Seeking justice for Tristan Anderson: Who watches the watchmen?
On March 13, 2009, Tristan Anderson was standing in the forecourt of the mosque in the village of Ni’lin. Anderson, an American citizen, came to Ni’lin to document the weekly protests there. The demonstration was winding down, and the Border Police were conducting their usual chase after stone throwers on a nearby hill, nicknamed “Antenna Hill.” Without any warning, a tear gas canister smashed into Anderson’s brow. He collapsed, his skull shattered. As a video taken there shows, tear gas canisters kept dropping around him. A team of the Palestinian Red Crescent tried to remove him to a hospital, but our brave troops held them for a long while at a checkpoint. After a series of long treatments in Israel, Anderson’s life was saved but he remains handicapped and suffered severe brain damage. He needs constant supervision by his parents. Everyone agrees that Anderson was not involved in any violent activity or any other provocation during the demonstration.
Three days after the incident, the Samaria and Judea (West Bank) Police District began an investigation. On September 30, 2009, the prosecution announced it had closed the case without any explanation as to why. About five months later, attorneys for the families were allowed to view and photocopy the investigation file – at which point a massive hole in the investigation was discovered.
The police did not bother interrogating the policemen who shot Anderson.
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But the police did not bother to find out what that team did; it focused on the team acting on Antenna Hill, which also wounded a civilian – a masked Palestinian – who was removed by an ambulance. The distance between Antenna Hill and the mosque forecourt is about 200 meters, well beyond the range of a normal gas canister.
According to a series of witnesses, Palestinian and international activists, of course from whom the police did not bother to take statements, the shooting of Anderson was carried out from a range of about 50 to 70 meters. The police investigators not only failed to interrogate Company Commander Mannor’s team, or the other witnesses – they refused to come and view the scene of the incident. I think that’s breaking the record of investigation negligence, a shady record already held by the very same police district.
http://972mag.com/seeking-justice-for-tristan-anderson-who-watches-the-watchmen/75464/
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