In the Line of Fire

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Maybe it's stupid to do something like this and throw myself in so deep — as deep as I can," Tom Hurndall wrote in his diary on April 5. "But it's something I want to do. It isn't so much fear that I'm feeling now as a deep sense that things won't turn out so well this time." The next day, the 21-year-old British peace activist left Jerusalem for the Gaza Strip to act as a human shield to protect Palestinians from the Israeli army. And his premonition came true. On April 11, the unarmed Briton was shot in the head, allegedly by an Israeli soldier, as he shepherded Palestinian children from an area under Israeli fire in Rafah. Today, the photojournalism student from London lies in a coma in Soroka Hospital in Beersheba. "The brain damage is so severe he is now in a vegetative state," says Gabriel Gurman, who treated Hurndall on arrival at Soroka. "I don't think he will ever be conscious again."

Though death is common in Gaza, Hurndall's shooting — and the killings of at least three other foreigners in recent months, allegedly at the hands of the Israeli military — continues to generate controversy. Last week, the British government asked the Israeli military police to increase scrutiny of the army's actions in both Hurndall's shooting and the death of James Miller, a British cameraman shot while filming in Gaza.

The Israeli army is still investigating whether one of its snipers shot Hurndall. But if so, why? An initial army statement said its soldiers identified "a man in his twenties, wearing camouflage uniform and holding a weapon," and fired only after they were fired upon. When pressed by Time, an Israeli military official claimed the army never meant to accuse Hurndall of brandishing a gun. "Either [the soldiers] shot at him instead of the gunman, or missed the gunman and hit him," the official said.

But eyewitnesses claim otherwise. Londoner Raphael Cohen, 37, who went with Hurndall to Rafah, says he was among a group of peace activists heading for the front line, intending to pitch a tent. As they were en route, Israeli gunfire began hitting a narrow passage where children were playing. Hurndall, wearing the fluorescent orange vest of a noncombatant, twice went to help the children, the second time to bring a little girl out. "As he was turning to do that, he got hit in the head," says Cohen, who claims there were no shots from the Palestinian side. "If there had been resistance fire, we would not have been there. We don't get involved in crossfire."

Hurndall's parents — Anthony, a lawyer, and Jocelyn, head of a learning-support unit — flew to Israel right after the shooting. They are often at the hospital, sitting by the bedside of their eldest son, who first left Britain in February, intending to protect Iraqis against U.S. attack. "We remain open-minded" about how he was wounded, says Anthony Hurndall. But he and his wife are disappointed by the Israeli military's reaction. "We want to meet the Israeli army, not to point fingers, but to find out what happened. We have given them every opportunity, but they have refused outright to meet at all."

Hurndall went to Rafah with the International Solidarity Movement (I.S.M.), which the Israeli government says has been linked to two British suicide bombers who mounted an attack in Tel Aviv on April 30. The organization denies any connection to the men. Last week, the Israeli army began insisting that foreigners entering the Gaza Strip declare they are not peace activists and sign waivers absolving the army of responsibility if they get shot. It also raided I.S.M.'s offices in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem. "They are trying to stop the I.S.M. doing its work in Palestine," says spokesman Ghassan Andoni. "They have shot us and now they want to arrest the internationals and deport them." Israeli officials have drafted a plan to bar foreign activists from the West Bank and Gaza, and deport those in the country.

Hurndall's case has also drawn attention to a perceived double standard. "When Israelis shoot Palestinians, no one notices any more," says George Rishmawi, who co-founded the I.S.M. "But if a foreigner is injured or killed, suddenly the world takes notice." When U.S. activist Rachel Corrie was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in March, the incident received widespread coverage, even in Israel. But the 172 Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers since then have received far less. Such arguments don't count for much with most Israelis. "I regard Tom as a victim of Palestinian terrorism," says Gurman. "He was misled into thinking he could do a good thing by going to Gaza and helping the people there, but all he did was perpetuate Palestinian terrorism."