woensdag 23 september 2015

Video: Palestinian woman shot, left to bleed by Israeli soldiers

This video posted by the news agency PalMedia shows a young Palestinian woman left to bleed on a sidewalk in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron after she was shot by Israeli soldiers on Tuesday morning.

By evening, Palestinian media reported that the woman, 18-year-old Hadil Salah Hashlamoun, had died of her injuries.

Instead of being given immediate medical treatment, the video shows her being pulled roughly out of the frame of the camera, her scarf coming off as her head drags on the ground.

Israeli settlers and soldiers can be seen standing around, and in some cases smiling and laughing in the background.

Wattan TV reported that the young woman was left to bleed for more than 30 minutes.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian man was also killed overnight by Israeli forces near Hebron.

Local sources told Ma’an News Agency that Diyaa Abdulhalim Talahmah, 21, was killed by the army during a raid in the village of Khursa.

Israel has claimed he tried to throw a Molotov cocktail at its soldiers.

These shootings come just days after Israel loosened even further its already lax permission to its forces to use live ammunition against Palestinians.

Checkpoint shooting

Wattan TV named the young woman in the video as 18-year-old Hadil Hashlamoun.

The Israeli army claimed that she was shot after she tried to stab a soldier, the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretzreported. But photos and eyewitnesses contradic this account.

An Israeli army spokesperson said that the incident had occurred around 8am at the so-called Container Checkpoint near Shuhada Street, Ma’an News Agency reported.

The spokesperson said the woman approached the checkpoint in order to carry out the attack and Israeli forces responded with gunfire.

The army said that the young woman was treated on site by Israeli medics and then taken to hospital.

Her father, Saleh Hashlamoun, told Wattan TV earlier on Tuesday that his daughter had been hit in the abdomen several times and was in serious but stable condition at Shaare Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem.

By evening she had died.

No weapon

The Hebron-based group Youth Against Settlements published several photos on its Facebook page that it says show the young woman immediately before and after the shooting.

An image published by Youth Against Settlements shows Hadil Hashlamoun surrounded by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in Hebron.

The photos show a person dressed in a long black dress and headcovering, carrying a briefcase. In none of the images is she holding any sort of weapon.

Several Israeli personnel are pointing weapons at her.

Youth Against Settlements suggests the photo sequence shows that Hashlamoun tried to leave the checkpoint before she was shot.

An image published by Youth Against Settlements shows Hadil Hashlamoun lying injured.

Other photos show the person lying on the ground with at least one bullet wound, the same briefcase visible near her.

Additional photos show the scene of the shooting, including blood on the ground and bullet holes in a metal door, after the victim was removed.

Eyewitnesses

One eyewitness, a European activist, told The New York Times that Hashlamoun had simply opened her purse to allow it to be inspected, at the request of a soldier.

“When she was opening at her bag, he began shouting: ‘Stop! Stop! Stop! Don’t move! Don’t move!’” the activist said. “She was trying to show him what was inside her bag, but the soldier shot her once, and then shot her again.” Several more soldiers raced over and also fired at her.

A second witness, 34-year-old Fawaz Abu Aisheh, told the Times that Hashlamoun appeared “frozen” and in shock. Abu Aisheh said he had opened a gate inside the checkpoint so that Hashlamoun could back away from the soldiers. She tried to do so.

“Even if she had a knife, she would have to leap over a barrier about a meter high to reach a soldier,” Abu Aisheh added. “There were six or seven soldiers with heavy weapons. There was no need for that assassination.”

The Times said it had seen photos corroborating these accounts. Abu Aisheh appears in some of the images.

Abu Aisheh has also given a detailed account to Ma’an News Agency refuting the Israeli claims.

Unverified claims

While Palestinians undoubtedly have an internationally recognized right to resist Israeli military occupation, the unverified claims of the army should never be taken for granted as accurate.

Similar claims have habitually turned out to be false when independent evidence has been available.

In July, a video revealed that 17-year-old Muhammad Ali al-Kasbeh was shot dead by Israeli colonel Yisrael Shomer as he ran away, near Ramallah.

This falsified the army’s version that the Israeli had been in imminent danger when he fired.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem warned that the high-level backing Shomer received would only reinforce an “unlawful message” to occupation soldiers that they are “allowed and even encouraged to shoot to kill a Palestinian stonethrower, even if he’s running away and does not constitute a danger.”

In December 2012, Israeli Border Police officer Nofar Mizrahi claimed she shot dead 17-year-old Muhammad al-Salaymeh at a checkpoint in Hebron as the teen held a pistol to another soldier’s temple.

A video proved Mizrahi’s account to be a lie.

In May 2014, video caught Israeli soldiers shooting dead two teens in the West Bank village of Beitunia at long distance and in cold blood.

In July 2014, Israeli police spread false rumors that 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khudair had been murdered by his family in an “honor killing” for being gay.

Police later arrested several Israeli Jews in the abduction and burning to death of the youth, which occurred at a time of intense anti-Palestinian incitement in Jerusalem.

The systematic impunity Israel affords its occupation personnel and settlers means that Israeli claims are almost never seriously investigated and Palestinians have no recourse for protection or justice.

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-palestinian-woman-shot-left-bleed-israeli-soldiers

Dispute arises over circumstances of death of [Palestinian] woman at Israeli checkpoint..

Israeli forces say 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon was shot dead after pulling out a knife at a checkpoint in Hebron, but eyewitnesses dispute this account

Hadeel al-Hashlamon at a checkpoint in Hebron

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem

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Contradictory accounts have emerged over the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old Palestinian student, Hadeel al-Hashlamon, by Israeli forces at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday morning, after she allegedly pulled a knife on the soldiers.

Questions over the precise circumstances have been raised by a series of images depicting much of the lethal encounter, including whether a group of heavily armed soldiers wearing body armour acted appropriately in shooting the young woman several times.

She died later from injuries, which family members say included gunshot wounds to her abdomen, despite initial claims by the Israeli military that she was shot in the legs.

According to the Israeli military, Hashlamon was shot after pulling a knife on the soldiers at around 8am at the so-called Container checkpoint near the flashpoint of Shuhada Street in Hebron.

“From the preliminary review regarding this morning’s incident in Hebron, the perpetrator approached the checkpoint and the metal detector was activated, alerting the troops’ suspicion,” the Israel defence forces said in a statement.

“Forces at the scene asked the perpetrator to stop, at which point she approached the forces, disregarding the instructions and raising further suspicion. Forces called for her to halt, which she ignored, and she continued moving while also pulling out a knife.

“At this point, forces fired at the ground, then at her lower extremities in attempts to stop her advancement. The perpetrator continued and at this point, recognising a clear and present danger to their safety, the forces fired towards her.”

However, Palestinian eyewitnesses and foreign activists from a local group called Youth Against Settlements have contradicted that story.

Issa Amro, one of the activists who took some of the pictures told the Guardian that a soldier appeared to ask Hashlamon something as she held her bag out from under her hijab.

“She had just come through the metal detector at the checkpoint,” Amro said. “The soldier asked to search her. She didn’t want to be searched by a male soldier and went back to exit from the checkpoint.”

Hashlamon then attempted to walk back out of the exit, said Amro, as one soldier in a kippa covered her with his rifle while another – with a radio on his back – moved towards her.

At one point a Palestinian man in a striped shirt – who Amro said he spoke to after the event – is visible in the pictures trying to speak to the young woman, whose arms, in all the images, are not raised.

“The man was speaking to her, encouraging her to go back. He told me afterwards she seemed frozen with fear,” continued Amro. “You see the soldier wearing the kippa hold up his hand. He is telling others at the checkpoint not to enter.”

The images suggest Hashlamon turned to face a soldier with a radio – who according to eyewitnesses was a commander – who approached from the left from the photographer’s point of view. Hashlamon is seen both facing the Palestinian man, who has spoken to her, and turning to face the soldier with the radio.

It is what happened next that is one of several disputed points.

The Israeli military said the images did not include the moment when they say Hashlamon pulled out a knife. They did not supply images of her with the knife when asked.

“The attacker attempted to stab a soldier,” an Israeli army spokeswoman told al-Jazeera, explaining that the unidentified soldier – who was not injured – then opened fire.

According to Amro it was the soldier with the radio who fired first, followed by others. The next images show Hashlamon on the ground, her jeans visible and a blood stain on one hip. No images have been released showing the moment of the shooting.

Another point at which the two accounts diverge is in the claim that Hashlamon was given immediate medical treatment. Instead video that appears to have been taken at the scene shows what seems to be the injured student being pulled roughly by her legs by a soldier from under the barrier where she had fallen.

“We took footage of her bag afterwards,” said Amro, claiming its only contents were two mobile phones and two books. A photograph supplied by a press spokesman of the Israel defence forces however showed a knife on the ground with a blue and yellow handle.

"From the preliminary review regarding this morning's incident in Hebron, the perpetrator approached the checkpoint and the metal detector was activated, alerting the troops suspicion. Forces at the scene asked the perpetrator to stop, at which point she approached the forces, disregarding the instructions and raising further suspicion. Forces called for her to halt, which she ignored, and she continued moving while also pulling out a knife (see enclosed picture). At this point, forces fired at the ground, then at her lower extremities in attempts to stop her advancement. The perpetrator continued and at this point, recognizing a clear and present danger to their safety, the forces fired towards her." — Picture of the knife the Israel defence forces say Hadeel al-Hashlamon was carrying when killed. Photograph: IDF

A European pro-Palestinian activist also present at the shooting gave a similar account to Amro in an interview with the New York Times.

The activist – who asked not to be identified – said a soldier had asked Hashlamoun to open her bag for inspection.

“When she was opening at her bag, he began shouting: ‘Stop! Stop! Stop! Don’t move! Don’t move!’” the activist told the paper. “She was trying to show him what was inside her bag, but the soldier shot her once, and then shot her again.”