Jerusalem – The Border Police officers involved in an incident in which they confiscated and threw away a bicycle from an eight-year-old Palestinian girl in Hebron will be disciplined, but will not be criminally charged, the Police Investigations Department announced on Monday.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The police had been suspended from active duty on August 2 after a video of the incident, which occurred on July 25, went viral on YouTube.
The PID statement explained that the case had been reviewed and that the police officers involved would be disciplined for improper and unprofessional conduct, but “in light of the balance of the circumstances surrounding the event,” there was no basis to indict them for the criminal violation of abuse of power.
The event was filmed by a volunteer from the Israeli nongovernmental group, B’Tselem.
It shows the Border Police officer stopping the girl, Anwar Burkan, on a street near the Cave of the Patriarchs.
The site is heavily guarded by security forces, and is considered a highly sensitive area of the mostly Palestinian city.
The pedestrian area in front of the tomb is blocked off to Palestinians, who are directed to use an alternate path which is behind a concrete barrier and small wire fence. Still, some Palestinian traffic is allowed and small children can often be seen playing nearby.
In the video, the girl is shown screaming as the policeman approached and clutched her bicycle, then put his foot on it in apparent attempt to keep her from taking it. After a few seconds she ran off crying in the direction of her six-year-old brother held a large plastic toy in his hands. The policeman walked toward them, causing the two children to run away.
There is a break in the video at that point, after which the policeman is shown throwing the bicycle into the bushes.
The Border Police said it regretted the incident, which it takes very seriously and has opened an investigation, a spokesman added.
Usually, police are only charged for criminal abuse of their power where there cause some kind of physical or other significant and lasting harm to a civilian.
As awful as the incident looked from the perspective of all observers, it appears that investigators did not think the concrete harm was enough to mount a criminal case. The children’s father, Mjoub, said that Anwar and Ibrahim had been playing outside for about a half hour when the policeman stopped them.
After the incident, Anwar came home in tears and said she was “afraid,” Mjoub said, adding that the officer “took the bicycle because the settlers and the army are afraid of all Palestinians.”
The large West Bank city of over 215,000 people is under the control of the Palestinian Authority, save for a small section where close to 1,000 Jews live under Israeli military and civilian rule. The city has often been the flashpoint for violence between Israelis and Palestinians.
Hebron has been the scene of multiple attacks by Palestinian terrorists in the last nine months, mostly against security forces. In December, Genady Kaufman, 41, of Kiryat Arba, died of wounds sustained in a Palestinian knife attack next to the Cave of the Patriarchs.
However, the incident which has drawn the most attention occurred in March, when Abdel Fatah al-Sharif, and Ramzi al-Kasrawi, both 21, attacked two soldiers in Hebron, near the Tel Rumeida neighborhood.
One IDF soldier was lightly wounded before other soldiers shot the attackers. Kasrawi was killed and Sharif was wounded and immobilized. As he lay on the ground, IDF soldier Elor Azaria shot him, for which the soldier is now standing trial.
And why are the police and settlers afraid of all Palestinians? Because many of them will try to kill them at every turn, including little kids.
Shame on th israely police.