The Israeli military has closed the case files of three Palestinians who were killed by its forces in 2018, prompting backlash from rights groups like B’Tselem who initially investigated the killings.
The Military Advocate General’s Corps (MAG Corps) closed the cases of three Palestinians who were killed in the occupied West Bank, which B’Tselem described as “unjustified.”
“Nevertheless, and even though the incidents should not have had fatal consequences – not even by the standards of military regulations – the very fact that investigations were undertaken has once again created an illusion of a functioning accountability apparatus,” B’Tselem said in a press release on Monday.
“At the end of the day, these belated so-called investigations, too, ended in whitewashing,” the group continued.
The cases in question were those of 17-year-old Ali Qinu from Iraq Burin (Nablus), 16-year-old Layth Abu Naim from al-Mughayyir (Ramallah) and 35-year-old Yassin al-Saradih from Jericho.
All three Palestinians were shot during January and February 2018. Qinu was shot in the head by Israeli forces from inside their jeep while Qinu and a group of young men threw stones at the vehicle.
B’Tselem emphasized that Israel’s open-fire regulations state that “shooting to kill is permitted only when the lives of security forces or other persons are in danger,” and that Qinu’s killing was “a far cry from meeting these criteria.”
Abu Naim was shot in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet from a distance of around 20 meters, critically injuring him. According to B’Tselem’s investigation, the Israeli soldiers responsible “left the scene without providing him any medical assistance.”
“Firing a rubber-coated metal bullet from a range of around 20 meters at the upper body could be lethal and is therefore expressly prohibited by the open-fire regulations,” the group noted.
In the case of al-Saradih, who was shot when he attempted to attack a group of soldiers with an iron bar, B’Tselem highlighted the fact that video evidence showed soldiers kicking and beating an injured al-Saradih as he lay injured on the ground.
The soldiers then dragged the man to a nearby alleyway and refused him medical assistance for over half an hour. “Withholding medical assistance and assaulting an injured person are illegal and violate basic moral norms,” the group said.
“It is no accident that all three case files were closed,” B’Tselem said, saying the three cases were only a few of the hundreds that have been “whitewashed” over the years.
Qinu, Abu Naim, and al-Saradih were just three of 290 Palestinians killed by Israel in 2018, most of whom were “victims of a reckless open-fire policy,” B’Tselem reported at the time.
“The system does not truly seek to uncover the facts and promote justice for the victims,” the group continued. “Rather, it is primarily aimed at defending the perpetrators, while creating the illusion of a functioning system so as to deflect criticism.”
“It is the standard conduct of the military law enforcement system, based on the understanding that condoning – even implicitly – soldiers’ blatant breach of orders without holding anyone accountable is what allows the continued use of lethal force.”
RIP to these 3 Palestinians. No justice is ever forthcoming from Israel~ ever. Not even a simple apology. Thank goodness for B’Tselem.
Today is the 57th anniversary of a gruesome Israeli massacre of Palestinian civilians:
“We’ll never forget October 1956 massacre, say Palestinians in Israel
On 29 October 1956, Israeli border police carried out a massacre in the Palestinian village of Kafr Qassem, situated in the central district of present-day Israel.
The massacre took place on the eve of the Suez crisis — in which Israel invaded Egypt with the backing of France and Britain. It followed the announcement of a curfew by Israel in the middle of that day.
Although most Palestinians who were outside their villages were doing agricultural work in the fields and had no way of knowing about the curfew, Israeli border police were ordered by the military to shoot anyone who returned after 5pm.
Many Israeli officers did not comply. Yet in Kafr Qassem, the order was carried out. Forty-eight men, women and children were slain — 23 of the victims were children between eight and 17 years old. One of those killed was a pregnant woman.
“You won’t find any mention of the massacre in any Israeli schoolbook sealed by the ministry of education,” Lina Badr, a 19-year-old from Kafr Qassem, said in an interview with The Electronic Intifada.
“So Arab schools around the country make sure to dedicate the week before the anniversary each year for educational events, school trips to the [Kafr Qassem massacre] museum, and distributing literature about the full story of what happened during the massacre.
“Plus, each year for over half a century we hold a huge demonstration on 29 October to make sure it is clear: there will be no forgetting.”
Residents from Kafr Qasim said that they plan to march from the village’s mosque to the site of the killings to commemorate the massacre on Tuesday.
Although 57 years have passed, most of the few remaining survivors are still too scared to speak publicly. …
… “Respect our dead”
The museum volunteer Rami Amr, on the other hand, stated that “we don’t want [Peres’] personal apology. We’re still waiting for a confession. That’s the justice we want — just this small thing for the children of our martyrs. It’s about respecting our dead.”
As he spoke, Amr gestured to a wall covered with the photographs of those who were killed in the massacre — among them were elderly, women and children, as well as a handful of blank picture frames for the bodies that were too badly disfigured to be identified.
“We don’t call for revenge, but we want to send a message to the extremist Israeli government,” Amr said. “We haven’t forgotten our massacre after 57 years, and do not deny that it happened.”
The Kafr Qassem massacre is just one from a long list of assaults on the Palestinian minority in present-day Israel.
“All of the massacres we’ve experienced as Palestinians inside [Israel] are tied together and have their roots in the Nakba. There is a straight line tying the Kafr Qassem massacre to the Prawer Plan today,” said Amr, referring to the ongoing dispossession of Palestinian Bedouins in the Naqab (Negev) region.
In 1976, Israeli police killed six Palestinian citizens during demonstrations against the state’s confiscation of thousands of dunums of land (one dunum is the equivalent of 1,000 square meters). The event came to be known as Land Day and is commemorated annually.
At the onset of the second intifada in October 2000, 13 unarmed protesters — all Palestinian citizens of Israel — were shot and killed by Israeli police during demonstrations across the country. Despite a commission that found that police had “illegally used rubber-coated bullets, live ammunition and snipers,” justice has yet to be delivered for their deaths.
On 4 August 2005, Israeli soldier Eden Natan Zada killed four Palestinian citizens and injured another 23 when he boarded a public bus in the town of Shefa Amr and opened fire on the passengers. Four of those who killed him in self-defense were found guilty of attempted manslaughter in July, and another seven were convicted of charges related to aggravated assault on police officers.
“Obviously it would be better for the Israelis if with time … we would forget that the Kafr Qassem massacre ever happened,” Lina Badr said.
“But it’s important to us as Palestinians living in this country that even after a hundred years, our children still feel that pain, the suffering of our grandparents and great grandparents, knowing always that the Jewish majority is scared that the Arab minority continues to grow bigger and stronger.””
https://electronicintifada.net/content/well-never-forget-october-1956-massacre-say-palestinians-israel/12883
More @- the link to article by Patrick O. Strickland @- EI.
@Jon S
“Regarding the Kafr Qassem massacre, it’s not true that it’s not mentioned in Israeli schoolbooks. It certainly is mentioned and discussed in approved textbooks as a prime example of a blatantly illegal and immoral order which soldiers are not to obey”
References please ie titles of Israeli “approved” textbooks , chapters , sentences etc.
Ossinev,
A standard Civics textbook, currently in use is “להיות אזרחים בישראל” (Being Citizens in Israel) published by the Min. of Ed. itself, 2016. The Kafr Qassem massacre is described and discussed p.242-243.
I also checked an earlier version, published in 2001. The massacre appears p.217-218.
The History textbook used in my school is “הלאומיות בישראל ובעמים-בונים מדינה במזה”ת” (Nationalism in Israel and among the Nations- Building a State in the Middle East), published by Reches ,2009, and approved by the Min.of Ed. The massacre is on p.213.
gamal,
As I recall (I can’t access my archive) I mentioned or recommended Benny Morris’ book . After which wj asked me if there’s any other book I would also suggest. That’s when I recommended Prof.Gelber, for a different approach. I certainly don’t agree with his right wing political views, but that doesn’t mean that his historical research has no value.