Israeli Troops Kill Unarmed Palestinian

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.)