On 11 November, a nine year old boy was shot in the head, apparently by live ammunition, by an Israeli soldier during clashes at Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem. A ceremony was taking place at the Tomb marking the completion of the walls and guard towers which now surround the Tomb and restrict the main road into Bethlehem. Israeli Defense Minister Mordechai was present. According to eye-witnesses, several dozen
children and youth came from the nearby Aida refugee camp and began throwing stones and burning tires. The stones did not endanger nor come close to the Israelis or to the soldiers. Three soldiers went to stop the children, and detained several. One soldier, from a distance of 15 meters, crouched and opened fire on the group, hitting Ali Jawarish, 9, in the head. The eye-witness stated that none of the soldiers went to help the child, who was left lying on the road bleeding profusely. 

According to the witness some watched the shooting from behind barbed wire.  The boy was finally taken to Bethlehem hospital, transferred to Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem and then, because of faulty equipment, had to be evacuated to Ramallah hospital, where he remains in critical condition. According to the Israeli Army Radio News, Israeli army officers claimed that the bullet was a rubber-coated metal bullet, but Ramallah hospital doctors who treated the child said that the child had been shot with live ammunition. 

LAWE condemns in the strongest possible terms the excessive use of lethal force by Israeli soldiers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Fifteen meters is not within the acceptable “non-lethal” range if the soldier was firing rubber-coated metal bullets. These bullets cause serious injury and death, particularly if the targets are children. If in fact the soldiers were indeed using live ammunition, this constitutes the most serious breach of
internationally accepted standards of the use of force since the uprising last September, in which over 80 Palestinians were killed by live ammunition and by the rubber-coated metal bullets. 

This tragic incident underlines the essential flaws of the current status quo. Heavily guarded Jewish enclaves in Palestinian populated areas, such as Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem, are the source of constant confrontation between Israeli soldiers and the local Palestinian population, adding to the already tense and volatile situation in the West Bank. The illegal presence of the Jewish settlers, and the Israeli soldiers used to protect them, continue to destabilize the region and results in abuses of power like the
shooting of this child. LAWE calls for an immediate, full inquiry into the shooting, and for those responsible to be brought to justice. 

LAWE - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organization, dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.