Twighlight Zone / 'The terrorist was neutralized'
And what was going through the heads of the soldiers who beat Jihad mercilessly, with a club, with the butt of a rifle and with kicks to his head, so that he died?
By Gideon LevyThe taxi to Bethlehem was delayed, and Jihad stood at the dusty taxi stand and waited. He was on his way to the Open University in Bethlehem, to register for the upcoming school year. His father says that he hadn't decided what he wanted to study. Maybe that's what he was thinking about while he stood at the stand, exposed to the burning sun.
And what was going through the heads of the soldiers who beat him mercilessly, with a club, with the butt of a rifle and with kicks to his head, so that he died? Is it possible that he tried to attack them with a knife, even though two eyewitnesses didn't see it? Even if he did, why did the soldiers continue to beat him, even after he lay on the ground, unconscious and perhaps bound as well, as an eyewitness told us? And what kind of monstrous behavior is it to handcuff the bereaved father, and then leave him on the ground, in front of the body of his beaten and dying son? Above all, why did the Israel Defense Forces rush to dismiss this grave incident, "after an initial investigation," during which nobody interrogated the eyewitnesses, with the conclusion, "the soldiers acted properly"?
Pictures of Jihad Shaar's death flicker on the computer screen: The battered and calm face of a young man with three holes in his skull, in front and in back. Also a picture of the bereaved father, Khalil, a worker in a Bethlehem factory that manufactures olive-wood souvenirs, his hands bound behind his back, kneeling on the floor, his face radiating restrained pain and humiliation, and the soldier standing next to him with a drawn weapon - everything is documented on the computer screen. The stone houses stand at the edge of the desert, in the village of Tekoa, on a mountainside opposite the archaeological site of Herodion and the Jewish settlement also called Tekoa. The area is usually quiet, with the exception of the annoying IDF patrols.
Khalil, with bristles of mourning on his face, is a gentle and quiet man. They say that his son was like that, too. The day after the incident, the Israeli press asserted that Jihad was mentally unstable, perhaps even disabled. It's all a fabrication. Last year Jihad studied hard to improve his matriculation exam grades and now he was supposed to register for the Bethlehem branch of the Al-Quds Open University.
On Friday, July 27, the family awoke as usual, the mother of the family went for a family visit and Jihad planned to travel to the university. Nothing in the house testified to what was to take place a short time later. Jihad, like the rest of his family, had never been arrested.
At 9:30 A.M., Jihad left the house and walked the several hundred meters to the taxi stand near the road to Bethlehem. His father, who was at home, says that Jihad took nothing with him. But the armored Hummer was already standing at the side of the road, several dozen meters from the taxi stand. There is almost always a Hummer standing there, a kind of surprise roadblock for the village's residents, where soldiers check papers, harass and humiliate, and maintain proper order on the road.
As Jihad stood alone at the stand, the soldiers apparently called him to approach them. A Palestinian policeman, Musa Suleiman, was riding to Bethlehem at the time in a taxi that was approaching the stand. Suleiman saw Jihad walking "with ordinary steps, in a manner that did not arouse any suspicion," toward the soldiers. He says that Jihad had nothing in his hands.
One soldier stood next to the driver's door of the Hummer, and another three soldiers sat inside. When Jihad reached the Hummer, Suleiman says he saw the soldier grab Jihad by the shirt and pull him forcibly behind the vehicle. Suleiman, who was already about 20 meters from the vehicle, says that apparently an argument broke out between Jihad and the soldier who grabbed his shirt, which developed into a violent struggle between the two. A few seconds later he saw them both sprawled on the ground.
That's when the other three soldiers got out of the Hummer. Suleiman heard two shots. The four soldiers, according to Suleiman, began beating Jihad, who was sprawled on the ground. They used wooden clubs and their rifle butts, while Jihad tried to protect his head with his hands. That was all Suleiman saw, because the taxi, which was traveling slowly, then passed the Hummer.
When the taxi was a few dozen meters away from the area of the beatings, it drove back to see what was happening behind the Hummer. Suleiman says that the soldiers continued to beat Jihad. He saw the club land on Jihad's head at least twice. "I felt that these were fatal beatings," says the policeman Suleiman. He says that Jihad was no longer moving. Suleiman rushed to Jihad's house to alert his father: "Come quickly, the soldiers are beating your son." Accompanied by Suleiman, he rushed in the direction of the stand.
When they approached the area, the soldiers aimed their weapons at them and ordered them to leave. One of the villagers who speaks Hebrew, who also arrived at the spot, tried to explain to the soldiers that Khalil was the father of the battered young man, and all he wanted was to know what had happened to his son. And then the soldier said: "Tell him that his son is already dead."
Then the soldiers handcuffed Khalil behind his back, and placed him on the road, the Hummer separating him from his son's body, while they chased the other two men away from the site. Meanwhile additional forces arrived, together with a military ambulance, whose squad apparently tried to save Jihad's life. After about 40 minutes during which he sat handcuffed in the sun, says Khalil, an officer from the Civil Administration, Taysir, arrived and ordered the soldiers to free the father from his handcuffs and told him that his son had been sent to the hospital in nearby Beit Jala.
The officer from the Civil Administration asked Khalil: "Why did your son do that?" The father: "My son was on the way to the university." The officer: "Your son made problems for the soldiers and pulled out a kitchen knife." Khalil to the officer: "My son did not leave the house with a knife. Show me the knife, I'm familiar with the knives in our kitchen."
"You want to see the knife?" asked the officer, who then immediately retracted his offer: "The Military Police have already removed the knife from the site." Khalil didn't see the knife.
Taysir told Khalil that Jihad was seriously wounded. Khalil called his brother and together they drove quickly toward the hospital. On the way they were delayed again, in the same place where his son was killed. Only after about 10 minutes were they allowed to continue, after the intercession of one of the soldiers who had seen Khalil in the area earlier and recognized him.
Jihad had been evacuated from the site at about 11:15. A short time later his father arrived at the hospital. But his son's body reached Beit Jala only at about 3 P.M. The officer from the Civil Administration had told the father that his son was "seriously wounded," but the soldier had told him even earlier that Jihad had died, and therefore Khalil had no hope of seeing his son alive again. He talks about everything in an amazing tone of acceptance and restraint.
When the body arrived at the hospital the doctors examined it. They determined that Jihad had not been shot, he had been beaten to death. They discovered the three superficial holes in his head and several bruises in other parts of his body, mainly around the hips. The body was sent for an autopsy in Abu Dis, and afterward was brought for burial; the funeral was well attended. Several residents of the village say that when they began to dig the grave, a Border Patrol Hummer arrived at the village and its passengers called out in Arabic on a loudspeaker: "Jihad is dead. Let Allah have mercy on him and your mother's c - - -."
The IDF spokesman, this week: "On July 26, in the course of operational activity by an IDF patrol near the village of Hirbet al-Dir, east of Bethlehem, a Palestinian armed with a knife approached the patrol and tried to attack one of the soldiers. In response, the soldier fired at the terrorist and hit his lower body. After the Palestinian continued with his attempts to stab the soldier, another soldier who was present was forced to use a club in order to neutralize the terrorist. The Palestinian terrorist, who was seriously wounded, was given medical treatment on the spot by an IDF force and in the end he was declared dead."
A few cypress trees are planted on the slope at the foot of the place where Jihad was killed. Some faded bloodstains are still visible on the ground. The taxi stand is deserted. A Hummer observes us from the hill overlooking the road. We ascend the hill, passing the armored Hummer whose passengers, four soldiers in dark sunglasses, are laughing among themselves. Are these the soldiers who killed Jihad. Are they from the same unit?
In the handsome stone house with beehives in the yard, which overlooks the taxi stand and the site of the killing, lives another eyewitness, Nur Harmas. On the day of the incident she awoke to the sound of the Hummer's engine below. Harmas says that she noticed a young man at the stand, waiting. She went inside and began to do her housework. After about 15 minutes she heard a dull noise. She cast a glance from the window and saw the stand empty. Jihad was no longer standing there. A cypress hides the place where the Hummer stood.
Harmas rushed to her bedroom, opened the door that leads to the balcony, from which one can see the place where the Hummer stood. "I saw the deceased lying on the ground, his hands handcuffed behind his back, with three soldiers standing around him, one of them kicking his head. The moment I saw that, I rushed to the neighbors to call for help." She told her husband's cousin, who quickly went down to see what they were doing to Jihad.
Karim Jubran, an investigator from B'Tselem (the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories), takes out of his briefcase a pair of torn, white plastic handcuffs, which he found at the site of the incident. Was Jihad also handcuffed at the time when the soldiers beat him to death? Or are these the handcuffs with which the soldiers handcuffed the bereaved father, in front of his son's body? Does it make a difference?
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The soldiers called the guy over to the vehicle and beat him to death, partly while he was handcuffed. Then they mocked his death to the community and his parents. Sounds typical. What's so mysterious and unknown?
Hello Gideon, It was so disturbing reading the events that lead up to this horrible crime against the young Palestinian man at the taxi stand by the thugs in the Israeli army. Of course, I realize the soldiers' gross mis-conduct is just a reflection of the Israeli Army 's own atrocious disregard for the rule of law and human rights of the Palestinian people. Hence it's beyond time for the Israeli Military Court to act appropriatrely and make the thugs in its army fully accountable for this shocking crime within the context of International law. I intend to follow this case and will report on it to Peace & Justice groups in the US. Dutch
My God, what sick people are posting here? Regardless of the vileness of the act committed by these terrorists, masquadering as soldiers, those dispicable monstrous thugs, there are those who applaud them. What kind of a human being would beat another human being to death, then handcuff his grieving father? The ultimate evil, that's what kind. These soul-less killers need no excuse to beat unarmed Palestinian people to death, or shoot them in the back, or empty a magazine into the body of a little school girl. They didn't need an excuse to kill 952 Palestinian children from September 2000 to July 18th, 2007. They do it because they can, because they know they will get away with it every time. It's what these terrorists do best -- kill and lie about it. Thank you, Gideon Levy. You're a gem. Without your courage in the face of such animosity directed at you, so much of this evil would not be known. The world needs to know. And the world needs to act NOW.
Jihad--who is kidding who?
Growing up in the midst of constant violence and upheaval is abnormal and crazymaking. The sooner an independent PA will be founded, the better for all of us. AND if....G-D forbid....we must confront Pals after that in future, at least we will be two equals without this imbalance of power, which is so vicious too.
You should also read this: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/891889.html
This is a very nasty story but only those present know exactly what happened that day. When trained soldiers are used as policemen to control a hostile civilian population incidents like this will occur. Generally, but not always, the civilians will get the worst of it. The soldiers who find themselves in these situations will finish their military service and return home. The violence will return home with them. The price (for some) will be blighted lives as young men deal with guilt and trauma while attempting to function as ordinary citizens. In the worst cases there will be drug and alcohol addiction, failed marriages, suicide. The occupation of the territories has had an unhealthy long term affect on Israeli society and the sooner we part company from the Palestinians the better.
This piece looks like it could have come right from the Palestinian press, with its exaggerated sympathy for the Arabs, its dehumanization of the Jews, and its casual attitude toward the truth. I expect it will achieve its intended purpose of inciting new Arab hatred and convincing them that their murder of Jews is justified.
The only way we'll know if our soldiers acted like barbarians is if there is a proper investigation. I can't really see this happening. The military (and the "government") only know about sweeping things under the carpet. Ha'yom ein bushot yo'ter.
gimme a break. I read about sh** like that E V E R Y D A Y. Today I was kinda forced of watching a beautiful galleries of Lebanese bodies you made during that 'so called' war (where you got a severe beating) - the pix were horrible. And DONT, please dont compare this to a palestinian's sorry rocket attack. I saw pix of ex-passangers of a bus. They were burnt to charcoal and split into pieces by single 'missile'. In the name of GOD: WHAT were you using?!?!
1. "I used to think all people were basically good." 2. "It's it safe to visit your country?" (Both = pearls of Fred) Remain in America Fred! There all people are good and it's safe.
Always a problem if the culture permits them to lie to get what they want. If Haaretz supports this version, then the editor should take a stand. I don't support murder.
unless you were a witness and saw it with your own eyes you're a complete moron to assume you know the truth about what happened at this checkpoint. pal winesses continuous change the events of what happened at the scene. If, as the IDF contends and I'll believe them over gideon and his agenda, this guy rushed at them with a knife trying to kill them that's what i would have done too. Working at a check point is a hell of a job that requires nerves of steel. let's give our defenders the respect they deserve.
dont be fooled by the media claiming israel loves americans/ christians, he who killed the christians prophet wont hesitate to kill his followers, can you say rachel corrie...
i live in a country where moderation is a basic concept we endure, not in any way shape or way do we have fanatics roaming our streets calling for the destruction of israel, yet when you see what these soldiers do to the innocent in israel you tend to go into a mute mode when the voices rise for the destruction of israel or better yet support them as well. your 5 million we are 250 million or your 10 million and we are a billion and a half, where do you really think your going!! where...
I'm worried about my dream to visit the Holy Land before I am too old. Is it safe now? IDF Soldiers are everywhere. What do you say and how do you act so they leave you alone? I am so afraid they will harm me for being American and not knowing how to speak Hebrew.
Just what do you propose Gideon? Can IDF appologise or change their tactics? should we erase the Mogen Dovid from the flag; it will be quikly replased by some jihad symbol i am sure; lets just all pack up and leave, or better yet lets build some ovens right here in the desert and MArch !!! is that what you want to see?
Don Look at my post at#8. No one but the soldiers really knows what happened. all I am saying is that Gideaon has alerted the public (including those whose only response is to personally attack him) to certain eye witness statements to an incident that warrant to at least have a proper investigation to see if the soldiers should be charged with a crime. It it is not the fault of Zionism that the IDF may have some rogue soldiers. Zionism has delivered Israel a homeland. That is a good thing, it is just that there is a limit to Zionism being the borders of a Palestinian state. Until then there will be more stories for Gideon to tell.
What I have discovered, after reading Haaretz for a year or two, is that there are a lot of people who a wicked at heart. It's very depressing to read these stories. Even more so to discover that it's not only terrorists with evil hearts. The good guys are just as terrible. It makes me sick.
This is what Zionism has done to us. When i was a little boy in elementary school they taught us about the holocaust. They told me about kristallnacht when nazis beat innocent jews to the ground, destroyed their homes and stores. They told me about the suffering of the jewish children as the nazis brutalized them as their parents watched utterly helpless unable to save them. My teachers told me these were brutal acts that could only done by monsters mascarading as humans, and now here we are in 2007 more then fifty years since the fire in the ovens was turned off, the descendants of the victims of terrible crimes against humanity. This is what zionism has done to us. Young Jewish men, Supposed "soldiers and defenders" of Klal Yisrael brutalizing children in front of their parents. Is a plot of land so valuable that we should trade our soul for such? Zionism has made us forgotten who we are and where we come from, and made us forget our two thousand years of suffering for dirt. how sad
There is no doubt in my mind that the IDF should deal mercilessly with people who want to stab them. Hesitation can be deadly; the risk is on the attacker's head. What is Gideon Levy's problem? He suggests that there never was a kitchen knife (Gideon always believes the Palestinian "narrative"), but he doesn't give any evidence that the IDF is lying. Lots of emotion, suggestion and bias in this article, but no hard facts whatsoever on the crucial part of the story.
I like the way you make up thing that Jihad may have been thinking about. Just as you make up the way events may have occured. Here's a news story, also in Haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/892131.html Maybe you can find some sympathy for the Israelis who were injured. The facts are actually clear in this case, but please, fill in the details about what they all were thinking when they were shot. That's the kind of thing you're good at, not news.
The Israeli army should teach the soldiers some self-discipline! In the old times soldiers were taught to differentate betw. the right and wrong behaviour, have high morals and common sense and it showed: they behaved more gentlemen-like. Violators were more of an exception than a rule .... nowadays this seems to be the other way round! Something has gone seriously wrong and needs correction in the army! THIS incident and the soldiers should be brought into the Marshall Court. It cannot just be let go and looked through fingers!
Amnon, Everyone probably accepts your point. The whole article is based statements from people, some of whom are said to ne eyewitnesses, but one only has to look at the conduct of some USA forces in Iraq who have been cahrged with rape, murder and torture to know that soldiers sometimes commit crimes in a situation where they can get away with it. The USA to its credit has investigated, prosecuted and convicted soldiers of crimes. There is a just an apprehension for those who have followed the Israeli/Pal conflict for a long time thatIsrael does not really investigate the allegations. In that case, innocent until proven guilty is very helpful slogan for the person alleged to have committed the crime. No one is trying to prove his guilt. That's not Gideon's fault
What makes you think that IDF kids are better educated than other youngsters? Denying of the obvious is being made into an art form, it seems.
When presumed guilt is needed put ace detective Gideon Levy on the case. Guilt can be easily established by obtaining biased statements from witnesses with an agenda to push. And what about the motives of these heinous murders, why of course these animals needed to practice their cricket strokes. Evidence you dare ask, a cheap pair of plastic cuffs is sufficient to prove guilt. What do the suspects say concerning this crime? No real need to question them, we all know that all IDF soldiers are liars. Here again we see Mr. Levy continue his relentless smear campaign against the IDF.
mer at this place,kind of a surprise check point" Always at the same spot and still a surprise.. Rest of your babbling similiar : "You want to see the knife?" says the officer "who then quickly retracts the offer" : "MIlitary police tok it with them.." What's suspicious at that Gideon? MP should have left the assault weapon lying around ?
He probably expected respect as a human being and didn't sufficiently grovel when accosted - of course they beat him to death.
Yes, maybe something different happened. Maybe a million things happened, I certainly don't know. But doesn't it bother you to be so blatantly politically biased when no one knows the facts?
It doesn't make sense to try to find a reason for such behaviour. It happens on our streets, after a soccer match or just 'for the fun of it'. It's a killer instinct youngsters haven't learned to control. Teach them with severe punishment, don't encourage them in any way.