Human Rights Watch June 2005 Vol. 17, No. 7(E) Promoting Impunity: The Israeli Military’s Failure to Investigate Wrongdoing Summary......................................................................................................................................... 1 Recommendations....................................................................................................................... 10 To the Government of Israel................................................................................................10 Use of Force........................................................................................................................10 Accountability .....................................................................................................................11 I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 14 About This Report..................................................................................................................17 II. Why Investigate?.................................................................................................................... 18 Legal Obligations ....................................................................................................................19 International Humanitarian Law......................................................................................19 International Human Rights Law.....................................................................................22 What Makes a Good Investigation?.....................................................................................25 III. Israel’s Investigations Policy............................................................................................... 28 IDF Arguments.......................................................................................................................35 IV. Overview of the Military Justice System........................................................................... 39 Disciplinary Proceedings........................................................................................................39 Operational Debriefings ........................................................................................................40 Military Police/Criminal Investigations...............................................................................43 The Criminal Investigation Division of the Military Police .............................................46 Special Investigations .............................................................................................................48 V. “Lowest Priority”: Deaths of Palestinian Civilians........................................................... 49 Reluctance to Investigate.......................................................................................................50 Munib Abu Munshar..........................................................................................................52 Nidal Abu Muhsin..............................................................................................................55 Investigations without Standards..........................................................................................57 Ahmad al-Quraini...............................................................................................................57 Ruwaida al-Hajin.................................................................................................................59 Ignored or Lost .......................................................................................................................61 Tha’ir, Mustafa, and Iyad al-Samudi ................................................................................61 Husni `Amir.........................................................................................................................65 Nuha al-Muqadama............................................................................................................68 The Killing of Nahla `Aqil and Injury of Her Three Children....................................70 VI: Foreign Pressure: Special Treatment................................................................................. 73 Tom Hurndall..........................................................................................................................74 Shadin Abu Hijla.....................................................................................................................79 James Miller .............................................................................................................................86 Brian Avery ..............................................................................................................................89 Rachel Corrie ...........................................................................................................................92 The “Operational Investigation”......................................................................................95 The Military Police Investigation .....................................................................................97 VII. Denial of Justice................................................................................................................100 The Role of “Operational Investigations”........................................................................100 Timeliness ..............................................................................................................................103 Obtaining Testimony............................................................................................................105 Witness Fears ....................................................................................................................107 Jenin – Cases of Human Shields ....................................................................................109 Treatment of Witnesses...................................................................................................110 Case of Ahmad and Jamil Abu `Aziz ............................................................................111 Good Faith?.......................................................................................................................112 Lack of Transparency and Victim Involvement ..............................................................114 Hamid al-Qut ....................................................................................................................115 Lack of Compensation.........................................................................................................117 Appendix A: Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra- legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions.............................................................................120 Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................125 Summary In May 2005, an Israeli military court convicted a soldier of “severe intentional harm” to a civilian and sentenced him to twenty months in prison. The soldier was charged with shooting an unarmed Palestinian man in the southern Gaza town of Rafah in October 2003. This was, as the Israeli daily Ha’aretz observed, “the harshest punishment imposed on an IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldier in the four and a half years of fighting in the territories.”1 That same month, on May 19, 2005, the IDF announced that it had opened a Military Police (mezah) investigation into the May 4 shooting deaths of two Palestinian teenagers in the West Bank town of Beit Lakia. The teenagers were among a large group that reportedly threw stones at bulldozers Israel was using to construct a metal and concrete barrier, or wall, in the West Bank.2 The IDF had suspended the officer who opened fire the day after the incident. As one experienced journalist wrote, “Such a swift acknowledgement by the military of improper behavior in the fatal shooting of Palestinians is rare.”3 It remains unclear if these two developments represent a change in IDF policies regarding unlawful use of force resulting in deaths and serious injury to Palestinian civilians. Those policies until now have been characterized by inaction and cover-up. Such a change would therefore be most welcome. In recent months several high-profile killings have drawn Israeli and international attention to the army’s failure to conduct thorough and impartial investigations where there is credible evidence of unlawful use of force against civilians—none more so than the October 5, 2004, incident in which Givati Brigade soldiers shot a thirteen-year-old Gaza schoolgirl. An internal IDF debriefing immediately after the incident found that 1 Amos Harel, “Soldier who fired at unarmed Palestinian sentenced to 20 months in prison,” Ha’aretz, May 18, 2005 [online]. According to the statement on the IDF website, the maximum prison sentence for inflicting “severe intentional harm” is twenty years (“IDF Soldier Convicted in Rafah Incident,” available at www1.idf.il/DOVER/site/mainpage.asp?si=EN&id=7&clr=1&docid=39891.EN). 2 Amos Harel and Arnon Regular, “Beit Latakia boys killed in IDF ambush, Palestinians claim,” Ha’aretz, May 20, 2005 [online]. Harel and Regular wrote in conclusion: “The Beit Lakia incident is not unusual. Every day, soldiers and border police officers operate