Annual Report - Palestinian Center for Human Rights

Impunity
On Tuesday, 15 November 2005, the Israeli military southern command court
acquitted an IOF officer of charges relating to the killing of 13-year-old Iman al-
Hams; the illegal use of his weapon; and the obstruction of court proceedings. Iman
al-Hams, 13, from Rafah, was killed on 5 October 2004, when IOF positioned in a
military post on the Egyptian border, south of Rafah, opened fire at her, as she was
walking with her schoolbag. The case received wide-spread attention when an Israeli
soldier, working in the aforementioned post, confessed that his officer had "confirmed
the kill" and shot the girl multiple times from a close range, after she had already been
hit by IOF gunfire and was lying on the ground. Consequently, the Israeli military
prosecutor initiated an investigation into the case. Moshe Ya'lon, the former Israeli
military Chief of Staff, supported the officer's claim that the shooting of the girl had
coincided with shooting at the military post by Palestinian gunmen. As the Israeli
newspapers published more details about the case, however, the officer was arrested
under charges of providing false testimonies. On 22 November 2004, the Israeli
military prosecutor presented an indictment against the officer and the military court
and extended his detention for two months in an open military post. On 23 November
2004, the Israeli media showed a video tape in which the officer was seen moving
towards the child, who was lying on the ground, and shooting at her multiple times.
On 9 December 2004, the officer was charged with the illegal use of his weapon. The
Israeli military court released the officer on 6 February 2005, when the witness and
other soldiers held back their testimonies, which had stated that they saw the officer
shooting at the child. The witnesses and other soldiers claimed that they had lied
during the investigation in order to get rid of this officer.
This Israeli court ruling strongly evidences the lack of justice in the Israeli judiciary
system, especially the military judiciary. Investigations are usually conducted by IOF
and cases are referred then to the military judiciary, thus undermining the credibility
of investigations and court rulings on them. Since the outset of the current Palestinian
Intifada in September 2000, 2908 Palestinians, including 651 children, have been
killed by IOF. Hundreds of complaints submitted to the Israeli courts by human
rights organizations, including PCHR, on behalf of victims have been ignored, and
only a few cases have been seriously investigated. In this context, B'Tselem, the
Israeli Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, published on 27 June
2005, statistics which demonstrated that the Israeli police conducted investigations
into 108 cases of killing and injuring Palestinians in the OPT out of thousands of
similar cases, and that bills of indictments were submitted in just 19 cases. Only two
soldiers were convicted of killing Palestinians.
One of the significant examples that indicates how investigations into cases of killing
or injuring civilians in the OPT are dealt with by IOF was a decision taken by an
Israeli military judge in April 2005, acquitting an Israeli soldier of charges relating to
the killing of James Miller, a British journalist. The military claimed that there was
not "enough evidence to prove his connection to the killing." Miller was killed by
IOF in May 2003 in Rafah, while he was working in the area.
In 2003, an Israeli soldier was acquitted of charges related to the killing of Rachel
Corrie, an American peace activist, who was run down by an IOF bulldozer in Rafah
in March 2003, while she was attempting to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes
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