Shooting of activist raises debate in Israel

JERUSALEM -- The shooting of an unarmed Israeli peace activist during a demonstration has set off a debate among Israelis over the military's response to protesters during the last three years of conflict with the Palestinians.

While some say Friday's shooting was legitimate, critics say it finally forced Israelis to confront the kind of treatment Palestinian demonstrators have long faced.

"The fingers of Israeli troops have been quick, too quick on the trigger when dealing with Palestinians. It was only a matter of time until it would trickle inward and produce a similar pattern of action against Israeli demonstrators as well," dovish novelist David Grossman told the daily Yediot Ahronot newspaper.

The incident occurred Friday afternoon, when about 100 protesters gathered at the West Bank separation barrier Israel is building.

Israel says the barrier -- a snaking line of fences, razor wire, concrete walls and trenches that will stretch for hundreds of miles -- is meant to keep out suicide bombers.

The route cuts some Palestinians off from fields and essential services, and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned Israel's Supreme Court Sunday to permit Palestinians to move freely through its gates.

On Friday, the protesters were demanding that the gate near the West Bank village of Mascha be opened so farmers could tend their fields. When it was not, they cut the fence with pliers, eventually creating a hole large enough for a person to walk through.

, according to an Associated Press photographer on the scene.

On the other side, about half a dozen Israeli soldiers, who appeared panicked and unprepared, demanded they stop, fired several bullets in the air and then shot at their legs, moderately wounding an Israeli and lightly injuring an American.

Military sources said the soldiers were not equipped with rubber bullets or tear gas, traditional means of crowd dispersal.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told his Cabinet on Sunday the barrier needs to be protected, but Israel has to use the appropriate means for dispersing demonstrators.

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz felt the rules of engagement had been breached, according to a source at the weekly Cabinet meeting. According to Israeli military regulations, soldiers may open fire only in life-threatening situations.

The army announced Sunday it had opened two investigations into the shooting.

"We're talking about a grave incident that the army is determined to investigate and check in order to learn all the necessary lessons," the military said in a statement.

In more than three years of violence, 2,602 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 904 on the Israeli side.

Israel has routinely used live ammunition against Palestinian demonstrators who sometimes pose a threat and sometimes do not, according to Yariv Oppenheimer of the dovish Israeli group Peace Now.

But the shooting Friday appeared to be the first time Israeli troops fired live rounds at a Jewish Israeli protester.

The wounded Israeli, Gil Naamati, 21, served for three years in an artillery unit before finishing his mandatory military service last month.

"We didn't want to threaten soldiers and we didn't threaten soldiers. All we hurt was the fence," said Naamati, who was shot in both legs.

"I was in the army, and I am familiar with the rules of engagement and what I did was not even close to something that I think would warrant opening fire," he told Army Radio from his hospital bed.

Police spokesman Gil Kleiman said police questioned Naamati in the hospital Sunday, on suspicion of damaging the fence and illegally entering a closed military zone.

The wounded American was not identified. Hospital officials said she was treated Friday and released two hours later.

The incident angered many Israelis, and the airwaves were clogged with debates Sunday.

"The tempest was created only because the severely injured individual was an Israeli," commentator Ofer Shelah wrote in Yediot. "Had he been a Palestinian, the incident probably would not have received even a single line in the newspaper."

Like many, Shelah questioned whether the soldiers knew -- or should have known -- the demonstrators were Israeli, "as if Palestinian demonstrators can be shot at indiscriminately."

Hard-line Cabinet minister Uzi Landau said the soldiers had to stop the protesters, or it would have set a bad precedent and encouraged others to break through the barrier. "Anyone who destroys the fence is assisting terrorism," he said.

Commentator Hagai Huberman said the troops had a duty to shoot. "The soldiers did what was required of them. They prevented the fence from being breached," he wrote in the hawkish newspaper Hatzofeh.

Others condemned such comments.

If shaking the fence is a crime punishable by death or injury, one can easily see why "dozens and hundreds of Palestinians are killed and injured all year long," analyst Doron Rosenblum wrote in the Haaretz daily.

"Either way, it's indeed a severe mishap: For a moment we were given a glimpse of what we have become," he wrote.