From Occupied Palestine

Soldier who shot Briton admits lying
CHRIS McGREAL
Guardian, 16 December 2004

Jerusalem -- The Israeli soldier on trial for killing the British peace activist Tom Hurndall in the Gaza Strip has admitted he was lying when he said his victim was carrying a gun, but said he was under orders to open fire even on unarmed people.

Met to oversee Hurndall inquiry
CHRIS McGREAL and COLIN BLACKSTOCK
Guardian, 16 January 2004

The Metropolitan police have been asked to oversee the investigation into the death of Tom Hurndall, the British peace activist shot by an Israeli soldier as he tried to protect Palestinian children in a Gaza refugee camp.

Westminster coroner Paul Knapman has asked the Met to help in establishing the facts surrounding the shooting of Mr Hurndall, who died on Tuesday morning after being in a persistent vegetative state for nine months.

Another turn of the spiral: Tom Hurndall's death and the ongoing destruction of Palestine
JUSTIN PODUR
Znet, 15 January 2004

Tom Hurndall died on January 13, 2004 at 7:45pm, in a hospital in his country, the UK, after spending over 8 months in a coma.

Military police arrest soldier who shot Briton in Rafah
AMOS HAREL
Ha'aretz, 31 December 2003

Military police arrested several days ago and have interrogated the Israel Defense Force soldier suspected of shooting and seriously wounded British civilian Tom Hurndall in Rafah last April.

Hurndall is now a vegetable and his family has begun proceedings allowing him to eventually be disconnected from respiratory and other life-support systems.

Rafah in miniature
JOCELYN HURNDALL
Guardian, 20 October 2003

Six months after my son was shot by Israeli troops, the British government has yet to condemn the act

Last Thursday, I delivered a letter to Mr Blair expressing my despair at the Israeli government's lack of response to our call for a full inquiry into the death of my son, Tom.

Families seek truth over Israeli deaths
CHRIS McGREAL
Guardian, 20 October 2003

The family of a British peace activist shot in the head by an Israeli soldier is considering applying to the courts for permission to turn off his life support machine.

Doctors in Britain have told Tom Hurndall's family that he does not feel a thing. But his family find that hard to believe as they watch the twisting body and contorted face of the 22-year-old who is in a "vegetative state" after being shot in April.

'He risked all for others'
EMILY SHEFFIELD
The Scotsman, 19 July 2003

On Friday 11 April, my eldest son, a photojournalist, was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier. He was trying to protect two young girls in the Israelis’ line of fire in Gaza. He is 21 and now lies in a coma, with severe brain damage. We know he is not expected to recover and our family are endeavouring to come to terms with this. Recently, we were able to fly him home from Israel and he is now in The Royal Free in Hampstead, in a room overlooking London, filled with photographs of his life. Two large sheets covered in wonderful written messages from friends hang on the walls.

Company of a stranger
RAGEH OMAAR
Guardian, 19 July 2003

I am only just beginning to look back clearly on all the things that I saw and experienced in Baghdad over the past 12 months, and starting to write about them. My mind has been brimful of memories and images. Only when I return to Baghdad, I thought, will the sheer intensity of those moments come back to me in all their vivid detail. But some memories and emotions are unlocked by the things you least expect and in the most unforeseen circumstances.

Freedom Summer
ADAM SHAPIRO
The Nation, 17 July 2003

Amman -- The International Solidarity Movement's second Freedom Summer has begun, and much has changed since our last: the war on Iraq, which focused all eyes on the region; the much-hyped road map; full-blown construction on what Palestinians have come to call the Apartheid Wall. Sadly, though, much remains the same: the continuing deterioration of the lives of Palestinians, with poverty and health crises in a crescendo.

Straw will not defend our citizens
Britons are shot by Israel and tried in secret by the US with impunity
TRISTRAM HUNT
Guardian, 9 July 2003

If, as Prince Charles and his cabal of conservative historians would have it, we are all now to learn of the glories of empire, then we could do no better than begin with Viscount Palmerston. This weekend sees a conference at the University of Southampton dedicated to dissecting what Professor Miles Taylor calls "the original imperialist politician". Yet the insights that Palmerston's career offers today's Foreign Office should not provide comfortable reading.