Israeli officer in court over girl's slaying

CAMP BAR-LEV, Israel, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- An Israeli captain allegedly stood over the sprawled body of an unarmed Palestinian teenage girl, fired two shots and seconds later returned and emptied his M-16 gun into her.

Thursday, through his lawyer, Capt. A.R. of the 424th infantry battalion, pleaded not guilty.

Many events in that incident near the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, would probably be difficult to dispute. The shooting occurred near Position Girit, in the narrow Israeli-held wedge that separates the Palestinian area from the Egyptian border.

The Israelis monitor that area with long-range cameras. Radio communication was extensive at that time. A.R. was reportedly heard saying he "verified" the girl's death.

But in preliminary comments made Thursday to the three judges in the Southern Command's Military Court at Camp Bar Lev, near Kiryat Malachi, the defense indicated it would focus on the special circumstances and the state of mind of a company commander who found himself in the most dangerous spot of the intifada.

The three judges comprised a professional military judge, a district court judge drafted to reserve duty, and a division's staff officer who would better understand the military aspects of the situation. All are full colonels.

A.R., a robust-looking black-haired man whose full name may not be published, was smartly dressed unlike the more casual appearance of most soldiers. Silver-colored paratrooper wings were over his left shirt pocket and insignia of several units in the Givati infantry brigade on his right pocket. The brigade's purple beret was tucked under his left epaulet.

He is not the first soldier to be tried for unjustifiably shooting civilians.

According to the army spokesman during the intifada there were some 950 investigations into cases in which soldiers allegedly fired without justification. The Military Police then investigated 92 instances and that yielded 29 charge sheets.

Sarit Michaeli, the spokeswoman for the Israeli human rights watchdog, B'Tselem, said she was aware of one conviction, so far.

However, A.R.'s case "is definitely exceptional," she said.

The 13- or 14-year-old Palestinian girl, Aiman al-Hams, was killed on Oct. 5.

According to Palestinian accounts related to journalists, al-Hams had been on her way to school when shooting erupted. She panicked and ran into a "special security area," a sand dune zone the Israelis had cleared to keep attackers away from their lines.

The soldiers opened fire at 6.50 a.m. when a guard at the entrance to Position Girit saw a figure approach within 100 meters of his post, the charge sheet said.

A.R., who was the company commander, other officers and soldiers ran out, took positions behind a nearby sand embankment and fired at the figure who was hit.

A.R. went over to the girl, and according to the charge sheet, stood right near her, "aimed his gun downward, and shot her." There were two single shots at close range, the charge sheet said.

He walked away and in less than a minute turned back, assumed the same position and, according to the charge sheet, opened automatic fire "about 10 bullets, until he emptied his (M-16) magazine."

It is not clear when al-Hams was killed; whether it was when several soldiers initially fired and hit her, or when A.R. fired. Hence he is not being accused of killing her, only of "illegal use of a weapon."

The charge sheet also says that on several occasions, before and after that incident, A.R. ordered his men to digress from the army's rules of engagement and shoot to kill every person who enters the "special security zone."

One of the radio recordings allegedly reveals he said, "Anyone who moves in the area, even if it is 3 years old, should be killed."

Defense attorney Yoav Many did not contest the recording. "What you hear on the (radio) communications you hear ... said by the accused," he told the court.

However, he contested its implication.

Many told the judges no one disputes the fact there had been a real alert following shouts "a terrorist in the position" and that A.R. dashed out.

The prosecutor, Lt. Col. Ronen Ketzef, said A.R. knew it was a girl who "did not threaten him or his men. ... Everybody who looked at her said it was a girl." Standing orders prohibit even warning shots at children, he said.

He could not know she was an innocent girl who posed no threat, Many protested.

"A child is a child, is a child," Ketzef insisted.

Many disagreed. Israeli children "do not plead to be martyrs. ... There were children with hand grenades in this intifada." A.R. "could not know it was an innocent girl that poses no danger."

He maintained the last automatic burst of fire "was not aimed at the deceased. It purposely was not aimed at the deceased."

Many brushed off A.R.'s command to shoot at anything that moves in the area, even a 3-year-old.

It is "military jargon" and that is not the same as military orders, he said.

"It was not issued as an order, was not taken as an order, and was never done," Many said.

"What was it then? A joke? He didn't notice his radio was on?" asked Ketzef.

"It was a demonstration through exaggeration," replied Many.

A.R. who smiled and acted confidently before the trial opened -- when he was surrounded by friends and family -- gradually tensed up. He clasped the wooden bench and on several occasions interrupted the prosecutor.

Many would then put his hand on A.R.'s lap, whisper, and A.R. would restrain himself.

Out of the courtroom, during an intermission, A.R.'s father vented his fury at the prosecutor.

"You brought a company commander from the hottest (fighting) spot in handcuffs! That's dignity. You were (safely) in Tel Aviv (all that time) ... and you are talking of an event that happened in the most dangerous place! ... You have no feelings!"

He complained to reporters that the Military Police stopped questioning soldiers who gave evidence for his son.

"Why are they looking for a scapegoat?" he asked. "My son followed the military orders. He did not digress from them." He suspected that two of A.R.'s soldiers leaked the incident to a reporter who broke the story and started the ball rolling. One of those soldiers A.R. had jailed for 30 days and the other escaped to avoid trial, he said.

A reporter asked the father whether A.R.'s trial had anything to do with his "origin." They live in an Arab-Druze community.

"If it were someone else, they wouldn't have done it," a young man standing beside the father claimed.

A.R. walked over and pulled his father away.