Description

Jalazun refugee camp near Ramallah. Photo by Ana Kaplan

Wajih Wajdi al-Ramahi(MaanImages)

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UPDATE Jan 6, 2013

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities have provided no evidence that a Palestinian teenager fatally shot in the back in December by Israeli forces posed "any threat to life that would justify such a killing," Human Rights Watch said Sunday.

Wajih Wajdi al-Ramahi, 15, was shot with live bullets in the back by an Israeli sniper in front of his school on Dec. 7 in al-Jalazun refugee camp near Ramallah.

Locals told Ma'an that the area where al-Ramahi was shot had no clashes or any kind of rock-throwing incidents that might have provoked the killing.

HRW said that some Palestinian youths had been throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, but they were over 200 meters away and not at risk of being hit.

"Twice this year, Israeli soldiers hiding near schools, apparently to make arrests, have killed children who posed no apparent threat," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

"If the past is any guide, these boys’ families can look forward to a prolonged, opaque, and fruitless process that does not hold perpetrators to account or deliver justice."

In January 2013, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager during clashes in Budrus near Ramallah.

Samir Ahmad Abdul-Rahim, 17, sustained four bullet wounds to his head, chest and leg and died shortly after arriving at the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah.

Israel's military has said it is investigating both incidents, but Israel has indicted only 16 security officials for unlawfully killing Palestinians since 2000, with only six actually being convicted.

The longest jail sentence imposed was seven months, according to rights group Yesh Din.

Israel killed 27 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in 2013, making it the deadliest year for Palestinian fatalities since 2008.

By contrast, in 2012 Israeli security forces killed eight Palestinians in the West Bank and 246 in the Gaza Strip, including at least 167 in its November war on the coastal territory.



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By Mya Guarnieri for 972Mag
|Published December 7, 2013

Witnesses, Israeli army offer contradictory stories about whether clashes were taking place, but neither suggest the boy took part in any violence. The teen, Wajih Wajdi al-Ramahi, is pronounced dead at a Ramallah hospital.

Israeli forces reportedly shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy as he stood outside of a school in the al-Jalazoun refugee camp Saturday afternoon.

Residents of the camp, which is located in between Ramallah and the Israeli settlement of Beit El, told Maan news agency that Wajih Wajdi al-Ramahi was standing outside of the camp’s school when he was shot in the back with live ammunition.

According to AFP, al-Ramahi was the 26th Palestinian to be killed by the Israeli army since the start of 2013.

An unnamed Israeli army source told Israeli news site Walla that “a unit from the Givati Brigade was operating in the camp in order to locate stone throwers. During the course of their operations, a violent incident developed while soldiers were attempting to arrest a suspect. They shot in the air and for an unknown reason the youth was shot.”

However, residents of al Jazaloun told Maan that there were no clashes or violence that “might have provoked the killing.”

On Twitter, Palestinian journalist and activist Linah Alsaafin remarked: “People stressing how there were no clashes/rock throwing going on, but even if there was so what? Not an excuse for murdering a child!”

While Maan and Walla both report that al Ramahi was 14, AFP and activists on Twitter put the boy’s age at 15. Others said he was 13.

Palestinians from the camp immediately began protesting.

A local journalist told +972 that al Jazaloun residents began to protest in Ramallah’s city center and asked storekeepers to close their shops. The protest was stopped when Palestinian Authority police forces arrived and ordered the refugees from al Jazaloun to go back to the camp; stores remained closed in Ramallah’s city center.

Palestinian authorities said they would conduct an autopsy Sunday morning, Ynet reported (Hebrew).

On Friday, Israeli forces shot two Palestinians in Bethlehem near the separation barrier at Aida refugee camp.
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RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in al-Jalazun refugee camp near Ramallah on Saturday.

Wajih Wajdi al-Ramahi, 14, was shot with live bullets in the back by an Israeli sniper in front of his school.

Al-Ramahi was taken to the hospital, and placed in the ICU until he died.

Locals told Ma'an that the area where al-Ramahi was shot had no clashes or any kind of rock-throwing incidents that might have provoked the killing.

The teenager father's said Israeli soldiers target youths and kill them, in order to amuse themselves.

He added that his son was shot by an Israeli soldier from a watchtower in Bet El with one bullet while he was walking near a school in the camp. He was hit directly in the back, and there was no clashes in the area, he added.

Al-Ramahi family said that their son was "executed" and "assassinated in cold blood," because he was shot in the middle of the day in the camp.

An Israeli spokeswoman said that they had opened an investigation into the matter, but had no further details.

More than 30 Palestinians have been killed so far in 2013 by Israeli forces.

Amnesty International's 2013 report on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories highlighted the lack of accountability for Israeli soldiers' crimes against Palestinian civilians, pointing out that, "The authorities again failed to independently investigate killings of Palestinian civilians by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza or to prosecute those responsible."

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.

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Palestinians say teen killed by Israeli army in West Bank

Military says it's investigating report, confirms troops were in area at the time.

By Jack Khoury and Gili Cohen for Haaretz
| Dec. 7, 2013 | 11:00 PM


A 14-year-old Palestinian boy was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers on Saturday, Palestinian sources said.

Eyewitnesses said the boy, Wajih Wajdi al-Ramahi, was shot in the back by an Israel Defense Forces sniper near a school in the Jalazun refugee camp, north of Ramallah. He was taken to a hospital in Ramallah, where he was pronounced dead.

The IDF Spokesman’s Office said the army has received the report of the boy’s death and is looking into the incident.

The witnesses said no clashes preceded the shooting, nor have any arrests been reported in the area. But the IDF confirmed that it was conducting an operation near Jalazun at the time of the reported shooting.

The boy’s father, Wajdi al-Ramahi, told the Palestinian news agency Ma’an that a soldier in a watchtower near the settlement of Beit El shot his son “as if he were a bird” while the boy was out walking.

“The soldiers wanted to pass the time and shot at him,” Ramahi said. “They always shoot at the young people. This was cold-blooded murder.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the shooting. “This was a cold-blooded assassination perpetrated by the occupation regime,” he said in a statement. “The Government of Israel bears responsibility for this organized terror against innocent children ... This policy is destructive for the peace process.”

A week ago, a 24-year-old Palestinian was killed by a Border Police volunteer near the entrance to Petah Tikva’s Yarkon Cemetery during an operation to arrest Palestinians who were in Israel illegally. The volunteer initially claimed the Palestinian had attacked him with a sharp object, but later changed his story, saying there was no sharp object, but he had nevertheless been attacked.