Families seek truth over Israeli deaths
Chris McGreal talks to the relatives of three British and American victims as they struggle to find out how their loved-ones came to die at the hands of the Israeli army
Monday October 20, 2003
The Guardian
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The Hurndalls, from Tufnell Park, north London, are one of three British and American families struggling to extract from the Israeli government and military the truth about how loved ones were killed or horrendously wounded by soldiers.
All three families have accused the authorities of fabricating evidence, suppressing investigations and covering-up deliberate killings.
Tom Hurndall's mother, Jocelyn, wrote to Tony Blair last week demanding he exert more pressure on Israel to hold a transparent inquiry. Writing in today's Guardian, she calls the Israeli government a "deeply immoral regime which is cruel beyond human understanding".
The three victims were all shot in Rafah, a refugee camp in southern Gaza which the Israelis call a "war zone":
· Tom Hurndall, a student photographer volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement, was shot as he tried to protect children under fire from Israeli soldiers;
· James Miller, a 34-year-old British television cameraman, was killed a month later. His relatives are travelling to Israel next week to put pressure on the military to make its inquiry public and to admit it lied about the circumstances of his death;
· Rachel Corrie, a young American peace activist, was crushed to death by an army bulldozer in March. Her parents are still trying to obtain a copy of the military investigation which cleared the driver.
The Corries had been told the report was secret until they found that the Israeli government was covertly distributing it among members of the US Congress to prevent an independent investigation.
In only one case has there been a proper investigation: the death of Iain Hook from Felixstowe. He was head of the UN rebuilding programme in Jenin when he was shot by an Israeli sniper in November.
The army falsely claimed he was shot while standing among Palestinian gunmen in the UN compound. Israel paid compensation to Hook's family but attached confidentiality clauses which suppressed a public admission of culpability for what some of the UN worker's colleagues have called "cold-blooded murder".
All four families have carried out their own investigations after swiftly losing faith in the Israeli authorities.
"Sincerity isn't a word I would use in conjunction with the Israeli military," said James Miller's brother, John. "I have absolutely no confidence in what they tell me. I think the Israelis operate a war of attrition that just grinds you down in the hope you'll give up."
The Hurndalls have concluded that Israel has no intention of seriously investigating the shooting of their son, who was wearing a bright orange jacket, and had already carried a small boy to safety and was stooping to pick up a girl when the bullet struck.
The army investigation said that a sniper in a watchtower fired at a man wearing camouflage clothes and carrying a gun. The military came up with five theories for how the student came to be hit, all built around the claim that there was an unidentified gunman on the scene.
His father, Anthony, a lawyer, visited Rafah and compiled his own 50-page report in July. The report, seen by the Guardian, concludes that the army invented the gunman to justify the shooting. Mr Hurndall's report accuses the army of lying, withholding evidence and major factual errors.
"The events described are two different events: one real and the other a fabrication," Mr Hurndall wrote in his report. "The distance from the tower is about 150 metres [500ft]. For an experienced soldier, it is not possible to believe that he was under any misapprehension that Tom was a Palestinian gunman."
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