A twelve-step program.
1. On 18 May 2004, launch a massive invasion of Rafah; ostensibly to find weapons-smuggling tunnels, but in reality to take revenge for the killing of 13 IDF soldiers during "Stimulus and Response" [footnote 1] operations into the Gaza Strip during the previous two weeks:
This is a strong-armed operation intended to dull the impression - in both Israeli and Palestinian consciousness - of the attacks in which 13 Israeli soldiers were killed. In delicate language, this is 'searing the consciousness'. In slightly less polite wording, this is revenge, pure and simple.-- Editorial in Israeli daily, Yedioth Ahronoth. Cited by Chris McGreal, “Bloody vengeance or assault on terrorists...?”; The Guardian, 26 May 2004.
2. Avoid the militant strongholds of Shabura and Yibna. Invade instead a quieter neighborhood further from the border with Egypt, like Tel al-Sultan. There won't be any tunnels there, but you will be able to demolish homes at will, without having to fear resistance from Palestinian fighters:
... lessons learned from the ‘Iron Fist’ policy of suppressing Palestinian resistance and the thinning out of the refugee camps have been integrated into the planning of Tel al-Sultan. The street grid of Tel al-Sultan is based on the ‘Sharon Streets’ of the early 1970s: the wide perimeter road and the single transverse road allow for easy access for military vehicles. From these main roads, there is no single blind alley. All the secondary streets and alleys are oriented towards the primary access roads, allowing for clear lines of [sic] site from the main roads to anywhere in the camp. A military patrol can effectively bring the community under complete control without setting foot in it.-- Nicolas Kelemen, “Fifty Years Under the Tent: A Case Study on Palestinian Refugee Housing”; Harvard Graduate School of Design, 1999), pp. 66-67. [2]
3. Take over the tallest building in the neighborhood, which would be the home of the Abu Jalalla family. Station a sniper team on the top floor, and use the family as human shields by locking them in their apartment with you for the duration of your operation. Knock a firing hole in the wall:
(Photo: Ed O'Loughlin for the Palestinian Center for Human Rights/PCHR.
Click on photos to enlarge.)
4. Note that the house you are overlooking is the home of the Mughayer family, including 16-year-old Asma and her 13-year-old brother, Ahmed. They are shown on the left of this family photo:
(via the Sydney Morning Herald)
5. When Asma and Ahmed step out onto the roof of their home, shoot Asma once through the side of the head as she takes in the laundry that is hanging out to dry. When Ahmed sees what has happened, he will stop feeding his pigeons and try to run back to the stairwell that leads back down into the house. But you will have time to put a single bullet through his head too before he reaches safety:
(AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
6. When Ali Mughayer runs up the stairs to try to pull his younger siblings to safety, you will have a clear shot at him too. (Your sniper position is circled in the following photo of Ali on his roof). Don't worry if you only manage to wound Ali:
(Photo: Ed O'Loughlin for the PCHR)
7. You don't have to worry either about being held accountable for shooting children. Be so relaxed about it that you leave behind half-eaten MRE's and your discarded ammunition box - labelled in Hebrew, "20 rounds 7.62mm ammunition for use of snipers" - when you finally vacate the Abu Jalalla house:
(Photo: Ed O'Loughlin for the PCHR)
8. Should foreign journalists question why the dead "terrorists" being brought into Rafah's mortuaries are so young, cynically concoct a story about children like the Mughayers being killed by a "work accident", i.e. blown up by a bomb planted by the Palestinian side.
Hours after their death, Israeli officials blamed the Palestinians, telling reporters that Asma and Ahmed had been killed in a "work accident" - a euphemism for bomb-makers blowing themselves up - or by Palestinian fighters who had left a landmine in the street. "A preliminary investigation indicates they were killed by a bomb intended to be used against soldiers. It was set outside a building by Palestinians to hit an Israeli vehicle. This is probably what happened," a military spokesman said yesterday.-- Chris McGreal, "Palestinian doctors despair at rising toll of children shot dead by army snipers"; The Guardian, 20 May 2004.
9. Be prepared for the fact that international journalists, inspecting the bodies of the Mughayer siblings as they lie in cold storage, may notice that the children have suffered no injuries consistent with a bomb blast, but have both been killed by a single bullet through the head:
Dr Ahmed Abu Nkaira removed the sheet and raised Ahmed's trunk for us to see where the bullet had made a small incision on his forehead just above his hairline. Then he pointed to the exit wound, a much larger and bloodier hole in the back of his head....The bodies showed no sign of any other damage or bleeding. No damage at all, apart from what Dr Nkaira - an experienced casualty medic in a hospital which has seen more dead bodies than most in the occupied territories - had not a scintilla of doubt was a wound from an Israeli bullet. 'This is the 'accident' that the Israelis are talking about,' he said. 'This is how the Israelis talk all the time. I am sorry the Europeans and the Americans believe these kind of stories.'-- Donald MacIntyre, "A brother, a sister, and a morgue too full for them both"; The Independent (subscription), 20 May 2004.
10. On visiting the Mughayers' home, international journalists may also note that there are no signs of bomb damage at the site where Asma and Ahmed were killed:
The rooftop area showed no signs of an explosion. Two large metal satellite dishes were completely unmarked by shrapnel or scorching, although there were three bullet holes in one of the dishes. The wall around the rooftop was unscarred.-- Ed O'Loughlin, "Palestinian family blames Israeli sniper for deaths of two children"; Sydney Morning Herald, 23 May 2004.
If this happens, reluctantly announce that there will be an inquiry into the deaths of the Mughayer children.
11. Ensure that the only investigation you carry out is an internal IDF inquiry, as this can be relied upon to produce no results:
In light of the pattern of inadequate investigations or lack of investigations into unlawful killings by the Israeli army of hundreds of Palestinians, including hundreds of children, in the past three and a half years, Amnesty International urges the Israeli authorities to ensure that a thorough, independent and impartial investigation is promptly carried out by judicial authorities; that the scope, methods and findings of the investigation be made public; and that those responsible for these killings are brought to justice.-- Amnesty International, "Killing of children must be investigated"; 25 May 2004.
12. Wait six months. Then, while world attention is distracted by the even greater carnage of a new invasion of the Gaza Strip refugee camps, abandon your inquiry into the shooting of Ahmed and Asma Mughayer:
The military has quietly dropped an investigation into the killing by an Israeli sniper of a brother and sister, both teenagers, in Rafah in May. The army falsely claimed that the pair were killed by a Palestinian bomb and only began the investigation after journalists found the bodies of the children and reported that both had a single shot to the head.-- Chris McGreal, A schoolgirl riddled with bullets. And no one is to blame; The Guardian, 21 Oct 2004.
Twelve easy steps and voila! You're in the clear.
Footnotes:
[1] "Stimulus and Response" operations involve an incursion by an armored IDF column (the "Stimulus") into a heavily populated neighborhood of the Gaza Strip, to draw out local Palestinian fighters to defend their neighborhoods (the "Response"). Troops in the armored vehicles then target the lightly-armed Palestinian fighters, and in each operation generally succeed in killing 10-15 fighters and bystanders before withdrawing. The purpose of such operations is apparently to display to the world that the IDF is not leaving Gaza under fire.The two "Stimulus and Response" operations that took place in Gaza City and in Rafah in early May 2004 - and for which the IDF would take revenge in Operation Rainbow - were unusual in that the IDF did not withdraw unscathed from either, but suffered a total of 13 dead when roadside bombs destroyed two of the armored vehicles providing the "Stimulus".
[2] Cited by Human Rights Watch, Rampage in Rafah: May 2004.