Israel Troops Kill Palestinian Teen in West Bank

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Israeli soldiers shot dead a 19-year-old Palestinian in the West Bank on Wednesday, with the army alleging he had opened fire at them although witnesses insisted he was unarmed.

The incident, which occurred just past the Ofra settlement, north of Ramallah, was the first time this year that a Palestinian has been killed by troops in the West Bank.

Palestinian medical and security sources identified the victim as Mohammad Mubarak, 19, from Jalazun refugee camp and said he was working as a laborer on the road connecting Ramallah and Nablus, as part of a USAID-funded project.

His father is locally-elected leader of the Jalazun camp, they said.

The Israeli army said a "terrorist" had opened fire at a military post near Ofra, and troops had returned fire, hitting him.

The military also distributed pictures of the weapon he had allegedly used.

But eyewitnesses told Agence France Presse that Mubarak was not armed, and he had been harassed by soldiers who made him lift up his shirt to ensure he was not carrying explosives.

Palestinian housing and public works minister Maher Ghneim condemned what he described as a "cold-blooded killing" of a laborer who was working on a project run by the ministry in coordination with USAID.

Ghneim also lashed out at Israel's attempts to "distort the story" by saying Mubarak had opened fire on troops, claiming the youth had been "carrying a sign to direct the traffic" when he was shot.

He called for an independent inquiry into the shooting by international rights groups.

Mubarak was buried at Jalazun camp in the afternoon, his body wrapped in a white flag, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

A total of 27 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank in 2013, three times the figure from the previous year, figures from Israeli rights watchdog B'Tselem showed.

Comments 12
Thumb _mowaten_ 29 January 2014, 13:02

over 60 years of that, yet saudis and qataris still havent sent weapons and fighters to save palestinians... must be because the zionist oppression is very democratic, and we know how much abdul loves democracy.

Missing phillipo 29 January 2014, 13:05

So, even though AFP states specifically that it was the Palestinian who opened fire first, you feel that the Israeli troops should just stand then and get hit/killed without retaliating. Great thinking. Show me any army in the world that wouldn't shoot back.

Thumb _mowaten_ 29 January 2014, 13:08

palestinians have the right to defend themselves. the conditions which israelis have forced upon them through military brutality, the arbitrary arrests, tortures, killings, starvations, humiliations, economic strangulation, land theft etc.. are plainly inhumane, sadistic and evil. palestinians have the right to fight back.

Thumb _mowaten_ 29 January 2014, 13:10

israeli troops, like israeli settlers should just get the heck back to where they came from. i dont care if it's poland, russia or the US.
half a century ago i would have given it a second thought, but today i have no doubt each and every israeli should be thrown in the sea.

Missing phillipo 29 January 2014, 17:33

Mowaten - when you tell people to go back to where they came from remember just three small points
1. - Yasser Arafat was born in Egypt NOT in Palestine.
2. - 95% of the so-called Palestinian "refugees" in Lebanon were born in Lebanon, so there is no point in claiming that they should go back to Palestine, because that is not "where they came from".
3. - Over 70% of Israelis were born in what you call Palestine so where exactly do they have to go back to?

Thumb _mowaten_ 29 January 2014, 18:34

bollocks. 99% of the palestinians that zionist settlers expelled in blood violence and terror were born in palestine, as their fathers and forefathers. you didnt care where they would go did you?
same thing here, when we expel you we'll let you sort it out.

Missing phillipo 29 January 2014, 14:22

I have no alternative as this is the only Press Agency that Naharnet uses. So don't blame me, blame them.

Thumb _mowaten_ 29 January 2014, 13:13

according to the murderous israeli scums in uniform.

Missing yarden 29 January 2014, 13:13

Sounds so innocent, but the teen in this case just happened to empty a cartridge prior to being shot...

Thumb _mowaten_ 29 January 2014, 13:14

the same who think "confirming the kill" by emptying their rifles into a terrified schoolgirl is perfectly normal. aka the "most moral army" from hell.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/nov/16/israel2

Missing yarden 29 January 2014, 14:21

There is no shortage of stories about Israeli ruthlessness or inhumane treatment of innocent civilians, teens and pre-teens being shot and killed.
But when you take a clear cut story of a gunman opening fire and being killed, and give it a headline as has been given here, it's just plain bad journalism, and has absolutely nothing to do with Rachel Corrie, or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for that matter...

Thumb _mowaten_ 29 January 2014, 14:38

poor israel being victimized eh? here's a tissue.