Israel, January 02: Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian man near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, in yet another flare up of violence in the volatile region.
The victim, identified as Mohamed Daraghme, was killed at the Hamra checkpoint early Sunday, the Palestinian Red Crescent told AFP.
The 21-year-old was gunned down after Israeli soldiers refused to let him pass through the checkpoint, prompting a quarrel.
Daraghme was reportedly unarmed. He was killed almost instantly.
The checkpoint was closed temporarily after the incident.
The killing comes two days after a Palestinian woman named Jawaher Abu Rahma was fatally tear-gassed during a protest in the city of Ramallah.
The demonstrators were calling for the removal of Israel’s separation wall in the West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority has condemned the killing as a “war crime.” Her family lawyer has also accused the Israeli military of covering up the case.
Israeli soldiers have been using the prohibited deadly teargas canisters against Palestinian protesters in recent weeks.
The Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign’s most recent map of the Wall’s path, finalized in November 2003, reveals that when completed in its entirety, nearly 50 percent of the West Bank population will be affected by it through loss of land, imprisonment into ghettos, or isolation into de facto Israeli annexed areas.
Tel Aviv began constructing the wall in 2000. The International Court of Justice says the wall is illegal and should be taken down.
—Agencies