As often happens when the Israeli army has killed or injured Palestinians, the ambulance from al Najjar Hospital was delayed by the IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) in reaching her, but with five bullets in her head—of the "at least 15" Dr. Ali Musa, the hospital's director, reported finding—she had been dead long before she ever reached the hospital. Indeed, so much blood had soaked into her UNRWA school uniform and into the ground where she fell that the corpse that finally reached the hospital was nearly exsanguinated.
 

Portrait of The Mindset that Endorses killing Children In His own words Jerusalem Post: Will Israel be prepared to fight this war? Arnon Soffer: "First of all, the fence is not built like the Berlin Wall. It's a fence that we will be guarding on either side. Instead of entering Gaza, the way we did last week, we will tell the Palestinians that if a single missile is fired over the fence, we will fire 10 in response. And women and children will be killed, and houses will be destroyed. After the fifth such incident, Palestinian mothers won't allow their husbands to shoot Kassams, because they will know what's waiting for them. Second of all, when 2.5 million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it's going to be a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure at the border will be awful. It's going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day, every day." Jerusalem Post: While CNN has its cameras at the wall? Arnon Soffer: "If we don't kill, we will cease to exist. The only thing that concerns me is how to ensure that the boys and men who are going to have to do the killing will be able to return home to their families and be normal human beings." Jerusalem Post: What will the end result of all this killing be? Arnon Soffer: "The Palestinians will be forced to realize that demography is no longer significant, because we're here and they're there. And then they will begin to ask for "conflict management" talks--not that dirty word "peace." Peace is a word for believers, and I have no tolerance for believers--neither those who wear yarmulkes nor those who pray to the God of peace. [] Both are dangerous. Unilateral separation doesn't guarantee "peace"--it guarantees a Zionist-Jewish state with an overwhelming majority of Jews; it guarantees the kind of safety that will return tourists to the country; and it guarantees one other important thing. Between 1948 and 1967, the fence was a fence, and 400,000 people left the West Bank voluntarily. This is what will happen after separation. If a Palestinian cannot come into Tel Aviv for work, he will look in Iraq, or Kuwait, or London. I believe that there will be movement out of the area." Arnon Soffer is a professor of geography/demography at Haifa University, Sharon's advisor and advisor to the army's top brass; he is reputed to be the "intellectual father of the (Gaza) disengagement plan", and considers the "Palestinian womb is a biological weapon". SOURCES: Ruthie Blum, "ONE on ONE: It's the demography, stupid", Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2004; The Voices of Sharon's Little Helpers, By PAUL de ROOIJ, CounterPunch December 9, 2004

Israeli army spokespersons quickly reported that the soldiers in the watchtower surveillance post thought the child was a courier for militants with a bomb concealed in her book bag, a claim that many Palestinians found absurd. While there are confirmed cases of older teenaged boys—16 and 17-year-olds—volunteering for suicide bombings, it is virtually inconceivable that any militant group would allow a little girl to undertake a combat mission. More important, there were many witnesses to the fact that Iman was never closer than 100 meters to any soldier in the fortified watchtower when the first shots were fired. And the IOF had to concede that a search of her book bag proved it contained only books. Muddying the waters further were the next actions of "Captain R," the company commander, who approached Iman—according to Palestinian witnesses, wounded, but alive and lying there helpless—and at close range first fired two shots into her to "confirm the kill." Then, according to IOF witnesses, he walked a short distance, turned back, approached the child again and emptied the magazine of his automatic weapon into her. (Emphasis Added)   Although the IOF did admit fairly promptly that Iman's shooting had been "a mistake," "Captain R's" initial explanation was that as he approached the child, he came under fire from militants some 300 yards away and fired into the ground to deter fire. His superiors at first accepted this version of events, despite some notable lapses of logic. How does firing at the ground "deter fire?" And since when, many asked, had the IOF been hesitant about returning Palestinian fire? And if the soldiers feared that Iman's book bag held explosives, why risk detonation by spraying automatic fire in its near vicinity? Still, as needless as Iman al Hums' death appeared, the case might have ended there—as has happened with the deaths of so many other Palestinian children—if soldiers in the Givati brigade had not approached the Israeli newspaper Yedhiot Ahronot anonymously with a very different version of the events that left Iman dead of multiple gunshot wounds. Their account began with the shot that immobilized Iman, followed by "Captain R's" approach and his "confirming the kill" with a hail of automatic fire. The men who spoke up expressed outrage that their own reputations as honorable soldiers had been "besmirched" by the commander's insistence on "confirming the kill" of an unarmed schoolgirl. Not long after, another group of soldiers under "Captain R's" command brought their own story to the Israeli press. The enlisted men who spoke initially to the media were trying to frame the captain, they said. The officer was a strict disciplinarian and disliked by some of the men serving under him, hence their fabrication. This counterclaim, whether the idea of the men involved or instigated elsewhere, failed to get much credence, and "Captain R," whose name has never been revealed, was removed from active duty and the army investigation continued.

Last week, the veracity of the soldiers so infuriated by "Captain R's" actions was supported when a military communications tape of a conversation among some of the soldiers involved was played on Israel's Channel Two TV. Troops firing with light weapons and machine guns on a figure moving in the "no entry zone" quickly realized their target was a young girl. Someone in the operations room asks: "Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?" A soldier in the surveillance watchtower replies, "It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastwards, a girl of about 10. She's behind the embankment, scared to
death."

Four minutes later, it was reported the girl had been hit and fallen. The surveillance tower reports, "Receive, I think that one of the positions took her out." Operations questions, "What, she fell?" and the soldier in the tower replies, "She not moving right now." The tape records the company commander as saying: "I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ..." After a pause he adds: "Receive a situation report - we fired and killed her. She was wearing pants, jeans, an undershirt, a shirt. Also, she was wearing a keffiyah on her head. I also confirmed the kill. Over." Then he adds: "Anyone who's mobile, moving in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed." (Emphasis Added)

Farwell time: relatives lamenting 7 year old Rana, who was killed by Israeli snipers in Khanyouies Camp. December 11, 2004

Last week, "Captain R" was taken into custody by the Military Police and indicted on five relatively light charges, including "illegal use of a weapon," and exceeding his authority to the extent of jeopardizing human life. He is also charged with "obstructing justice" as a result of his initial false report.

There are many unofficial stories of the IOF practice of "confirming a kill"—i.e., firing a lethal shot, usually to the head, into an enemy apparently mortally wounded. Frequently, it is alleged, this is a misnomer—the victim has been wounded, is immobilized but obviously alive, and death is inflicted, not confirmed. In any event, army regulations do not even mention the practice.
 

Children taking cover during the ongoing incursion  in Gaza Strip September 30, 2004

As reported last week in the UK newspaper, The Independent, Lea Tsemel, the Israeli lawyer representing Iman al Hums' family, was angered by the charges.

"I believe that the commander and the soldiers who fired should all have been charged with murder," she said.

The prosecution, however, decided against even a manslaughter charge, apparently due to a lack of evidence as to which bullets actually killed the child. Based on the accounts of Palestinian witnesses, Iman's parents believe their daughter was alive before "Captain R" approached and "confirmed the kill."

And despite the admission—in the voice of the accused—of riddling the child with automatic weapons fire, the prosecution formally requested the family's permission to exhume the body for an autopsy. They feel a forensic post-mortem could yield evidence of which weapons fired which bullets and at what range.

Initially, Lea Tsemel agreed, but only under certain conditions. She demanded that Jordanian, Egyptian, and Palestinian doctors be present as well as the Israeli forensic pathologists conducting the autopsy, and that the entire procedure be videotaped for later examination by international experts. The family, however, finally refused consent "for emotional and religious reasons," said Ms. Tsemel.

Asked just how lenient the charges against "Captain R" really are, Ms. Tsemel explained that even if found guilty on all counts, "illegal use of firearms," "disruption of investigation procedures," and the other lesser charges could bring the Israeli officer a relative slap on the wrist. "The Israeli Court could sentence him to as little as three years," she said.

Tsemel agreed that if such a short sentence were imposed, it would "give enough power" to the soldiers to continue targeting civilians with relative impunity. The obvious question then is whether a military court can be relied on for justice. Wouldn't an international tribunal be more objective? Tsemel replied, "Unfortunately, we can't go to an international court because Palestine is not a state."

According to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aratz, Shamuel Shenfeld, "Captain R's" lawyer, said the accusations are unfounded and his client will plead innocent. This may make for a longer trial but a more thorough exploration of the evidence. There will, however, be no forensic evidence from the victim's body. Many devout Moslems consider post-mortem examinations to be shameful, but in an interview with Samier Al Hums, Iman's father, he also considers it completely unnecessary. "It was clear," he said, "from the TV interviews with the other soldiers who were with the Israeli officer they're calling 'R' that this 'R' is the killer of my daughter. I guess my daughter's case will test the Israeli law" he added.

In the minds of many Palestinians, it will test more than the technicalities of Israeli jurisprudence. When you mention Iman al Hums to people in Rafah, their questions have little to do with legal procedures. Why, you hear from person after person, were shots fired at all when at least one soldier identified the small figure 100 yards from his fortified tower as a "little girl…running defensively. . .scared to death?" "Why did they have to shoot? She was running away from the prohibited zone,"
said one neighbor.

Captain R's indictment has done little to protect Rafah's children. This week alone, several small children were injured by aerial shelling in the center of town, while on Sunday, November 28, four-year-old Shaimaa Abu Shammala was shot in the neck while playing outside her home in Block O and later died of her injuries. Whether on the street, inside their homes, or in their classrooms, there seems to be no real safety anywhere for the children of Rafah—not to mention the tens of thousands of civilians here. As one mother in Block O put it, "It is open season on our children every day. I think some of the soldiers target them to amuse themselves."

When one recalls "Captain R's" voice on tape saying: "Anyone who's mobile, moving in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed," her bitter accusation is not surprising.