26 February 2008: Suspended prison sentence and payment of compensation for assault at checkpoint

On 14 February 2008, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court sentenced two Border Police officers to a four months’ suspended prison term and payment of NIS 20,000 compensation for assault causing actual bodily harm and for making threats. The incident took place on February 2005 at the Container checkpoint, in the Bethlehem area, where the two were serving.

Around 7:00, the taxi driver ‘Imad Shalaldah arrived at the checkpoint. He was on his way to Hebron and had four passengers in his taxi. More than twenty vehicles were in line at the checkpoint, which was staffed by Border Police officers. After waiting about half an hour, Shalaldah noticed one of the Border Police officers motioning to another driver to move up, and that the driver didn’t see it. Shalaldah honked his horn to get the driver to pay attention. In response to the honk, a Border Police officer went over to Shalaldah and hit him in the face.  The blow injured him in the face and broke one of his teeth. Then another Border Policeman assaulted him as well. A third policeman stood on the side and watched the incident. One of the policemen also threatened that, “he would break his face when he came to the checkpoint in the future.”

The policemen detained Shalaldah and his passengers at the checkpoint for a few hours. During that time, Shalaldah telephoned an activist from MachsomWatch, who testified at the trial of the policemen. Shalaldah was treated at Aliyah Hospital, in Hebron. That same day, he went to the Qiryat Arba Police Station and filed a complaint.

B'Tselem wrote to the Department for the Investigation of Police and demanded an investigation. On 4 December 2005, DIP informed B'Tselem that it decided to file indictments against the two assailant police officers. On 14 May 2007, the policemen were convicted by Judge Haim Li-Ran, who stated in his opinion that, “the defendants’ behavior was shocking” and “an act of violence by a police officer . . . entails not only physical pain, but also, and primarily, profound degradation, which leaves a negative impression of the treatment given by public officials, and the state as an entity, to the victim.”

B'Tselem notes with concern the frequency of acts of violence by security forces at checkpoints. In 2007 alone, B'Tselem reported to the authorities about eighty-three cases of attacks on Palestinians by security forces at checkpoints. This figure includes only a small portion of the assaults as to which the organization took testimonies.

Despite the large number of cases of violence and their great severity, only a few cases end up in court. The Shalaldah case is the exception. In the vast majority of cases, no meaningful investigation is conducted, and it's all the more certain that the authorities fail to bring the assailants to justice.