Anger as Israel kills Palestine teen in error
Print Edition
ISRAELI troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager and wounded four others as they returned from a swimming pool yesterday after apparently mistaking them for stone-throwers, sparking anger and drawing renewed attention to open fire rules.
Palestinian officials harshly condemned the shooting, saying the 15-year-old was “murdered” while travelling in a car with two brothers and two other teenagers in the occupied West Bank.
Circumstances surrounding the incident were unclear and the Israeli army was investigating, but the military admitted that it appeared those shot were “uninvolved bystanders.”
The army said the overnight shooting followed stone-throwing at cars along a road that cuts through the West Bank for several miles on its way from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.
Israeli media reported two foreigners and one Israeli were wounded by stone-throwing. The stone-throwers were also said to have hurled firebombs at passing cars and poured oil on the road. In response Israeli soldiers opened fire on what they believed to be suspects, the army said, killing 15-year-old Mahmoud Rafat Badran and wounding the four others.
Two people were arrested, the military said.
The Israeli army initially released a statement saying that troops shot two people “after a number of Palestinians hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at moving vehicles near the village of Beit Sira on route 443.”
“An initial review suggests that as the mob continued, nearby forces acted in order to protect the additional passing vehicles from immediate danger and fired towards the assailants,” the statement said.
“Forces confirmed hits resulting in the death of one of the attackers.”
Later, the army revised its account, saying that “from initial inquiry, it appears uninvolved bystanders were mistakenly hit during the pursuit,” a spokeswoman said.
During the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, residents often go out and socialize late into the night following the end of the daytime fast.
Palestine Liberation Organization secretary general Saeb Erekat condemned the shooting in a statement that said the teenagers were returning “from a visit to the only nearby swimming pool.”
Erekat said Badran had been “murdered” and called it a “cold-blooded assassination.”
Israel’s response to Palestinian stone-throwers has been the subject of debate, with rightwing politicians calling for looser open-fire rules and human rights groups warning of the dangers of such policies.
In September, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed “war” on stone-throwers with tougher penalties and new rules for security forces on when to open fire.
Lawmakers later voted to impose a minimum three-year jail sentence on stone-throwers.
Netanyahu made the comments after a 64-year-old Israeli died in an accident authorities said was caused by Palestinian stone-throwing. The incident preceded a wave of Palestinian unrest that began in October and which has included knife, gun and car-ramming attacks.
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