Israeli Troops Kill Unarmed Palestinian

Farm laborer was reportedly carrying a glass bottle
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 3, 2011 11:13 AM CST
Israeli Troops Kill Unarmed Palestinian
Palestinian relatives of Ahmed Maslamani mourn during his funeral in the West Bank town of Tubas near Jenin, Sunday, Jan. 2, 2011.   (AP Photo/Mohammed Ballas)

Tensions in the West Bank came to a head yesterday, when an unarmed Palestinian man was shot at an Israeli checkpoint. The Israeli military says Ahmad Maslamani, a 24-year-old farm laborer, was holding a glass bottle and ignored orders to stop, and that soldiers followed the rules of engagement when they fired at him. One Palestinian witness, however, claims the man simply turned the wrong way as he exited the metal detector to leave the checkpoint area.

"A female soldier starting screaming, and soldiers, one behind her and another near a concrete barrier, opened fire from about five meters away," he tells the Washington Post, adding that Maslamani was empty-handed. Another witness, however, says he heard Maslamani say that he had a bottle of water. A female Israeli soldier then “screamed, 'Bottle!,' in Hebrew, and then I heard gunfire,” he says. The army says the incident is under investigation.
(More Arab Israeli conflict stories.)

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