Tag: Yousef Akil Srour

The willful killing of Aqel Srour following a Ni’lin demonstration against the Annexation Wall

Al Haq

30 June 2009

The Willful Killing of Aqel Srour Following a Ni’lin Demonstration against the Annexation Wall: a deplorable illustration of Impunity’s Slippery Slope

As a Palestinian human rights organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Al-Haq regrets once again having to draw attention to the deadly consequences of the pervasive culture of impunity among the ranks of the Israeli military establishment. The lack of accountability for Border Police who have employed excessive force to suppress civilian demonstrations against Israel’s illegal construction of the Annexation Wall in the OPT, is a scenario which has sadly become an archetypal example of this culture of impunity. The willful killing by an Israeli Border Police officer of an unarmed civilian in Ni’lin village after the conclusion of a demonstration just over two weeks ago is a regrettable illustration of impunity’s slippery slope.

Facts

According to Al-Haq’s field information, the circumstances surrounding this wilful killing are the following:

On Friday, 5 June 2009, at approximately 2:30 pm, unarmed Palestinian demonstrators were dispersing after participating in the weekly protest against the construction of the Annexation Wall in the centre of the West Bank village of Ni’lin. The demonstration had been characterised by the use of force by Israeli Border Police against demonstrators, some of whom had thrown stones but who were otherwise unarmed and in no way posed a lethal threat to the policemen. One demonstrator was injured by live fire during the course of the demonstration.

At the conclusion of the demonstration, the Israeli Border Police unit drove away through one of the northern gates in the Wall. Following the departure of the military vehicles, five civilians dispersing from the demonstration approached the area of the northern gate. Unbeknownst to the five, one Border Police officer remained in the area, hidden behind a stone formation (formerly a well). A sixteen-year-old child, Mohammad Misleh Mousa, unwittingly approached the remaining officer, who shot Mohammed in the abdomen from a distance of 40 metres. Thirty-five-year-old Aqel Sadeq Dar Srour ran to assist Mohammad and was also shot in the chest by the officer. Immediately following these shootings and without calling for assistance, the officer left Ni’lin on foot through one of the northern gates in the Wall. Mohammad and Aqel were rushed to Ramallah Hospital. Aqel was pronounced dead upon arrival. Mohammad was hospitalised and underwent several operations and may be permanently paralysed as a result of a bullet’s penetration of his spine.

Legal Analysis

Any claim that the use of force against Mohammad and Aqel was lawfully employed in the context of a policing operation to quell a demonstration against the Wall and restore law and order must be discounted. The use of force by the police officer in this case cannot be directly correlated to the demonstration. As can be discerned from the fact that all of the Border Police left the area, with one exception, the demonstration was over.

The circumstances also preclude any claim that the Israeli officer acted in self-defence. The use of lethal force against an unarmed person posing no threat and who was completely unaware of the soldier’s presence is unjustifiable and constitutes arbitrary deprivation of life in contravention Israel, the Occupying Power’s, obligations under international human rights law.

Regrettably, the Israeli military’s rules of engagement have promoted arbitrary deprivation of life in the OPT since the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada in 2000. As the result of an expansive definition of “life threatening”, the rules allow military and security personnel to open fire on Palestinian civilians in non-life threatening circumstances, including situations in which protesters throw stones. Hence, the death and injury of numerous civilians at demonstration flashpoints related to the Annexation Wall, such as the villages of Bi’lin, Biddo and Ni’lin, is a result of Israel’s refusal to reconcile its rules of engagement with its international legal obligations. In highlighting the above, Al-Haq recalls the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Güleç v. Turkey. The ECHR held that despite the demonstrator’s use of stones, firearms and sticks against police officers, these circumstances did not render the resort by Turkish police to powerful live fire absolutely necessary. The resulting death of one demonstrator was therefore found to amount to a violation of the right to life.

Finally, in the case of Aqel, where the unlawful use of force by the officer resulted in death, the fact that live ammunition was employed, targeting sensitive parts of the body and without issuing any warning, strongly suggests ‘willful killing’. Willful killing is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention for which the perpetrator is individually criminally responsible.

Al-Haq therefore joins the call by the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem for the Israeli Military Advocate General to initiate an independent and impartial investigation into the killing of Aqel Sadeq Dar Srour. Further, as a first step towards ending the culture of impunity, Al-Haq calls upon the Legal Advisor to the Israeli military to undertake a systematic review of the rules of engagement with a view to bringing them into compliance with Israel’s obligations under international law.

Prohibit live fire in circumstances that are not life-threatening in the West Bank

B’Tselem

18 June 2009

On Friday, 5 June 2009, ‘Aqel Sror, 35, was killed when a border policeman fired a live, 0.22 inch caliber bullet at his chest during a demonstration held in Ni’lin. Four other demonstrators were injured by 0.22 bullets that day. One of them suffered a severe wound to the spinal cord, which his physicians estimate will leave him permanently paralyzed.

B’Tselem’s investigation indicates that Sror, who was part of a group of youths who were throwing stones at border policemen, was shot while he ran to aid a young man who had been injured a few seconds earlier. The shot was fired by a Border Police sniper, from a distance of 40 to 50 meters away. Sror and the injured person whom he had gone to aid were struck in their torsos. B’Tselem demanded a criminal investigation in the matter.

0.22 bullets are live ammunition that used to be fired from a Ruger rifle. Their impact may be lower, but they do cause injury, at times very serious, and even death. For this reason, the former Judge Advocate General, Maj. Gen. Menachem Finkelstein, ordered that use of these bullets stop. The order was given in 2001 after several children in the Gaza Strip were killed by this ammunition, and after OC Central Command had already prohibited its use. At the time, Ha’aretz quoted an army official who saying that “the mistake was that the Ruger came to be seen as a means to disperse demonstrators, although it was originally intended to be a weapon to all intents and purposes.”

Surprisingly, a few months ago, the army returned to using this ammunition to disperse demonstrators, without giving any explanation for this sudden change in policy and without taking any measures to prevent the expected injury to civilians. Indeed, since then, 0.22 bullets have killed or injured many Palestinians in the West Bank, and also at least one foreigner. In February, ‘Az a-Din al-Jamal, 14, was killed in Hebron when after throwing stones with other youths. B’Tselem also knows of persons who were injured in Ni’lin, Bil’in, Jayyus, Bitunya, and Budrus. Most of the victims were struck in the legs, suffering light to moderate injuries.

Following the renewed use of 0.22 bullets, B’Tselem wrote to the Judge Advocate General in March warning of the potential danger lives in use of this ammunition to disperse demonstrations. The response of Maj. Yehoshua Gortler, of the Judge Advocate General’s Office, was received only in June, after ‘Aqel Sror was killed, and after another letter from B’Tselem.

In his response, Major Gortler states that the rules applying to 0.22 bullets are “comparable, in general, to the the Open-Fire Regulations applying to ‘ordinary’ live ammunition… The IDF does not consider the Ruger rifle a means to disperse demonstrators or persons engaged in public disturbances, and the weapon is not a substitute for means used to deal with public disturbances (such as stun grenades, rubber bullets, and so forth).”

This response does not reflect the reality in the field. B’Tselem’s observations at demonstrations in Ni’lin clearly indicate that security forces have consistently used 0.22 bullets since the end of 2008, and that they see them as an additional means to disperse demonstrators.

First, following the killing of ‘Aqel Sror, the IDF Spokesperson himself stated that soldiers had fired at demonstrators with a Ruger rifle, “which is a means to disperse demonstrators that fires ammunition similar to live ammunition but at low intensity.”

Second, soldiers frequently use 0.22 bullets along with other crowd-dispersal means, such as tear gas and stun grenades. This conduct indicates that soldiers in the field and their commanders see 0.22 bullets as one of the means available to them for dispersing demonstrators.

Third, soldiers often do not have any weapon suited to shooting rubber-coated metal bullets, which are intended for crowd dispersal. Rather, they only have 0.22 bullets. This situation is reflected in the number of demonstrators wounded by these bullets in Ni’lin: since the army renewed use of these bullets, at least 28 demonstrators have been injured.

Fourth, analysis of the repeated use of 0.22 bullets in demonstrations in Ni’lin clearly demonstrates that, in the vast majority of cases, neither soldiers nor other persons were in life-threatening situations, which is the only case in which it is permitted to use live ammunition.

In its letters to the Judge Advocate General, B’Tselem noted that treating 0.22 bullets as a means for dispersing demonstrators has led security forces to see this ammunition as non-lethal and harmless, whose use does not have be restricted. Accordingly, forces have increased use of it and have begun to fire it in non-life-threatening situations.

This incorrect perception is especially dangerous because soldiers are almost never held accountable for illegal use of weapons. The lack of accountability results from the Judge Advocate General’s Office’s policy of not opening Military Police investigations in cases in which Palestinians are killed or wounded, except in rare circumstances in which the operational investigation, made by the same soldiers who caused the injury, raises a suspicion of criminal conduct. This policy has led to very few investigations, and consequently grants impunity to soldiers who breach the law.

B’Tselem demands that the army immediately cease use of 0.22 ammunition in circumstances that are not life-threatening, and that measures be taken against members of the security forces who have opened fire in breach of the regulations, causing death or injury to civilians.

Ni’lin residents demonstrate against the Apartheid Wall

12 June 2009

Ni'lin demonstrators tear down barbed wire surrounding the Apartheid Wall.
Ni'lin demonstrators tear down barbed wire surrounding the Apartheid Wall.

Approximately 100 Palestinian, Israeli and international solidarity activists gathered today in the village of Nil’in. The atmosphere was charged following last week’s murder of Yousef Akil Srour, and demonstrators were unsure of the force that would meet them as they marched towards the Apartheid wall.

50 meters before reaching the razor wire fence that charts the intended route of the separation wall, which parts villagers from their fields, Israeli forces began firing tear gas. While those with children ran from the ensuing gas, others continued down towards the fence, yelling in Hebrew to the soldiers ‘Go home’. The group immediately dispersed and people fanned out along the ridge that runs alongside the road and razor wire. In one area youths were able to dismantle a section of the fence spanning four meters as others threw rocks onto the fence below.

There was a huge soldier presence, with more than 12 army vehicles, although they maintained a distance they shot multiple tear gas canisters (16 fired per round) from atop of the jeeps. At one point a few soldiers advanced on foot, leaving the road through a small gate, allowing them to shoot from a closer proximately. At times, they would shoot the tear gas canisters from three directions at once, making it impossible for demonstrators to reach safety.

While a few protesters were hit by tear gas canisters, no one was seriously injured. The protest ended earlier than normal, as people returned to the village fearing that the army was going to move in.

However as the army did not enter the area, the demonstration ended with a memorial for Yousef Akil Srour.

To date, Israeli occupation forces have murdered five Palestinian residents and critically injured 1 international solidarity activist during unarmed demonstrations in Ni’lin.

  • 29 July 2008: Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
  • 28 December 2008: Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22) was shot in the back with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
  • 28 December 2008: Mohammed Khawaje (20) was shot in the head with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition. He died in a Ramallah hospital 3 days later on 31 December 2008.
  • 5 June 2009: Yousef Akil Srour (36) was shot in the chest with 0.22 caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.

In total, 35 people have been shot by Israeli forces with live ammunition: 7 were shot with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and 28 were shot with 0.22 caliber live ammunition.

Since May 2008, residents of Ni’lin have been organizing and participating in unarmed demonstrations against construction of the Apartheid Wall. Despite being deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, the Occupation continues to build the Wall, further annexing Palestinian land.

Ni’lin will lose approximately 2,500 dunums of agricultural land when construction of the Wall is completed. Ni’lin consisted of 57,000 dunums in 1948, was reduced to 33,000 dunums in 1967, is currently 10,000 dunums and will be 7,500 dunums after completion of the Wall.

Additionally, a tunnel for Palestinians is being built underneath road 446. This tunnel will allow for the closure of the road to Palestinian vehicles, turning road 446 into an Israeli-only road. Ni’lin will be effectively split into 2 parts (upper Ni’lin and lower Ni’lin), as road 446 runs between the village. The tunnel is designed to give Israeli occupation forces control of movement over Ni’lin residents, as it can be blocked with a single military vehicle.

Can civil disobedience work if the media stays away?

Bruce Wolman | Mondoweiss

11 June 2009

What if Palestinians turned to non-violent protest and none of the media showed up to cover their actions?

President Obama in his Cairo speech insisted the “Palestinians must abandon violence.” He exhorted them to imitate the methods of the Civil Rights movement in the United States:

“Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and it does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America’s founding.”

Obama went further and stated, “This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia, to Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It’s a story with a simple truth: violence is a dead end.”

But would the freedom rides and marches, lunch counter sit-ins and bus boycotts have succeeded if the media had not been on the story? Had the New York Times and other papers not sent reporters to witness the protests, or had the television networks not sent crews to film the events, had Americans heard only the explanations of the George Wallaces and the Bull Connors juxtaposed with the testimony of the protesters, would the non-violent approach of Martin Luther King Jr. had succeeded?

In case President Obama is unaware, Palestinians have been non-violently protesting the occupation for some time. Tomorrow is Friday, and most likely Palestinians, left-wing Israelis and international peace activists will meet up in Niilin (also transliterated to Naalin and Nil’in) to protest the Israeli security wall running through the village, as they already have for many weekends.

On the previous Friday’s demonstration, the IDF wounded Akal Sarur and four others. Sarur later died in the hospital. Although the IDF would not confirm it, media reports stated that border police fired on Sarur using a “low-velocity gun specially designed to disperse riots.”

According to the IDF, the protest “turned into a violent riot shortly after it began.” Protesters hurled rocks at the troops and tried to damage the fence. Moreover, the IDF claims that several soldiers were attacked by a group of men, some of them masked. The soldiers then used “established crowd control measures,” which contributed to Sarur’s death.

Later, the IDF added that the victim Sarur had been throwing rocks at the soldiers, and was a known member of Hamas .

According to Jonathan Pollak, of Anarchists Against the Wall,

“clashes between the IDF, residents of Nil’in and activists began earlier in the day when the IDF tried to occupy a home in the village….” The IDF used “sniper fire against the demonstrators who headed to the “wall” after praying at the mosque. Sarur was killed by sniper fire as he tried to evacuate one of the wounded demonstrators. He was not throwing stones at the time he was shot. It was possible he had thrown stones earlier.”

Pollack went on to ask, “Even if he was throwing stones, since when do people who throw stones get the death penalty? We are talking about a sniper who was 40 meters away barricaded behind a wall and standing there very coolly, and aiming and taking a shot.”

Earlier this year in mid-March, Tristan Anderson, an American activist from Oakland, California, was severely injured when hit by a tear-gas cannister during one of the protests in Niilin. The IDF claimed there was 400 violent demonstrators throwing rock at the soldiers that day. A Swedish school teacher, Ulrike Anderson, said that the crowd had mostly disappeared at the time Tristan Anderson was hit. Whose version is accurate?

Will Isabel Kershner or Ethan Bronner of the New York Times, or any of their stringers be at Niilin tomorrow? Will Howard Schneider of the Washington Post be there? Will Reuters, the BBC, CNN or NBC send someone out? It’s not as if there have been no previous signs something newsworthy might happen. Five people have already died this year in Niilin, besides the injured American, Tristan Anderson.

If another protester is injured or killed tomorrow, will we once again have to read that the IDF claims this, while the activists claim that? What did the Mississippi police claim after Freedom Riders were harassed and killed in the old south? Did anyone care?

Tomorrow brings another potential clash in the Holy Land. Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem plan to protest for a second weekend “against the opening of a municipal parking lot at city hall – free of charge and staffed by a non-Jew – on Shabbat.”

“Last Saturday, thousands of ultra-Orthodox men clashed with police, first near the Kikar Safra parking lot, and then at the entrance to the Mea She’arim neighborhood, throwing bottles, rocks and dirty diapers, and lightly wounding six officers.”

Despite the fact that rocks were thrown and police were injured, none of the crowd control techniques regularly used by the Police and IDF in Niilin were applied to the Haredim Jews. And it’s not because these Ultra-Orthodox are Zionists, they are not. They are simply Jewish.

Will any of the Western media be on hand to compare what happens during the day at Niilin with what occurs at night in Jerusalem?

If Obama wants the Palestinians to engage in non-violent protest, and in fact they already are doing just that, then he needs to urge the “free Western media” to be brave and cover the protests as if it was Birmingham and Mississippi in the Fifties and Sixties. There may even be a Pulitzer Prize to be won.

Funeral for Yousef ‘Akil’ Srour held in Ni’lin

6 June 2009

The funeral for Yousef Tzadik ‘Akil’ Srour was held in Ni’lin on Saturday, 6 June 2009. Srour was murdered by Israeli forces on Friday, 5 June 2009, during a demonstration against the construction of the Apartheid Wall on Ni’lin’s land. Akil frequently participated in the unarmed demonstrations against the construction of the Apartheid Wall. He was known as a leader amongst the demonstrators, always ready to help another. According to an eyewitness from the village, “The soldier was to our right and Akal was running to the left to help an injured man… when he was shot in the heart.”

Residents of Ni’lin, amongst others, drove behind the vehicle bringing Srour’s body back to Ni’lin. The procession reached Ni’lin from Ramallah around 12:30pm. People marched through the village, carrying Srour’s body to his home, the mosque and finally to the place of burial. Sour’s brother and other Ni’lin residents spoke of Akil’s kindness and dedication to his village after his burial.

To date, Israeli occupation forces have murdered five Palestinian residents and critically injured 1 international solidarity activist during unarmed demonstrations in Ni’lin.

  • 29 July 2008: Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
  • 28 December 2008: Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22) was shot in the back with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
  • 28 December 2008: Mohammed Khawaje (20) was shot in the head with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition. He died in a Ramallah hospital 3 days later on 31 December 2008.
  • 5 June 2009: Yousef Akil Srour (36) was shot in the chest with 0.22 caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.

In total, 35 people have been shot by Israeli forces with live ammunition: 7 were shot with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and 28 were shot with 0.22 caliber live ammunition.

Since May 2008, residents of Ni’lin have been organizing and participating in unarmed demonstrations against construction of the Apartheid Wall. Despite being deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004, the Occupation continues to build the Wall, further annexing Palestinian land.

Ni’lin will lose approximately 2,500 dunums of agricultural land when construction of the Wall is completed. Ni’lin consisted of 57,000 dunums in 1948, was reduced to 33,000 dunums in 1967, is currently 10,000 dunums and will be 7,500 dunums after completion of the Wall.

Additionally, a tunnel for Palestinians is being built underneath road 446. This tunnel will allow for the closure of the road to Palestinian vehicles, turning road 446 into an Israeli-only road. Ni’lin will be effectively split into 2 parts (upper Ni’lin and lower Ni’lin), as road 446 runs between the village. The tunnel is designed to give Israeli occupation forces control of movement over Ni’lin residents, as it can be blocked with a single military vehicle.