Last update - 00:00 10/08/2007
Lawyer: Charges against officer bid to veil superiors' culpability
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
The defense team representing an Israel Defense Forces platoon commander who was indicted Thursday over the wrongful shooting of a Palestinian civilian, said that the indictment was an attempt to veil his superiors? responsibility in the incident.
The officer was indicted by a military tribunal for commandeering a Palestinian taxi, tying up its driver at gunpoint, and shooting a Palestinian man in the West Bank village of Dahariya two weeks ago.
The officer, First Lieutenant G., and five soldiers in the Lavi Battalion allegedly abandoned the man wounded by IDF gunfire, and left Dahariya without reporting the incident to their superiors.
G. was charged with false imprisonment, causing injury under aggravated circumstances, improper behavior, and unauthorized use of a vehicle. He is being held in custody until the end of proceedings against him.
The military prosecution said the platoon commander was supposed to plan a foot patrol on the outskirts of Dahariya, in the southern Hebron Hills, but instead told the soldiers to wear civilian clothing and commandeer a vehicle, but not tell anybody about it.
The prosecution said the commander was solely responsible for the plan, which was not authorized by anyone, and that there was no operational justification for tying up the driver or commandeering his taxi. In addition, it said the soldiers were not trained for undercover activities.
After the incident was reported by Palestinians, GOC Central Command Gadi Shamni conducted a rapid probe and ordered the entire company barred from taking part in operations. G. and the five soldiers under his command were arrested, though they were all subsequently released, including the soldier who shot the Palestinian man, Adham Samamra. Four of the soldiers are due to testify against their commander.
The shooting took place after the platoon commander ordered the soldier sitting next to him to chase the man away from the area. Samamra was then abandoned while he bled from wounds to his left lung, according to the indictment. Samamra was also hit by fragments, and suffered broken ribs.
The platoon commander is also accused of turning off the system that monitors the soldiers' location in the IDF operations room, and for failing to report the incident when he was asked about reports of gunfire.
G.'s lawyers said the indictment was an attempt to place the sole responsibility for the incident on their client while ignoring the norms and shortcomings that formed the foundation for the plan, while refraining from holding more senior military officials responsible.
?Evidence will be presented during the trial, but already at this stage it can be said that the methods used in the carrying out of the operation were not invented by the officer, but were devised by more senior personnel,? said one of G.?s attorneys.
"It appears that a chain of misunderstandings and communication problems caused the platoon commander to be convinced that informal approval was given to carry out the activity as an undercover operation," he added.
Shlomo Zipori, another lawyer, said that several days before the incident, the platoon commander reached an agreement with the company commander that the operation would be undercover. Zipori said the decision was based on previous operations in which troops were brought to the scene by helicopter, as happened in this case, because the drop-off exposed the forces and led armed militants to lie in wait.
Zipori also said that Samamra was shot after approaching the troops, despite their warnings not to do so.
"The soldier sitting next to the officer noticed a Palestinian trying to remove something from his pocket," said Zipori. "This is a very good officer. He doesn't understand what they want from him. He says his soldiers didn't do anything wrong, and that he will insist they aren't tried. He doesn't understand how such charges are being made against him. He says he wanted to carry out a proper operational activity and that's all.?