A PALESTINIAN was shot dead by Israeli troops yesterday at a West Bank checkpoint.
According to Israeli military sources soldiers opened fire after the 21-year-old refused orders to halt, and tried to attack them with a broken glass bottle. But a preliminary military investigation raised questions over whether the soldiers were justified in opening fire.
Palestinian eyewitnesses at the checkpoint, south of Nablus, said the man was carrying a soft drink bottle and did not act in a suspicious manner when a woman soldier shouted at him, prompting other soldiers to open fire.
On Saturday a 36-year-old Palestinian woman protesting against Israel’s West Bank security wall was killed after inhaling tear gas fired by soldiers.
Jawaher Abu Rahmah was taking part in the weekly protest against the wall at the Palestinian village of Bil’in, which has had land confiscated by the Israeli authorities along the site of the security barrier. Dr Mohammed Eideh, who treated Ms Abu Rahmeh in Ramallah, said she died of “respiratory failure and then cardiac arrest” caused by tear gas inhalation.
Relatives of the woman refused a request from the Israeli authorities to examine the medical report into her death. Her brother, Bassem, was killed in 2009 after a tear gas canister struck him in the chest during a similar protest at Bil’in.
Hundreds of mourners attended the victim’s funeral, and there was also a large protest outside the defence ministry in Tel Aviv by Israeli activists protesting against the killing. Israeli police arrested 11 activists who took part in a separate protest outside the home of US ambassador James Cunningham, north of Tel Aviv, after an empty gas canister and a chain were thrown towards his home.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned Mr Jawaher’s death, calling it a “new Israeli crime carried out by the occupation army against our helpless nation”. He also said that Israel and the Palestinians could reach a deal within two months, if Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu was willing to take a new approach in the peace process.
Mr Netanyahu said he was willing to meet the Palestinian leader for direct negotiations until the two sides reached a peace agreement.
“If Abu Mazen [Abbas] agrees to my offer to meet directly on core and significant issues, we’ll know very quickly if it is possible to reach an agreement,” he said.