PA accuses Israel of extra-judicial killings of Palestinians
The allegation came in wake of the recent terrorist attacks in the Old City of Jerusalem and Gush Etzion.
By KHALED ABU TOAMEHSoldiers and emergency worker gather following clashes between an IDF soldier and a Palestinian who threw a rock at his head (photo credit: TPS)
The Palestinian Authority on Saturday accused Israel of carrying out “extra-judicial killings” of Palestinians.The allegation came in wake of the recent terrorist attacks in the Old City of Jerusalem and Gush Etzion.On Thursday, two Palestinian teenagers from the town of Eizariya, east of Jerusalem, were shot after they stabbed and wounded a police officer at one of the entrances to the Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif. The two were identified as 14-year-old Nassim Abu Rumi and 16-year-old Hamoudeh al-Sheikh.Abu Rumi died a short while after being shot by police officers at the scene, while Sheikh was seriously injured and taken to hospital.The PLO’s Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) distributed leaflets in Izariyya glorifying the two terrorists – a move suggesting that they were affiliated with the group.Abu Rumi’s mother, Dareen, said that her son “sacrificed himself as a martyr for the sake of al-Aqsa Mosque.”On Friday, two Israeli teenagers were seriously injured in a ramming attack near the entrance to the Gush Etzion settlement of Elazar. The victims were identified as 19-year-old Noam Navis and her 17-year-old brother, Nachum, from Gush Etzion.The terrorist, who was shot dead on the scene by a police officer who was on his way home, was identified as Ala’ Khader al-Hreimi, 27, of Bethlehem.Sources in the city said that he was an ex-security prisoner who had spent several months in Israeli prison for terrorism-related activities. Hreimi was injured in the leg during clashes with the IDF in 2006, the sources said.The sources added that one of the terrorists’ brother, Abdel Salam, was summoned for interrogation by the IDF hours after the attack. One source described the terrorist as a member of the ruling Fatah faction, while another source said he belonged to the organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Ibrahim Milhem, spokesman for the PA government, condemned what he called the “extra-judicial killings of Palestinian children and drivers on the streets.” He claimed that the three Palestinian assailants had been shot “without being arrested or interrogated.”Milhem said that “this escalation is a dangerous indication and could continue in the period leading up to the Israeli elections in mid-September.”He also condemned the US administration for “covering up on these actions, which are in violation of international laws.”
