Israeli soldiers are provoking Palestinians to shoot them with live ammo

The Israeli army is using live ammunition against unarmed Palestinian stone-throwers in the Occupied West Bank, deliberately provoking confrontations in order to open fire on protesters.

This is the conclusion of Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem, in a new press release detailing “a dramatic rise in Israeli security forces’ use of live 0.22 inch calibre bullets” in recent months.

According to the NGO, “the firing of this ammunition” by Israeli occupation forces at Palestinian civilians “is an almost weekly occurrence” at “protests and clashes.” Most of the injured have been “young Palestinians, including minors”, as well as “one Palestinian woman, at least three photographers, and a foreign national” in the last two months.

Disturbingly, B’Tselem says it has documented “several cases” when Israeli soldiers “intentionally engaged with stone-throwers in order to fire 0.22 bullets at them.”

In one instance, which was documented, the soldiers initiated action to provoke Palestinian youths into throwing stones, so that they could respond with 0.22 fire. In one documented case, soldiers took action designed to provoke youths to throw stones, ultimately enabling the soldiers to respond with gunfire, wounding the youths.

In 2001, a senior Israeli army officer described the Ruger as “a weapon in every respect”, and not “a means of dispersing demonstrations.” Use of the 0.22 bullet was suspended 2001-2008, but since its return, B’Tselem says it “has documented the deaths of at least two people from these bullets.” The real number, they add, “may be higher.”

On 9 December 2014, the military commander in the West Bank, Brig. Gen. Tamir Yadai, told a meeting of Jewish settlers that the army had “taken a slightly tougher approach with people [Palestinians] around here.” He went on:

In places where we used to fire tear-gas or rubber[-coated metal bullets], we now fire Ruger bullets and sometimes live bullets. If I remember the figures correctly, we’re at around 25 people hit here in the last three weeks. That’s a relatively high figure on any scale.

The Israeli army has a track record in using live ammunition to kill and wound unarmed Palestinians who protest the military regime and colonisation of their lands. In the first few days of the Second Intifada, Israeli soldiers fired more than a million bullets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, at anti-occupation demonstrations by residents of West Bank villages, Israeli forces have frequently used lethal force against unarmed protesters. More than 20 Palestinians have been killed in protests against the Wall, and hundreds injured.

In May 2014, a video of two Palestinian teenagers being gunned down by Israeli soldiers following a Nakba Day demonstration drew attention to a trigger-happy approach that was also the focus of a report last year by Amnesty International.

This report accused the Israeli army of “a callous disregard for human life” that meant civilians were killed, “including children”, by soldiers operating with “near total impunity.” The evidence included “wilful killings” that constitute “war crimes.”

Away from the more high-profile incidents that take place in Gaza and the West Bank, the deliberate shooting of unarmed civilians with live ammunition is an example of the routine crimes of an army unthreatened by the prospect of accountability either at home, or, for now, abroad.

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