EXCLUSIVE
MAJED RABAH is a very special child. Only 11 years old, he is a victim of an Israeli war crime committed during last year's Gaza war.
An Israeli military court this week found two soldiers guilty of using Majed as a human shield.
The hearing came a little over 12 months after Judge Richard Goldstone's report to the United Nations accused both Israel and the militant Palestinian movement Hamas of war crimes. Majed's case was one of 150 Judge Goldstone identified, but the only one that has resulted in a prosecution.
With the soldiers now facing a three-year jail term, their conviction has incensed many Israelis who believe the men were made scapegoats by their senior commanders who needed to prove to the world that the Israeli army could prosecute its own.
In his first interview since the trial, Majed, seated with his mother Afaf in their apartment in Tal el-Hawah in the south of Gaza City, told the Herald that he believed the soldiers deserved to go to jail.
''I was thinking the soldiers were going to kill me,'' Majed said. ''I wet my pants I was so scared and frightened.''
When Israeli troops moved into Tal el-Hawah on the night of
January 14, 2009, Afaf said she decided to take her family to the basement of their eight-storey apartment block.
''We spent the night there with about 40 people from the other apartments here,'' said Afaf. ''In the morning, Israeli soldiers shot through the door to the basement and entered.''
After separating the men from the women and children, Majed, who was nine at the time, said he was hiding behind his mother in one corner of the basement when a soldier grabbed him by the shoulder.
''He and the other soldier dragged me along to another corner of the basement where there are two small toilet rooms,'' said Majed.
Speaking to Majed in Hebrew, a language Majed does not speak, the soldiers pointed to two bags located inside the toilet.
''I didn't understand what they wanted, but then I realised that it was because they thought the bags were going to explode and they wanted me to open them,'' he said. ''They stood outside the toilet, behind a concrete wall and they made me open the bags.''
Majed said he opened the first bag easily, finding nothing but papers, money and gold jewellery.
''I could not open the second bag, it was too difficult. Because the soldiers thought the bags had explosives, I also thought they were going to explode. I was shaking and could not keep my hands still.''
Unable to open the second bag, Majed said one of the soldiers came into the toilet and shouted at him. The soldier slapped Majed in the face, and then fired two rounds into the bag.
''I thought they had shot my son,'' said Afaf. ''So then when I saw him I was so happy I said thanks to God that he was alive.''
Locked in the basement for another 10 hours, Majed said that when they were released it was his eldest brother who reported the incident to the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, a Gaza-based advocacy group.
Al Mezan investigated the case, and later provided details to Judge Goldstone's UN fact-finding mission and complained directly to the IDF.
Of the 150 complaints about soldiers' behaviour during the war, including 36 for alleged war crimes, the IDF's Military Advocate-General formally investigated 47 cases.
In addition to this week's conviction, one other combat soldier was sentenced to seven months in prison for stealing a credit card belonging to a Gaza resident and withdrawing cash from the owner's bank account.
While the Military Advocate-General may still recommend charges be laid with regard to several other cases, it is believed that most investigations have been closed.
''I don't know why they investigated my son's case,'' said Afaf. ''Because there were so many worse cases of war crimes, where children were killed.''
Nevertheless, Afaf said she was pleased that at least one case had been taken seriously. ''When the Israelis took us to the courtroom to give evidence, they treated us properly and with respect. I think justice has been done with regard to my son.''
