Israel accused of hiding facts of UK filmmaker killing

[DaSangarTalib]

The widow of an award-winning British film maker shot dead in Gaza by Israeli occupation forces three years ago accuses the Israeli government of delaying the investigation into the killing in order to “grind down” the family to drop the case, The Telegraph reported.

Mr James Miller, 34, was making a documentary about the plight of Palestinian children in the Rafah refugee camp when he was murdered by an Israeli soldier from the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in May 2003.

At the inquest at St Pancras Coroner's Court in London, juries heard how Mr Miller and his colleagues were carrying a white flag and called out to Israeli troops to inform them that they were British journalists when the soldiers opened fire.

Mr Miller’s wife, Sophy, 35, gave emotional evidence, telling of her husband's killing and her frustration that the Israelis are delaying the inquiry.

Mrs Miller had traveled to Israel three times since her husband’s death and the family have conducted a private inquiry into what happened.

She says that the crime scene wasn’t properly investigated and that the area was bulldozed three days after the killing. She also says that the weapons used weren’t collected for 11 weeks and the barrel of the gun used in the shooting had been swapped.

Mrs Miller also denies IDF claims that there had been a gun battle which Mr Milles walked into the middle off. "We know from their own military report there had been no gun battle. It had been quiet for some considerable time before James left the building,” she said at the hearing.

"They said he had been shot from behind, implying it could be Palestinians, but it is quite clear from the autopsy he was shot through the neck… The doctor who was supposed to be helping him could only find an exit wound."

"The thing that is the hardest is that we (the family) were given assurance by the Israeli authorities and our Government that this was being fully and thoroughly investigated, and yet all the while it has been the family that has had to produce, investigate and provide the evidence in order to bring any form of justice. And to date he hasn't received any,

"It would have been much easier for them (the Israeli authorities) if we had found it too difficult and they have given the impression that they were just trying to grind us down in the hope that we couldn't go on,” Mrs Miller added.

Mr Millers’ family met with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in June 2003, who told them that the IDF had admitted responsibility.

"Mr Straw said he had spoken to the Foreign Minister of Israel and that he had said that the IDF were responsible for killing James,” Mrs Miller said.

At the inquest, Mrs Miller also identified the Israeli soldier who shot her husband as First Lieutenant Haib from the Bedouin Desert Reconnaissance Battalion, who was commanding a unit at the time of the killing.

Lieutenant Haib was due to face a disciplinary hearing but was then acquitted by Brigadier General Guy Tzur, the head of the Israeli army's southern command.

Mrs Miller said that the IDF had provided misleading information from the moment her husband was shot, adding that Lt. Haib had give six testimonies, all of which were conflicting.

Michael Mansfield QC, lawyer for the family, said: "He began by denying any responsibility for the shot that he fired, killing James, and then after some interviews considered some of his shots could have killed James,

"He then later went back to the first position, namely that he could not have actually killed James. In other words, a complete circle from what he was saying."

Al-Jazeera