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Photo:
Illustrative scene. File. Published by Maan News
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HEBRON (Ma’an) --
JUNE 2, 2018 3:28 P.M.

Israeli soldiers on Saturday briefly detained a local activist who filmed the fatal shooting of a Palestinian worker earlier in the morning in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron. 

Locals told Ma’an that Israeli forces detained Aaref Jaber, who filmed the moment when Israeli forces shot and killed Rami Sabarneh, 36, was detained by Israeli forces and taken into the Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron. 

Official Palestinian Authority (PA)-owned Wafa news agency reported that Israeli forces confiscated Jaber’s phone. 

The Israeli army alleged that Sabarneh, who worked in construction in the area, attempted to run soldiers over with a bulldozer. However, no injuries were reported among the soldiers. 

Jaber denied the Israeli army’s account, saying that “Sabarneh was driving a Bobcat excavator while another worker walked next to him, Israeli soldiers asked them to stop when he was at least 10 meters away from them, the walking worker stopped, but Sabarneh apparently did not hear the soldiers and continued his way so they opened fire at him until he was killed.” 

Last week, Israeli lawmakers proposed a new bill in the Israeli Knesset that would criminalize the photographing or recording of Israeli soldiers while on duty.

The bill was proposed with the support of right-wing Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and if passed, those found in violation of the law could face a prison sentence of up to five years.