Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Official, Abbas Announces 3-Day Mourning
Local Editor

A senior Palestinian official was killed on Wednesday by the Israeli occupation forces during a protest march in the West Bank, medical and security sources told AFP.

Ziad Abu Ein, who was in charge of dealing with the issue of Israeli settlements within the Palestinian Authority, "was martyred after being beaten in the chest," said Ahmed Bitawi, the director of the Ramallah hospital.

A Palestinian security source told AFP that Israeli occupation forces beat Abu Ein with the butts of their rifles and their helmets during a protest march in the village of Turmus Ayya near Ramallah.

Image: Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein scuffles with an Israeli border policeman near the West Bank city of Ramallah

Image: Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein scuffles with an Israeli border policeman near the West Bank city of Ramallah

The Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas denounced the "barbaric" action and announced a three-day mourning.


Source: AFP	10-12-2014 - 13:24 Last updated 10-12-2014 - 13:32

Palestinian minister killed by Israeli forces in West Bank on Human Rights Day

Updated at 6:48 pm (GMT +2): A senior Palestinian Authority official died Wednesday after being beaten by Israeli forces during a protest march in the occupied West Bank, medical and security sources told AFP.

Ziad Abu Ein, 55, died after Israeli forces beat him on the chest with the butts of their rifles and their helmets in the village of Turmsayya in the Ramallah district, the director of the committee's information center, Jamil al-Barghouthi, told Ma'an.

He lost consciousness and was taken to Ramallah Public Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Ziad Abu Ein, 55, died after an Israeli soldier beat him on the chest with his helmet in the village of Turmsayya in the Ramallah district.
Photo: Ma'an news agency

According to Ma'an, Abu Ein was taking part in a tree-planting project in an area of the village threatened with confiscation. Dozens of activists were also taking part in the project.

Reactions

The Palestinian leadership has decided to end all security coordination with Israel in response to the death of a PA official on Wednesday, a senior official said.

Jibril Rajoub told press that the PA will end "all forms of security coordination with Israel for deliberately killing Minister Ziad Abu Ein."

Ein's death was condemned by Palestinian factions, with immediate calls to halt security coordination with Israeli forces, a policy already widely unpopular with Palestinians.

Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad called on the PA to halt all security coordination following news of Abu Ein's death, with Islamic Jihad leader Khalid al-Batsh saying Israel only understands the "language of force."

Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouthi said the PA official's death reflects the "barbarism and savagery of the Israeli occupation," while the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine urged the international community to take action to prove human rights organizations have any credibility.

PA Mahmoud Abbas also condemned "the brutal assault that led to the martyrdom" of Abu Ein, calling it "a barbaric act that cannot be tolerated or accepted," official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.

"We will take the necessary measures after the results of the investigation into the incident," Abbas said.

Abbas declared three official days of mourning.

Similarly, Laila Ghannam, the governor of Ramallah and el-Bireh, declared three days of official mourning, saying that "targeting a minister in cold blood is an Israeli declaration of war on human rights."

Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi also strongly condemned Abu Ein's "extrajudicial killing."

"Israel's use of excessive and indiscriminate violence constitutes war crimes under international law. Israel constantly uses extreme violence, especially against non-violent resistance, and Ziad was guilty of nothing more insidious than planting olive trees on Palestinian land that Israel was attempting to steal."

Ashrawi said the Palestinian leadership demands an independent, neutral investigation into this latest Israeli crime, calling for an end to impunity for Israeli violations.

PLO negotiator Saeb Ereka said the Israeli authorities bare full responsibility for the killing of Abu Ein.

"Our brother Ziad was killed while marking the International Human Rights day by planting olive trees to symbolize the hope for both peace and justice," Erekat said. "This a clear example of how the culture of impunity granted to Israel by the international community permits it to continue in committing crimes against the Palestinian people."

"The killing of the Minister Abu Ein is another example of Israel's vicious and arrogant actions committed against the Palestinians," he declared, adding that the international community should protect Palestinians from the crimes committed against them by "Israeli forces and extremist settlers."

Meanwhile, EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini demanded an "immediate" inquiry Wednesday into the death of Abu Ein.

"Reports of excessive use of force by Israeli Security Forces are extremely worrying: I call for an immediate, independent investigation into... Abu Ein's death," she said in a statement.

Since September 2000, following the Second Intifada, at least 9,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis, including 2,053 Palestinian children, the equivalent of one Palestinian child being killed every three days for the past 14 years.

Moreover, a PLO official said last month that more than 10,000 Palestinian minors in the occupied West Bank and annexed Jerusalem have been held by the Israeli army for varying periods since 2000,

According to a 2013 report by the UN's Children's Fund, Israel is the only country in the world where children are systematically tried in military courts and subjected to "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment."

Over the past decade, Israeli forces have arrested, interrogated, and prosecuted around 7,000 children between 12 and 17, some as young as nine, at a rate of "an average of two children each day," UNICEF said.

Over 7,000 Palestinians are currently languishing in 17 Israeli prisons and detention camps, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs.

Among Palestinian prisoners behind Israeli bars, there are 18 women, 250 children, 1,500 sick detainees, who are mostly in a critical condition, and 540 Palestinians held under administrative detention without any trial.

(AFP, Reuters, Ma'an, Al-Akhbar)