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Palestinian Official Dies During Demonstration in West Bank Palestinian Official Dies During Demonstration in West Bank
(about 3 hours later)
JERUSALEM — A prominent Palestinian official from President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party died on Wednesday after being struck and shoved by an Israeli border police officer and inhaling tear gas during a demonstration in a West Bank village, witnesses said. JERUSALEM — A prominent Palestinian official with the Fatah party died on Wednesday after inhaling tear gas and being shoved and struck in the chest by a member of the Israeli security forces during a demonstration in a West Bank village, witnesses said.
The event immediately raised tensions between Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority and led to calls for a halt in security coordination between the two sides from Hamas and other opponents of the policy, which is unpopular with many Palestinians. The Israeli military said it was reviewing the circumstances leading up to the death of the official, Ziad Abu Ein, 55, who held the rank of minister in the Palestinian Authority although he was not formally a member of the cabinet.
The Israeli military said it was reviewing the circumstances leading up to the death of the official, Ziad Abu Ein, 55, whose body was being transferred from a hospital in Ramallah for an autopsy at a Palestinian forensics institute. The event threatened to grow into a crisis between Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority amid calls for a halt in security coordination between the two sides from some Palestinian Authority officials, Hamas and other opponents of the policy, which is unpopular with many Palestinians. In the absence of peace talks, security coordination has been the foundation of relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Mr. Abbas described Mr. Abu Ein as the victim of a “barbaric act” and called for three days of mourning. In an apparent effort to calm the atmosphere, Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed that an Israeli pathologist would join a delegation of pathologists from Jordan for an examination of the circumstances of Mr. Abu Ein’s death, the Israeli military said. Israel also proposed establishing a joint Israeli-Palestinian investigation into the event.
“We will take the necessary measures after the results of the investigation into the martyrdom of the freedom fighter Abu Ein are known,” Mr. Abbas added, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency. Mr. Abu Ein’s body was being transferred from a hospital in Ramallah for an autopsy at a Palestinian forensics institute.
Mr. Abu Ein was a member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, the party’s parliament, and was in charge of the portfolio for the struggle against the Israeli West Bank barrier and the settlements, a role equivalent to the rank of a minister in the Palestinian government, according to Palestinian officials. President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority described Mr. Abu Ein as the victim of a “barbaric act” and called for three days of mourning.
Dr. Sameer Saliba of the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah said that Mr. Abu Ein had arrived in an ambulance with no signs of life. He could not immediately specify the cause of death. “We will take the necessary measures after the results of the investigation into the martyrdom of the freedom fighter Abu Ein are known,” Mr. Abbas added, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency. A meeting of the Palestinian leadership was called for Wednesday night.
The United Nations special coordinator in the region, Robert Serry, issued a statement calling for “a prompt, thorough and transparent investigation” and appealed for calm. In the hours after the protest clashes broke out at the entrance of Turmus Aya between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces.
Mr. Abu Ein was a member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, the party’s parliament, and was in charge of the portfolio for the struggle against the Israeli West Bank barrier and the settlements, a role equivalent to the rank of a minister in the Palestinian Authority government, according to Palestinian officials.
Dr. Sameer Saliba of the Palestine Medical Complex in Ramallah said that Mr. Abu Ein was dead by the time he arrived there in an ambulance. He could not immediately specify the cause of death.
Mr. Abu Ein’s family said he had diabetes and high blood pressure, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.Mr. Abu Ein’s family said he had diabetes and high blood pressure, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
A video posted online by Russia Today showed Mr. Abu Ein on the ground, leaning on a rock and looking unwell while some Palestinian civilians assisted him and Israeli security forces held back a small crowd of demonstrators holding Palestinian flags in what looked like a peaceful protest. Video recorded at the scene showed a member of the security forces shoving Mr. Abu Ein while grabbing him roughly by the neck. Palestinian activists began sharing an image from that video on social networks, associating it with images of police force in the United States with the hashtag #ICantBreathe.
Mr. Abu Ein and other activists had gone to plant olive trees on land that Palestinians said was threatened with confiscation by Israel near the villages of Al-Mughayer and Turmus Aya in the Ramallah district of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Sara Adweh, a correspondent for the Palestine Public Broadcasting Corporation who saw the events, said in a television broadcast that soldiers had arrived and had begun firing tear gas, and that one soldier had beaten Mr. Abu Ein on the head and chest with his helmet. Other witnesses said that he had been shoved and hit with a rifle butt. A correspondent for Sky News tweeted that Israeli medics tried to assist Mr. Abu Ein after he fell unconscious but that Palestinians rushed him to a vehicle instead. He was first taken to a clinic in Turmus Aya and then to the hospital in Ramallah.
Mr. Abu Ein was interviewed by the Palestinian television service shortly before he collapsed. “This is a criminal army,” he said. “It practices crimes against our land. We did not throw a single stone at them and they attacked us.” Mr. Abu Ein and other activists had set out to plant olive trees on land that Palestinians said was threatened by a nearby Israeli settlement outpost, near the villages of Al-Mughayer and Turmus Aya in the Ramallah district of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The protest was timed to mark International Human Rights Day. They were joined by activists from Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group that has petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court for the removal of the unauthorized outpost, Adei Ad.
Abla Kook, 49, a member of the Turmus Aya village council who attended the demonstration, said about 150 people were attempting to march to the land near the outpost but that soldiers prevented them from getting close and began to fire tear gas.
Ms. Kook said that Mr. Abu Ein, at the vanguard of the protest, argued with the Israeli troops who would not let him pass. One of the Israeli soldiers, wearing a helmet, head-butted Mr. Abu Ein in the chest, Ms. Kook said.
Other witnesses said Mr. Abu Ein had been shoved and struck with a rifle butt.
The Palestinian television service Palmedia News showed video of demonstrators holding flags and olive branches as they marched through clouds of tear gas. Mr. Abu Ein was interviewed by the television service, part of the official Palestine Public Broadcasting Corporation, shortly before he collapsed. “This is a criminal army,” he said. “It practices crimes against our land. We did not throw a single stone at them and they attacked us.”
Though the demonstration was planned to be nonviolent the Israeli military described the protesters as “rioters” and said its forces “halted the progress of the rioters into the civilian community of Adei Ad using riot dispersal means.” Both Israeli soldiers and border police officers were at the scene.
Saeb Erekat, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, said in a statement, “The Israel government bears full responsibility for the killing of Minister Abu Ein and the systematic crimes committed against the Palestinian people.”Saeb Erekat, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, said in a statement, “The Israel government bears full responsibility for the killing of Minister Abu Ein and the systematic crimes committed against the Palestinian people.”
“This new assassination will have severe consequences,” Mr. Erekat said. “The Palestinian leadership is currently weighing its response.” “This new assassination will have severe consequences,” Mr. Erekat said. “The Palestinian leadership is currently weighing its response.
Reut Mor, of Yesh Din, who participated in the protest, said it had been planned long in advance and that it was meant to consist of a “quiet march and a news conference.” The large presence of soldiers prevented the protesters from getting close to the land where they wanted to plant the saplings, she said, speaking by telephone soon after the event.
The security forces immediately began firing tear gas and stun grenades, she said. The activists at the front of the march, including Mr. Abu Ein, walked up to the line of soldiers to confront them and there was shouting and scuffling, she said.
Noting that the march had set out from Turmus Aya in an almost festive atmosphere, Ms. Mor said, “Nobody imagined the day would end that way.”
Mr. Abu Ein, a well-known figure in Israeli media circles and a former security prisoner, had spent many years in Israeli jails. He had previously served as a deputy minister for prisoner affairs in the Palestinian Authority government.
He was first arrested for a brief period in 1977, at the age of 18. Two years later he was charged with membership in a squad that planted a bomb in the northern Israeli city of Tiberias that killed an Israeli teenager. He was extradited from the United States to Israel in 1981 and was sentenced to life in prison, but he was released as part of a prisoner exchange deal in 1985. He subsequently spent several more years in prison as an administrative detainee, held without trial.