The Israel Defense Forces Criminal Investigation Division intends to probe the death of a Palestinian protester who was struck in the face by a tear gas canister fired apparently at close range by an Israeli soldier on Friday. Mustafa Tamimi, 28, was hurling rocks at a military vehicle in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, on Friday when a soldier inside opened the rear door and fired at him from just a few yards away, witnesses said. Tamimi was taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva for treatment, where he later succumbed to his wounds. Activists accused the army of using disproportionate force, and the Palestinian Authority condemned Israel over Tamimi's death. The IDF, for its part, said that Tamimi was a regular at such protests and was carrying a slingshot at Friday's protest. The army's use of tear gas canisters has come under sharp criticism in recent years. IDF officials say they use the gas to quell violent demonstrations. The canisters, which emit choking, acrid smoke, are meant to push back and disperse crowds. However, some Israeli troops have fired them directly at demonstrators, causing severe injuries and, in some cases, death. Tensions also simmered along Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, where mourners buried a 12-year-old Palestinian killed in an Israeli airstrike on Friday. Terrorists there fired two rockets at Israel. Tamimi is the 20th person to be killed over the past eight years at similar demonstrations in rural villages throughout the West Bank, said Sarit Michaeli of the Israeli rights group B'Tselem. The weekly demonstrations are in protest of the construction of Israeli settlements and a separation barrier that eats up Palestinian farm land along parts of its route. Photographs taken by Haim Schwarczenberg, a pro-Palestinian activist from Israel, show Tamimi rushing after an armored army vehicle. The photographer says he was throwing rocks. He then crumples to the ground a few steps from the vehicle. His friends rush to help, covering his bloodied face with a black-and-white Palestinian checkered scarf. "As he was throwing stones, a soldier opened the door of the back of the jeep. A soldier took his gun out and shot him directly," Schwarczenberg said. "The question is not whether the person is throwing stones or not throwing stones, the question is whether the army is allowed to use deadly force from within an armored vehicle," Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak said. B'Tselem spokeswoman Michaeli said she had personally filmed at least a dozen cases over the years of soldiers directly firing the projectiles at demonstrators, sometimes causing terrible injuries. She said the difference in this case was the very close range between the demonstrator and the soldier, who hit Tamimi in the face. A military spokeswoman said forces generally used canisters "to contain the violent and illegal riots that take place in Judea and Samaria," the biblical names for the West Bank. "Such means were used during the course of Friday's riot in Nabi Saleh." Others who have been struck by tear gas canisters include Palestinian Bassem Abu Rahmeh, who was killed in 2009 when one hit his chest. They also include Tristan Anderson of Oakland, Calif., who is suffering from brain damage, paralysis and seizures after he was hit in the head by a canister at a 2009 demonstration. According to the the L.A. Times, Anderson and his parents are suing the Israeli government to pay for his rehabilitation and 24-hour care. Gabrielle Silverman, Anderson's girlfriend who was with him when he was injured, returned to Israel last month to represent the family in the multimillion dollar lawsuit. The trial, which was set to begin Nov. 17, has been indefinitely postponed, the L.A. Times reported. Israeli has refused to apologize or compensate Anderson as it says he endangered himself by refusing to leave the area, which Israeli forces had declared a closed military zone. "The riots are illegal," Israel Defense Forces Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitz told the L.A. Times. "We don't have a problem with people holding signs or yelling their beliefs. But 95 percent of the time, we see people trying to take down the fence, throwing Molotov cocktails and hurling rocks." Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, hundreds of angry mourners marched in a funeral procession for a 12-year-old boy who was killed Friday along with his father in an Israeli airstrike. Nearby, Palestinian militants fired two rockets toward Israel, but they caused no injuries, said a military spokeswoman. The all-male funeral procession passed through the Shati refugee camp as weeping women watched from nearby windows. Israeli forces carried out multiple airstrikes against Hamas facilities and suspected militants on Friday in retaliation for weeks of sporadic but persistent rocket fire by Palestinian militants. One airstrike damaged a house next to a targeted site, killing the 12-year-old, Ramadan, and his 42-year-old father, Bahajat Zaalan. A strike on Wednesday killed one terrorist, while another strike on Thursday near a crowded park in Gaza City killed two more, scattering their body parts over the area. Israel says the militants were planning to infiltrate and carry out attacks.
IDF to probe death of Palestinian demonstrator
Activists accuse IDF of using excessive force in death of Mustafa Tamimi, 28 • He was hurling rocks at a military vehicle in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh on Friday when an Israeli soldier fired a tear gas canister that hit Tamimi in the face.
Load more...