At last minute: Halamish brothers imprisonment postponed
Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA 7 May 2008

Makor Rishon correspondent Hodaya Karish-Hazony reports in today's edition
that the Supreme Court ruled at the last minute to postpone the
incarceration of the Halamish brothers by two weeks.

The Halamish brothers were already at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem to
be jailed when the order came in.

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SUPREME COURT DENIES JEWISH SECURITY GUARDS STAY OF SENTENCE
www.israeljustice.com:80/news2.asp?key=122
Date added: 5/4/2008

JERUSALEM -- Israel's Supreme Court has denied two Jewish security guards
the right to a stay of proceedings despite a presidential plea.
On May 4, Supreme Court Judge Salim Jubran rejected an appeal by the
Halamish brothers to postpone judicial proceedings until President Shimon
Peres considers their application for a pardon and ordered them immediately
sent to jail on May 5. Jubran is the same judge who rejected their original
right to appeal the conviction.
This after the president's office advised that the brothers apply for a
stay of proceedings which is accepted legal procedure.
Dan and Yitzhak Halamish, two members of an Israel Army-sponsored unit
said they have been abandoned by the military and sentenced to jail for
protecting a Jewish community in Judea and Samaria.
The brothers, as part of their reserve military service, were members of
a security response team organized, equipped and trained by the Israeli Army
to help protect their Judean Desert community of Maalei Rehavam and
surrounding region from Arab attack.
On Feb. 21, 2004, the brothers were summoned by another security
officer, Baruch Feldbaum, to help expel Bedouins who trespassed into the
nearby Jewish community of Sdei Bar and were encamped near a student
dormitory. Bedouin tribes in the area had been deemed responsible for the
killing of several Jews in the area in previous years.
Under the direction of Feldbaum, the Halamish brothers ordered the
Bedouin squatters to leave. The Bedouins refused, and about 20 of them
approached the Jewish security officers with sticks and rocks. Feldbaum shot
toward the ground when the Bedouins continued to move closer.
The response team later said that it shot in self-defense. An army medic
who arrived at the scene determined that nobody was struck by the gunfire,
an assertion disputed by the Bedouins.
At that point, the brothers said the military abandoned its own security
team and allowed a police investigation.
Feldbaum admitted to shooting and was sentenced to nine months in
prison, but received a stay of proceedings and later was pardoned by then
President Moshe Katsav.
Although police refused to conduct ballistic tests or even a lineup of
suspects, the brothers were convicted of shooting toward the Bedouins. Dan
was sentenced to seven months in prison; Yitzhak, to eight months.
An Israeli appeals court said ballistic tests or a lineup weren't
necessary. The word of the Bedouins -- who refused to show up to police
headquarters to identify their purported assailants -- was enough.
The court also rejected a recommendation by the probation officer for
community service. The three-judge panel said it wanted the Halamish
brothers to go to jail to serve as a lesson to others.
In an earlier hearing on April 9, Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe
Ravid stayed the prison sentence but the reprieve lasted one day. On April
10, Ravid said he was not authorized to rule on the case but he asked the
prosecutor to explain why Feldbaum was pardoned and not the brothers. The
prosecutor had no explanation except to say that the circumstances were
different.