Palestinian, 11, says army used her as shield

Conal Urquhart in Tel Aviv
Saturday March 10, 2007
The Guardian

The Israeli army is investigating whether its troops used two Palestinian children as human shields during a house search operation in the West Bank, after claims by the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem.

The use of human shields to deter gunmen from opening fire on soldiers has been banned by the Israeli supreme court and forbidden by the army. However, the practice, in which soldiers force Palestinians to approach, enter and search buildings where they believe a gunman may be hiding, remains common.

Israeli soldiers were filmed using Sameh Amira, 24, as a human shield on February 25, during a week-long raid into the West Bank city of Nablus. Mr Amira was made to search homes in the old city during a hunt for wanted men and bomb-making laboratories. The old city was under curfew for two days and a man was shot dead when he went on to the roof of his home.

Mr Amira's cousin, 15-year-old Amid Amira, told B'Tselem that soldiers also forced him to search three houses, making him enter rooms, empty cupboards and open windows. And an 11-year-old girl, Jihan Dadush, told B'Tselem that soldiers took her from her home three days later, on February 28, forcing her to go into a neighbouring apartment ahead of them. The soldiers then took her home, she said. In her testimony to B'Tselem, Jihan said that after the soldiers left, "I was shaking with fear. I was afraid they would kill me or put me in jail."

B'Tselem said that it was clear from the testimonies that the soldiers believed the houses presented a risk, so they had knowingly put the Palestinians in danger.