Ahmed Mousa 10, July 29 2008
Israeli soldier who shot dead a Palestinian child
acquitted
An Israeli Court in Lod acquitted Tuesday an Israeli soldier who shot and killed a Palestinian child during a nonviolent protest against the Annexation Wall
in Ni’lin village, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, in July 2008.
The soldier admitted to firing two rounds of live ammunition at the child, 10-year-old Ahmad Mousa, leading to his death.
During his court testimony, the soldier said that “not firing back at those who hurl stones at the army is considered weakness; therefore, I opened fire”.
The Judge claimed that “it was not proven that the bullets fired by the soldier led to the death of the child”, despite the fact that she acknowledged that the soldier opened fire using live
ammunition while his life was not in danger.
The soldier, identified as Omri Abu, stated that he was in a bulletproof vehicle, but added that “these vehicles protect you to a certain level, and sometimes become useless when the hood is
damaged, and the windshield is broken”.
According to Israeli daily, Haaretz, as the unit arrived at the scene, Palestinian youths started hurling stones at the armored jeep, and Abu immediately
opened the jeep’s door and fired two rounds of live ammunition, hitting the child in the forehead causing instant death.
Ahmed Mousa 10
Israeli Anarchist Against the Wall activist Jonathan Pollack on the murder of ten year old Ahmed Mousa:
His head was pretty much blown off.
There was an entry wound in his forehead
that
completely destroyed his face, and the back of his head was just missing. His brain was not there.
The exit wound just blew off the majority of the back of his head ...
We remember when 13-year-old Iman al-Hams in Gaza was killed a few years ago, 20 bullets pumped into her body, and the commanding officer who emptied his clip into her head and torso was not only not punished, but he was actually promoted.
What does this say about the Israeli military policy toward shooting children and then "investigating" their deaths?.
Following an Israeli
"investigation" into the death of Ahmed, the Border Policeman concerned was sentenced to one week's house arrest.
Nilin will lose approximately 2500 dunums of agricultural land when the construction of the Wall is completed. Nilin consisted of 57,000 dunums in 1948, reduced to 33,000 dunums in 1967,
currently is 10,000 dunums and will be 7,500 dunums after construction of the Wall.