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Yesterday afternoon taxi driver Radwan Ibrahim Yousef Shtayeh was killed while dropping off
passengers at a roadblock in the al-Najama area near Nablus. Radwan was shot six to seven
times by soldiers located at a military outpost approximately 200 meters from the roadblock.
There were no clashes in the area where he was killed, and Radwan was unarmed when he was
shot.
Shtayeh, thirty-seven years old and a father of four, lived in the village of Salim near Nablus. He
worked driving an unregistered taxi between Salim and other nearby villages. Yesterday
afternoon Shtayeh drove a load of four passengers to the junction of the main roads leading to
Beit Dajan, Beit Foureek, and Salim. At this point the road was blocked with a pile of earth and
cement blocks. All of his passengers had to exit their taxi, climb over the barrier, and continue in
a second taxi. According to information gathered by an al-Haq fieldworker, after the passengers
in Shtayehs taxi had begun to walk across the roadblock he noticed that one of them had left a
bag of vegetables in the car. She was only 100 meters away from him, and he called out to her to
stop. He then got down from the car with the bag and proceeded to place it beside the road.
Soldiers at the nearby checkpoint immediately opened fire hitting him in the neck, chest, stomach,
and legs. A man living near the checkpoint quickly ran towards Shtayeh, reaching him at the same
time as several Israeli soldiers. He was blocked from approaching Shtayeh for approximately five
minutes by the soldiers, but was eventually allowed to bring Shtayeh to Rafidian Hospital in
Nablus where he died at 6:00 pm.
The Israeli soldiers made no attempt to inquire into what Shtayeh was doing, no verbal warning
was given, and no warning shots were fired. The actions of the Israeli soldiers in this case were
irresponsible, their use of force was excessive, and they violated their own open fire regulations.
According to the Israeli militarys open fire regulations, a soldier will use a weapon in the
event of immediate danger to life, his own or that of others, and when it is impossible to
effectively defend oneself from the assailant other than by the use of a weapon. The firing
is intended to hit the assailant alone, in the measure necessary for preventing the danger.
No shooting should be done except while the danger still exists. According to these same
regulations before opening fire with live ammunition Israeli soldiers must first attempt to give a
verbal warning and should fire warning shots unless there is an immediate and unavoidable threat
to their personal safety. The facts of this case are that the Israeli soldiers who shot Shtayeh were
located 200 meters distance from him, they fired no warning shots, and Shtayeh was unarmed.
Thus, it must be concluded that the Israeli soldiers who killed Shtayeh did not act according to
their open fire regulations and should be held accountable for his death. Israeli reports state that
the soldiers who shot Shtayeh thought that he looked suspicious. However, looking suspicious
cannot legitimate the lethal use of force. Allowing soldiers to act on suspicions and hunches
places the whole civilian Palestinian population in danger. In order to prevent such acts in the
future Israeli should conduct a full investigation into the killing of Shtayeh, and those found to be
responsible for his death should be held accountable for their actions.
Al-Haq thus calls upon both the Israeli and Palestinian Authorities to carry out full investigations
into this killing. We also reiterate our call upon the International Community to demand that Israel
tighten and make public the exact wording of its open fire regulations to help protect civilians and
non-combatants
Al-Haq wishes to express its grave concern over the lack of action on the part of the international
community to combat human rights violations occurring in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Keeping this in mind, al-Haq renews its call for the International Community to provide an
observer force that can monitor the human rights situation in the Occupied Territories. A
monitoring force that can defend Palestinian civilians is needed immediately and until the end of the
occupation. In light of the continuous deterioration of the human rights situation in the Occupied
Territories, al-Haq also asks that the States Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention take the
necessary measures to pressure the Israeli government to stop its excessive use of force and
aggression against Palestinian civilians. |