Five years after British filmmaker James Miller was fatally shot by Israel Defense Forces troops in the Gaza Strip, Israel is poised to pay the family some NIS 12 million in compensation.
In return, the British government will close the case and rescind its intention to ask that the soldiers involved in the incident be extradited.
According to a government source, serious progress has recently been made between the Miller family and Israeli authorities. The Millers had persistently asked for a sum of over 3 million pounds sterling but recently agreed to settle for half. In the wake of deliberations involving the Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Finance Ministry and the IDF, Israeli authorities decided to accept the Millers' proposal.
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Besides talks with the family, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni also held negotiations on the matter with the British government. During talks, Israel demanded that the U.K. withdraw its intent to ask for the extradition of the soldiers involved, so they could be tried in Britain, in return for Israel agreeing to pay compensation to the Millers. British officials responded by saying that they would freeze legal procedures if the family was indeed compensated.
Israeli officials, however, were adamant that the case would not become a legal precedent. "The compensation deal is reasonable. We also reached an understanding that the legal aspect has been settled," an Israeli source said. "The issue isn't over yet, but we're very close. The affair burdened our relations with the U.K. and we are glad that the family and the British government are willing to reach a deal."
Miller was killed while filming a documentary in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, on the border with Egypt. According to Alrahman Abdallah, a freelance journalist who accompanied Miller as his translator, the photographer was shot as he tried to exit a Rafah house while holding a white flag. A British inquiry, in part based on evidence from the video recording of the incident, showed that Miller was shot in the neck by an IDF patrol.
At the time the IDF expressed its sorrow for Miller's death and said that "the entry of photographers into war zones during exchanges of fire endangers both sides." However, according to eyewitnesses, there had been calm in the area at the time of the shooting.
Initially, the IDF suggested that Miller had been killed by Palestinians. Yet, ballistic tests carried out on behalf of Miller's family showed that IDF troops killed Miller, and the Military Advocate General ordered an investigation into the killing. Following a lengthy investigation, it was decided in March 2005 not to press criminal charges against those involved because of insufficient evidence. The commander of the Israeli force that shot and killed Miller faced disciplinary proceedings for illegal use of firearms, but was exonerated.
Miller's family filed a law suit against the State of Israel for murder, and in 2006 a British jury ruled the killing a murder. Last year, the British attorney general dispatched a letter to his Israeli counterpart Menachem Mazuz threatening that the U.K. would ask that the soldiers involved in the incident be extradited.
