Soldier who fired said he thought protestors were all
Palestinians
Israeli soldier sorry for not shooting Arab
by Khalid
Amayreh
AN Israeli soldier who three days ago mistakenly shot and seriously wounded a
Jewish demonstrator in the northern West Bank has told interrogators that he thought he was shooting a Palestinian, not a Jew.
“I am sorry, I never thought I was shooting at
Jews, I would never shoot a Jew,” the soldier reportedly said. The Israeli victim, Gil
Nima’ati, was protesting the construction of the so-called separation wall near the northern
West Bank village of Mis-ha north of north west of
Nablus, along with hundreds of Palestinians and international peace activists.
Another protester, an American woman, was also lightly wounded in the shooting which sparked off widespread acrimony and recrimination in Israel because a Jew was shot. The soldier who pulled the trigger —
his identity has not been released — reportedly said he could not recognise the identity of the demonstrators, who were protesting the construction of the “separation wall” in the northern West
Bank.
Unnamed Israeli soldier: “I thought the protesters were all Palestinians and non-Jews.” On
Tuesday, the Israeli chief of staff and other
Israeli officials sought to give the soldier in question the benefit of the doubt, arguing that he would not have opened fire had he known he was shooting at a Jew. “I am sure, the soldier didn’t know he was shooting at a Jew,” Moshe
Ya’alon said in response to a question from a
Knesset member.
Shooting
Palestinians is “different”
However, when another Knesset member further asked Ya’alon if shooting a Palestinian would have been legitimate under the same circumstances, he sought to dodge the question, arguing that “the army deals with differently with the Palestinians.”
“Soldiers feel threatened by Palestinians and open fire when they feel threatened. This is not the same when soldiers deal with Jews.”
Israeli occupation troops have shot and killed hundreds of Palestinians and a number of international activists in controversial circumstances, prompting human rights organisations to accuse the Israeli army of adopting a
“shoot-to-kill” policy in the occupied territories.
Earlier this year the Israeli Hebrew paper,
Ha’aretz, published a report showing that up to 80% of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army since the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada were either innocent civilians or people who played no role in the hostilities between Israel and the
Palestinians. However, the wanton killings of
Palestinian civilians, journalists and international peace activists by the Israeli occupation army aroused little outrage in Israeli society.
Two days ago, a group of Israeli leftists demonstrated in the same area where Na’amati was wounded. They carried placards reading “first, they shot the Palestinians, and we were silent.”
More Israeli racism: Stay
away from Israeli women, foreign workers
told