מרכז המידע הישראלי לזכויות האדם בשטחים (ע.ר.) B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories -DRAFT- Take No Prisoners The Fatal Shooting of Palestinians by Israeli Security Forces during “Arrest Operations” May 2005 Researched and written by Ronen Shnayderman Data coordination by Suhair ‘Abdi, Antigona Ashkar, Shlomi Swissa, Sohad Sakalla Fieldwork by `Atef Abu a-Rob, Salma Deba’i, Musa Abu Hashhash Translated by Shaul Vardi Edited by Zvi Shulman רחוב התעשייה 8, ת.ד. 53132, ירושלים 91531, טלפון 6735599 (02), פקס 6749111 (02) 8 Hata’asiya St. (4th Floor), P.O.Box 53132, Jerusalem 91531, Tel. (02) 6735599, Fax (02) 6749111
[email protected] http://www.btselem.org Introduction In the early morning of Friday, 3 December 2004, IDF soldiers killed Mahmud `Abd a-Rahman Hamdan Kmeil in Raba, a village southeast of Jenin. The press release by the IDF Spokesperson stated that during an operation to arrest Kmeil, he was shot and killed while attempting to escape from the house in which he was hiding. However, testimonies collected by B’Tselem from eyewitnesses raise grave concerns that the IDF soldiers executed Kmeil as he lay injured on the ground, after his weapon had been taken from him. During the course of the second intifada, Israel officially adopted a policy of assassinating Palestinians suspected of belonging to the armed Palestinian organizations.1 Israel argues that the members of these organizations are combatants and are, therefore, a legitimate target of attack. However, Israel does not grant them the rights given to combatants by international humanitarian law, primarily the right to be recognized as a prisoner of war when captured, which entails immunity from criminal prosecution.