Soldier shoots at Israeli journalist

By The Associated Press

08.12.02

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JERUSALEM — An Israeli soldier in the West Bank opened fire on a taxi carrying a prominent Israeli journalist who said today the shots were fired without warning. The army said the soldier and an officer would be tried.

The incident occurred yesterday morning in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, as the taxi, which had Israeli license plates, approached an army post. Shots hit the bulletproof windshield of the armored taxi.

Gideon Levy, a correspondent for the daily Haaretz newspaper, a Haaretz photographer and a representative from the organization Physicians for Human Rights were in the vehicle. They were not injured.

Levy, who writes weekly stories about the lives of ordinary Palestinians, said the incident was not unusual. "What happened ... happens every day in the occupied territories," Levy said. "The only difference was this time it was an Israeli Jew and a journalist."

A number of Palestinians have been killed and wounded in roadblock shootings in nearly two years of fighting. The army has denied Palestinian allegations that soldiers are quick to fire at what they consider suspicious vehicles without justification.

Levy said the group's visit to Tulkarem, which is under tight curfew, had been coordinated in advance with the Israeli army. The taxi waited for two hours at a roadblock while soldiers confirmed that it was allowed to continue.

When the taxi entered the town, it traveled freely until it met an armored personnel carrier, Levy said. Officers ordered the taxi to drive to a nearby army post. Driving slowly, the taxi approached the post when suddenly a soldier stationed at a lookout post opened fire, Levy said.

"There was no warning ... just shooting to kill," Levy said.

According to a report in Haaretz, the soldier who fired the shots testified that he first fired a warning shot over the taxi, then shot at the wheels and only then at the hood.

The military said in a statement that a preliminary investigation concluded that there had been a lack of coordination between various positions in the area and that the soldier who had fired the shots erred. The army apologized for the incident and said the soldier and the officer would be put on trial.

"(Lack of coordination) is one of the problems. But the main problem is the easy hand on the gun," Levy said.