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| Ziad Jilani with wife Moira and youngest daughter |
"His wife told me that before her husband left the house that morning, they had discussed taking the kids out someplace fun that afternoon."
Ha’aretz, Amira Hass - The widow of a motorist who was shot to death by police in East Jerusalem in June learned yesterday from her lawyer that the Justice Ministry closed its investigation into the case. In a conversation with Haaretz Moira Jilani, a U.S. citizen [from Texas], expressed shock over the closure of the investigation.
Ziad Jilani was shot after hitting several Israel Defense Forces soldiers. According to a Haaretz investigation several days after the incident, based on statements from several witnesses, after he was shot in the leg and rendered helpless Jilani was shot in the head at close range, while lying on the ground.
...Border Police officers believed his actions were deliberate, and that they followed proper procedures under such circumstances.
The incident occurred in the Wadi Joz neighborhood, on a Friday. There was a heavy Israeli security presence because of intelligence assessments about potential disturbances in the area after the main weekly Muslim prayer service. Soldiers had just broken up a demonstration and were proceeding on foot in formation when they saw Jilani's truck swerve and head toward the soldiers. After soldiers were hit, security forces shot at Jilani.
He attempted to drive away and the security forces gave chase, shooting at the vehicle. He got out of the truck when its path was blocked. Officers continued chasing Jilani on foot, shooting in his direction. He fell after being shot in the leg, but was then shot again at close range, according to witnesses. They said he was lying on the ground when a police officer approached and shot him in the jaw and the temple. He was taken by ambulance to Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, where he was pronounced dead.
The Justice Ministry began investigating immediately, taking witness statements, reenacting the incident and inspecting security camera footage from the area. Six days after Jilani's burial his family agreed to an autopsy. It was conducted two weeks after the burial.
With regard to the allegation that Jilani was shot a second time at close range, investigators said the following: "That fact became known only during the course of the investigation and the [Border Police officer] who fired acknowledged this [although not at the beginning]."
The Justice Ministry's investigation unit said there was insufficient evidence to support criminal charges against the officer, based on a determination that he was not acting out of concern for his safety and to "attribute criminal responsibility to a mistake, however grave, in judgment." After consultations with the State Prosecutor's Office it was decided to close the case for insufficient evidence, the Justice Ministry's investigation unit said, adding it was possible that Jilani's conduct was not deliberate and that he did not intend to run over the security officials.
Family members said yesterday they are considering their next moves. Jilani was 39 at the time of his death.
Related story:
Israel drops investigation into police shooting of Palestinian - LA Times, Edmund Sanders
...Government investigators said it was possible that Jilani had momentarily lost control of his car as he attempted to circumvent an East Jerusalem traffic jam, accidentally veering into a group of soldiers on foot. At least two soldiers suffered what authorities called "light injuries."
Jilani's widow, Texas-born Moira Jilani, called the ministry's decision not to prosecute "ridiculous. That man executed my husband by shooting him point-blank. If that's not criminal, what is?"
..."They've been sitting on their hands for months to see if I would give up and go back to the U.S.," she said. "But I'm not going anywhere."
According to the government statement, the officer initially denied shooting Ziad Jilani. But he changed his story after the family agreed to exhume Jilani's body to prove he had been shot at close range... Read more
Questions remain in Israel shooting - Al Jazeera
...the father of a child also injured during the shooting, who said that his car was parked nearby and that he saw Jilani get out of his vehicle when he was first shot at by Israeli forces.
Al-Silwadi said that he rushed his five-year-old child to the hospital after she was wounded with a rubber-coated-bullet wound to the neck and head. Read more
A Widow Mourns, An Army Lies, by Kara Newhouse
...Moira Jilani remembers her experience vividly, "I felt happy that day. We were going to go out and celebrate, because the children finished exams the day before," she tells me from her brother-in-law’s house, where she’s spent her days since Ziad’s death on June 11. "We were cleaning, getting rid of the winter clothes. We had the music loud, the girls were dancing. We were ready to leave."
"When Aya [her niece] came knocking at the door, she was crying, her whole face was drenched. She said, 'My mom wants you. Come now,’ I said, "Aya, Aya, is it Ziad?" She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t say anything. I knew he was dead."
Moira comes close to tears just once during our three-hour interview. Most of the time she speaks in a steely voice, anger her prevailing emotion over Ziad’s killing and the broader injustice it represents. "A soldier shot a guy today. What else is new? That’s how the whole world looks at it," she said. "Everyday you hear something like that, but this one is not going to go unheard. My husband, he was killed brutally. If you heard someone doing that to a dog, you would be crying. But to hear it done to a human being…" she trails off. Read more
Blood In The Streets Of Wadi Joz, Kara Newhouse
...When a neighbour tried to assist Jilani, the soldiers beat him back with their guns. Nawras also said that they hit some women as they blocked off the street ...
...A taxi driver named Subhi, confirmed the presence of large numbers of people and soldiers in the street. He said he was moving his car off the main street to avoid damage at the time of the shooting. “I heard the bullets. I saw my small kids...
...Injuries sustained by others during the incident remain unclear, though Al-Jazeera reports one woman seriously injured and two other men wounded. Read more
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