- 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.
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- "I am sorry, I never thought I was shooting at Jews,
I would never shoot a Jew," the soldier reportedly said.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "I thought the protesters were all Palestinians
and non-Jews."
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- 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.
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- "I am sure, the soldier didn't know he was shooting
at a Jew," Moshe Yaíalon said in response to a question from
a Knesset member.
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- Shooting Palestinians is "different"
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- 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."
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- "Soldiers feel threatened by Palestinians and open
fire when they feel threatened. This is not the same when soldiers deal
with Jews."
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- However, the wanton killings of Palestinian civilians,
journalists and international peace activists by the Israeli occupation
army aroused little outrage in Israeli society.
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- 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.."
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- © 2003 Aljazeera.Net
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- http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D342216D-4EA6-4327-9E39-886A10C88C26.htm
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