MIDDLE EAST: An Israeli soldier who shot a pro-Palestinian British activist in the head in the Gaza Strip two years ago was found guilty yesterday of manslaughter by a military court.
The court ruled that the soldier, Taysir al-Heib, had shot Tom Hurndall (22), an activist for the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), with a sniper's rifle in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Witnesses said Hurndall was helping Palestinian children cross a street in an area where there was gunfire when he was hit.
The court dismissed al-Heib's version of events as "confused and even pathetic", and also pointed to his confession in which he said he had aimed near Hurndall to frighten him after he entered a closed military zone.
The bullet hit the activist in the head and he lay in a coma for nine months before dying in a London hospital in January last year.
"From that moment Sgt al-Heib began a broad campaign of lies and falsehoods to throw off the expected investigation and to exonerate himself of any guilt," the verdict read.
Al-Heib, who was a member of a special Bedouin unit in the army, was also convicted of obstruction of justice and giving false testimony.
He will be sentenced in August, and faces a maximum of 20 years' imprisonment.
Hurndall's brother and father arrived yesterday for the verdict, but the brother was prevented from entering the country.
An Israeli official said he had refused to sign a commitment not to take part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations while in Israel.
In the past Israel has barred entry to ISM activists who have at times tried to prevent military operations by placing themselves between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians. Hurndall's father, Anthony, called the verdict "limited justice", and said his son's death was "part of a culture of impunity in Israel".
Meanwhile, opponents of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's Gaza withdrawal plan held a nationwide protest yesterday evening, lining Israel's roads and holding aloft placards reading: "Jews don't expel Jews".
The organisers of the demonstration had called on Israeli drivers to pull over at 6pm to register their protest at the government's plan to evacuate all 21 settlements in Gaza and four in the northern West Bank, starting in mid-August.
While settler leaders claimed success, insisting that tens of thousands had heeded their call, on long stretches of highway there was no sign of protest.