Sullivan
stacy@rachelcorriefoundation.org
Phone (Israel): 972-52-952-2143