Rights and Accountability 9 November 2020
Israeli forces stand by the Huwwara military checkpoint near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus after the Israeli army killed a Palestinian man, on 4 November.
APA imagesIsraeli occupation forces shot a Palestinian man on Sunday at the entrance to al-Fawwar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Hebron.
The Israeli army alleged that Ali Suleiman Amro, 40, was attempting a stabbing attack when they opened fire.
No Israeli soldiers were injured during the incident, as in many previous cases in which an alleged Palestinian attacker was shot.
The army said that Amro was hospitalized, but Israeli media reported his condition was unknown.
Palestinian witnesses filmed the shooting from their vehicle:
Amro can be seen surrounded by at least three soldiers when two gunshots are heard.Palestinian media said Amro was a high school teacher in the city of Dura near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
This is the second incident of Israeli soldiers shooting at Palestinians this month while alleging an attack.
The previous one was fatal.
PA captain killed
Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian man on Wednesday near the Huwwara military checkpoint – the main point of entry and exit to the West Bank city of Nablus.
The man was identified as Bilal Adnan Rawajba, 29. He was a legal adviser with the rank of captain in the Palestinian Authority security forces.
The Israeli army claimed Rawajba had opened fire on Israeli forces “as he drove out of the city.”
The army said soldiers “neutralized” him.
Rawajba’s family reportedly said he was heading to work in the northern West Bank town of Tubas.
Palestinians in a nearby vehicle filmed the shooting. The video circulated on social media shows an Israeli soldier shooting Rawajba’s car at close range multiple times:
Surveillance footage circulated by local media shows a white car approaching a military post where two soldiers are standing. The soldiers initially run away from the vehicle: Dust possibly from a bullet strike appears to rise from a concrete barrier. In neither video is Rawajba or any weapon he may have been carrying visible.Local media also circulated a graphic picture showing Rawajba killed inside his car.
No Israeli soldiers were injured during the incident.
“Security coordination”
The Palestine Liberation Organization held Israel “fully responsible” for what it called the “extrajudicial execution” of Rawajba in a tweet on Wednesday.
The PLO also accused Israel of “preventing ambulance crews from reaching him, leaving him to bleed to death.”
“We call upon the International Criminal Court to expedite its investigations,” it added.The Palestinian Authority suspended its “civil” and “security” coordination with Israel in May to protest Israel’s plans to annex large swaths of the occupied West Bank.
This has affected Palestinian patients seeking medical treatment outside Gaza, who rely on the PA’s coordination with the Israeli military to get permits.
The PA has also been refusing to accept tax revenues Israel collects from Palestinians on behalf of the PA. This is to protest Israel’s subtraction of money equivalent to the amounts the PA pays to the families of Palestinian prisoners.
This has affected PA officers like Rawajba who are only receiving half of their salaries as a result of the dispute.
The Tel Aviv daily Haaretz said the suspension of coordination has “harmed the Palestinian security apparatus more than it has provided leverage on Israel.”
Palestinian resistance and political factions Hamas and Islamic Jihad both condemned Rawajba’s killing.
The leftist political party the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called Rawajba’s killing inside his car “another Zionist war crime to be added to the record of crimes against our people.”
Tags
- Ali Suleiman Amro
- Bilal Adnan Rawajba
- Palestinian Authority
- Palestine Liberation Organization
- security coordination
