Palestinian minister dies after clash with Israeli troops in West Bank protest

Palestinian Cabinet member, Ziad Abu Ain, was hit in the chest with a rifle butt by an Israeli soldier during a West Bank protest rally, says one witness. Abu Ain headed a Palestinian Authority department dealing with Israeli settlements

|
(AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)
Ziad Abu Ain, Palestinian deputy minister of prisoner affairs speaks to reporters during a news conference in Baghdad, Iraq, in this 2012 file photo. Ziad Abu Ain, died after an encounter with Israeli troops during a Palestinian protest in the West Bank Wednesday Dec. 10, 2014 near the West Bank village of Turmus Aya.

A Palestinian Cabinet member died shortly after a West Bank protest Wednesday in which witnesses said Israeli troops fired tear gas at him and dozens of Palestinians marchers.

Witnesses also said the Cabinet member, Ziad Abu Ain, was beaten by an Israeli soldier. A Palestinian health official said an autopsy would be performed to determine the cause of death of Abu Ain. Family said Abu Ain was 55 years old.

The Israeli military said it is looking into the incident. The Palestinian Authority said it was weighing its response.

"The Israel government bears full responsibility for the killing of Minster Abu Ain and the systematic crimes committed against the Palestinian people," said Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian peace negotiator and a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "This new assassination will have severe consequences."

Erekat did not elaborate on what that response the Palestinian Authority could take.

The events began with a march by several dozen Palestinians who headed to agricultural land near the West Bank village of Turmus Aya to plant olive tree saplings, participants said. The land is close to an Israeli settlement and mostly off limits to the village's farmers, they said.

As the marchers walked toward the land, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades at the Palestinians, said Kamal Abu Sassaka, an assistant to Abu Ain who said he was by the Cabinet member's side the entire time.

Abu Ain told an Israeli officer that this was a peaceful protest, but was told the group could not proceed, said Abu Sassaka.

He said there was pushing and shoving between marchers and soldiers, and that soldiers fired tear gas toward the legs of the Palestinians. He said one soldier hit Abu Ain in the chest with his rifle butt, an account confirmed by other witnesses.

An initial report that Abu Ain was hit by a tear gas canister could not be confirmed.

Footage aired on pan Gulf-based satellite news channel Al-Hadath showed Abu Ain, pale faced, crumple to the ground after the clash, holding his chest.

Abu Sassaka said Abu Ain was given first aid by a soldier before being taken to the village clinic and from there by ambulance to Ramallah Hospital. Abu Ain died en route to the hospital, Abu Sassaka said.

Abu Ain headed a Palestinian Authority department dealing with Israeli settlements and the Israeli separation barrier, and had the rank of Cabinet member.

Previously, he served as deputy minister for prisoner affairs.

Osama Najar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Health Ministry, said an autopsy would be performed to determine Abu Ain's cause of death.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Palestinian minister dies after clash with Israeli troops in West Bank protest
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2014/1210/Palestinian-minister-dies-after-clash-with-Israeli-troops-in-West-Bank-protest
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe