Description

A Palestinian youth looks at Israeli troops during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron Nov. 21 2012. Photo by Reuters

Muhammad Ziad Awad Salaymah, a 17-year-old Palestinian shot to death at an army checkpoint in Hebron on December 12th. Holding his birthday cake at school the morning of his death. Photo from +972

VIDEO showing the minutes after Muhammad was shot was taken by a B’Tselem volunteer.


HEBRON (Ma'an) -- An Israeli border guard officer on Wednesday shot dead a Palestinian teenager in Hebron's Old City in the southern West Bank.

Locals identified the victim as 16-year-old Muhammad Ziad Awad Salaymah.

A local doctor, hearing shots fired, rushed to the Salaymah neighborhood, near the Ibrahimi Mosque, but was unable to revive the teenager.

The doctor told Ma'an that local women were arguing with Israeli forces who were preventing them from reaching Salaymah.

"I followed the women, and when I felt his pulse, I found that he was dead," the doctor said.

Israeli police said the victim appeared to be carrying a fake pistol.

"Initial findings are that he had a fake pistol that he pointed at the officers at the time of the incident," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma'an.

He said the shooting was under investigation, but initial indications were that Salaymah pointed the object at border police who "responded by firing a number of shots at the Palestinian who was critically injured and pronounced dead at a hospital in Hebron a short while after."

Palestinian medics said the body had not been transferred to hospital late Wednesday.

The shooting led to angry confrontations between residents and Israeli soldiers, who deployed to the area in large numbers firing tear gas and stun grenades.

Salaymah's brother was detained and his father was hospitalized with moderate injuries, witnesses told Ma'an.

Two other Palestinians have been killed in Hebron in clashes with Israelis in the past month.

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Dr. Barghouthi: “Army’s Use of Live Ammunition, Implementation of Israeli Government Policy”

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, stated that the Israeli army’s invasion of the West Bank village of Ni’lin, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and the use of live ammunition against the civilians, is a direct implementation of statements made by senior Israeli government officials.

Dr. Barghouthi’s statements came after Israeli soldiers invaded, on Tuesday at night, Ni’lin village, and shot two residents identified as Mohammad Hazem Khawaja, 18, and Khalil Srour, 18. Khawaja was shot, by a rubber-coated metal bullet to the head, while Srour was shot with a live round in the leg.

The Palestinian official said that the latest violation is a direct implementation of statements made by the Israeli Interior Minister, Elie Yishai, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, and Kadima Party head, Shaul Mofaz, who called on the Israeli army to use live ammunition in countering Palestinian protesters holing nonviolent protests against the Annexation Wall and settlement in the West Bank.

The Israeli officials said that the army should respond more firmly to the ongoing nonviolent and popular protests, also attended by Israeli and international peace activists.

Visiting the wounded at the Palestine Medical Compound in Ramallah, Dr. Barghouthi said that what happened in Ni’lin is an implementation of an illegitimate Israeli policy that legitimizes crimes against unarmed Palestinians.

He also said that the excessive use of force carried out by the army, and Israel’s ongoing assaults and violations against the Palestinians, their lands and property, will never deter the Palestinians from remaining determined to continue their nonviolent popular struggle against this brutal occupation, Israel’s Apartheid Wall, and Israel’s illegal settlements.

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IDF soldiers assault two Reuters cameramen in Hebron

Soldiers forced the cameramen to leave their vehicle, punched them, striking them with the butts of their guns, as well as forcing them to strip.

By Reuters

Israeli soldiers punched two Reuters cameramen and forced them to strip in the street, before letting off a tear gas canister in front of them, leaving one of them needing hospital treatment.

Israel's military said on Thursday it took the allegations seriously, but offered no explanation for the assault that occurred on Wednesday evening in the heart of Hebron.

"The regional brigade commander was ordered to open an investigation," Israeli Defense Forces spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said in an email. No further information will be provided until the investigation is complete.

Yousri Al Jamal and Ma'amoun Wazwaz said a foot patrol stopped them as they were driving to a nearby checkpoint where a Palestinian teenager had just been shot dead by an Israeli border guard.

Their car was clearly marked 'TV' and they were both wearing blue flak jackets with 'Press' emblazoned on the front.

The soldiers forced them to leave the vehicle and punched them, striking them with the butts of their guns. They accused them of working for an Israeli NGO, B'Tselem, which documents human rights violations in the occupied West Bank, the Reuters cameramen said.

Locals say B'Tselem has given a number of Palestinians video cameras so they can film soldiers and settlers who live in this divided city. The NGO was not immediately available for comment.

The soldiers did not let the men produce their official ID papers and forced them to strip down to their underwear, making them kneel on the road with their hands behind their heads, the cameramen said.

Two other Palestinian journalists working for local news organizations, including a satellite television station affiliated to the Islamist group Hamas, were also stopped and forced to the ground.

One of the soldiers then dropped a tear gas canister between the men and the IDF patrol ran away. The four journalists scrambled clear and Jamal and Wazwaz got to their car, which had rapidly filled up with tear gas, they said.

They tried to drive away, but said they only got around 200 metres before they had to stop and exit the vehicle because of the choking gas. The soldiers then fired more tear gas in their direction.

Wazwaz was overcome by the fumes and was taken to hospital by ambulance. He was released later the same night.

The Israeli soldiers took two gas masks and a video camera from their car. The undamaged camera was later found abandoned further up the road.

"We deplore the mistreatment of our journalists and have registered our extreme dismay with the Israeli military authorities," said Stephen J. Adler, editor-in-chief of Reuters News.

Tensions have been running particularly high in Hebron in the past week following repeated clashes between stone-throwing youths and soldiers.

Muhammad Salameh, 17, was shot dead close to his house in the heart of Hebron on Wednesday evening after an altercation with border guards at a nearby checkpoint. Israeli police said he had brandished a gun, which later proved to be a toy gun.

Some 800 Jewish settlers live among 30,000 Palestinians in the parts of the old city that are under Israeli control.

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