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Wars and conflicts International Prison
by DAN WILLIAMS
AN ISRAELI soldier was jailed for eight years yesterday for killing the British activist Tom Hurndall, who was shot while protecting Palestinian children during violence in Gaza in 2003.
The sentence was the harshest punishment meted out to an Israeli soldier for actions in a combat zone since the start of a Palestinian uprising nearly five years ago.
Taysir Hayb, a Bedouin Arab soldier, was convicted in June of manslaughter for shooting Mr Hurndall, an activist with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement, who died in London in January 2004 after lying in a coma for nine months.
The court handed Hayb an 11.5-year sentence, but said he would have to serve only eight years. He had faced a maximum 27-year term.
The victim’s mother, Jocelyn Hurndall, said she was surprised by the leniency of the sentence and said much needed to be done to improve the credibility of the Israeli army.
"From the very beginning we have experienced a lack of willingness to get to the truth, which has been deeply shocking," she said. "Undoubtedly, this sentence brings a level of closure from a legal point, but from a personal point of view I am not sure I believe in the concept of closure. I am sure this will go on forever. We are considering a civil claim."
The Israeli army initially decided not to press charges against Hayb, citing a lack of firm evidence, but changed its mind after Mr Hurndall’s family raised an outcry.
The dead man’s sister, Sophie, said the sentence had left the family "shell-shocked", and said the expert marksman who killed her brother should have been jailed for life for murder.
"Even despite the massive media pressure and the amount of evidence, it still took them six months before they would even open the investigation," she said.
Hayb’s lawyer had said he was worried that, as a member of Israel’s marginalised Bedouin minority, his client would not be able to mount a proper defence. The lawyer said he would file an appeal, but was relieved to have avoided a "show trial".
Hayb shot 22-year-old Mr Hurndall as he helped Palestinian children to cross a street to avoid gunfire in Rafah in the occupied Gaza Strip. The southern town has been a flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian violence during the uprising.
The Israeli army says that it does its utmost to avoid civilian casualties in clashes with Palestinian militants and investigates fatalities when wrongdoing is suspected.
Human Rights Watch accused the army in June of investigating fewer than 5 per cent of hundreds of cases of Palestinian civilians killed since the Palestinian revolt began.
A British Foreign Office minister, Ian Pearson, welcomed the ruling. "We hope that the Hurndall family will draw some comfort from the conviction and sentencing of Sergeant Taysir Hayb today for the unlawful death of their son," he said.
Hayb, who initially had said he fired only at Palestinian gunmen, ultimately told investigators he had shot at Mr Hurndall, but intended only to scare him, not kill him.
The June verdict quoted Hayb as telling interrogators: "It actually was the British person ... He was walking toward me as if trying to irritate me. So I decided to scare him. He was being cheeky. I didn’t mean to kill him; just to scare him."
Judges determined that Hayb, 22, was a crack marks-man with a telescopic rifle sight and a clear line of fire toward Mr Hurndall, who was wearing a bright orange jacket to distinguish himself from combatants.
But they also praised Hayb’s patriotism. Israel’s Arab citizens generally sympathise with Palestinians seeking statehood in the West Bank and Gaza, but many Druze and Bedouin Arab citizens also often serve in the Israeli army.