| Al-Jazeera
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
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
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