Israel:
Brutal Crackdown On
Anti-occupation Activists
By Chris Marsden
World
Socialist Website
08 January 2004
The
response of the army, judiciary and the government of Ariel Sharon to
Jewish opponents of Israels occupation of the West Bank and Gazaand
to foreign peace activistsis becoming ever more brutal.
Israeli protester
Gil Naamati was shot in the legs by Israeli Defence Forces troops
during a demonstration against the West Bank separation fence on December
27 near the village of Maskha. In a demonstration organised by Anarchists
Against the Fence, the protesters were cutting a length of the fence
when they were met with live fire by the IDFseriously injuring
Naamati and slightly injuring an American citizen.
The IDF regularly
use live ammunition to disperse Palestinians, but this was the first
time troops have opened fire on Jewish protesters.
A military investigation
later found the soldiers were following the rules of engagement. The
IDF said in a statement, Given all the factors involved, including
the fact that the soldiers felt they were under a real threat, the lack
of accessible riot control gear and the rules of engagement the force
was operating under, there was no deviation from the normal rules of
engagement.
IDF Chief of Staff
Moshe Yaalon told reporters he had full confidence in the
testimony of the soldiers, who said they felt threatened by the
demonstrators and did not believe they were dealing with Israelis.
Earlier Anarchists
Against the Wall and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel had
organised a press conference during which Naamatis father,
Uri, said, One must be drunk to believe the IDFs version
of the circumstances of the shooting.
Uri Naamati
said the IDF soldiers not only shot Gil, but also failed to evacuate
him, lied, and did not learn their lesson. The IDF version has only
one true elementthe shooters name.
According to reports,
the material presented at the press conference and an independent probe
by Haaretz newspaper disproves many of the armys claims.
Video footage taken
using three cameras at the site of the shooting shows that contrary
to the IDF statements, the soldiers could not have believed their lives
were in danger. The soldiers were also aware that the protesters were
Israelis, because the distance between the troops and the demonstrators
was just 26 meters rather than the 100 meters claimed by Yaalon
when speaking to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee.
Protesters were shouting at the soldiers in Hebrew.
The footage proves
that the soldiers had not warned the demonstrators before shooting at
them. It shows that soldiers were in shooting posture even when demonstrators
were only shaking the fence. They could not have felt threatened because
there was no chance the demonstrators could get through to the settlement
behind the soldiers. Zionist settlers felt safe enough to cheer and
dance beside the soldiers in the back of a pickup truck and were not
prevented from doing so by the IDF.
The IDF also maintained
that Naamati was the chief instigator of violence,
but the video shows he arrived late on the scene and was not masked
as the army claimed.
Israel began to
build what it calls a security fence and its opponents often refer to
as The Wall in June 2002. Costing US$1.8 billion, the barrier
slices through the Occupied Territories splitting villages in two and
preventing free movement and access for Palestinians to vital services
such as schools.
On New Years
Day around 15 people were wounded as they took part in another protest
against the construction of the security fence. Two of those injured
were foreign peace activists who were taking part in the third such
protest in the West Bank village of Budrus, near Modiin.
Some 30 protesters
and one border policeman were injured.
The security fence
runs along the western edge of Bodrus, cutting off some farmers from
their land. After a hundred-strong protest march, some youths began
throwing stones at soldiers who responded with a volley of tear gas
and plastic bullets. The IDF imposed a curfew on the village and carried
out house-to-house searches. Five Palestinians were arrested.
Four Israelis and
four foreigners were also arrested, including Swedish Green Party MP
Gustav Fridolin, who was later freed and escorted onto a flight to Stockholm
by Swedish Embassy officials. Fridolin said that the arresting soldiers
had manhandled him. The other three foreigners were Fredrik
Batzler from Sweden and Americans Katherine Rafael and Kimberly Gray.
Many of those arrested
are activists with the International Solidarity Movement, which has
been targeted for particularly vicious treatment by the Israeli state.
In March 2003, US
citizen Rachel Corrie, 23, was murdered by the IDF while trying to stop
an army bulldozer demolishing Palestinian homes in the Rafah refugee
camp in the Gaza Strip. On April 5, US citizen Brian Avery, 24, was
shot in the face in Jenin by IDF soldiers. On April 11, British citizen
Tom Hurndall was a shot in the head while helping Palestinian children
flee the scene of IDF gunfire in the Rafah. He has been in a coma ever
since and is expected to die. It was only this month that an IDF soldier
admitted to shooting Hurndall, claiming it was a deterrence shot.
Since the start
of the Palestinian intifada, the Israeli military police have opened
only 72 inquiries, and only 13 prosecutions have resulted from these.
In another expression
of the hard-line stance being taken against internal opponents of the
occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, on July 4 the military court in
Jaffa imposed one-year prison sentences on five conscientious objectors
who refused to enlist in the IDF. This is the first time since 1981
that conscripts have been tried in a military court for refusing to
serve in the armed forces on grounds of conscience.
Haggai Matar, Matan
Kaminer, Shimri Zameret, Adam Maor and Noam Bahat are high school students
who signed a letter almost two years ago refusing to enlist in the IDF
as long as it continued to function as an occupying army.
They were put in
trial for nine months before being convicted of gross insubordination
for refusing to obey an order. The three judges denounced the five conscientious
objectors as draft dodgers who were giving Israel a bad name during
a period of conflict that demanded national unity. The 14 months that
the protesters have already served in detention will not be deducted
from their sentences. One of the judges had recommended harsher sentences
of up to 22 months. Draft-dodging bears a maximum penalty of three years
in jail.
The court ruled
that the objectors freedom to follow their conscience must be
balanced against its impact on national security. The court also insisted
that as the five acted as a group with the explicit goal of bringing
about a change in Israeli policy, their action was not conscientious
objection but civil disobedience.
Most significantly
the judges ruled that the sentences were meant to serve as a warning
to others, especially in light of the recent spate of elite reservists
refusing to serve in the territories. The military prosecutor added
that the sentence was significant for the State of Israel
and would force the five to understand the error of their delinquent
ways.
Hundreds of soldiers
have refused to serve in the West Bank and Gaza, including recently
13 members of the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. A group of 27 Israeli Air
Force pilots also issued a letter last September declaring their refusal
to take part in military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Far more are evading the draft by citing medical reasons or religious
objections. Hence, the determination of the courts to make an example
of five young students, when dissenters more typically face a month
or so in detention.
The five young men
refused to be intimidated. Shimri Tzameret predicted, Ethical
people will follow in our footsteps. The coming months will see other
conscientious objectors like us undergoing this process.