Ramallah: An Israeli soldier on Al Zaeem Checkpoint in the occupied East Jerusalem shot and killed on Saturday a young Palestinian while the martyr and his girl friend were on their way home in Al Tour area of the holy city.
Israeli police claim that 17-year-old Ali Mohammad Ali Saeed Abu Ghanam was yielding an ax, but senior community leaders in the occupied East Jerusalem says the boy was walking with his girlfriend unarmed.
The Israeli soldier refused to allow Ali to cross the checkpoint despite his blue identity card which permits him to do so, according to Mazen Abu Qalbain, a community leader in occupied East Jerusalem.
“He was trying to embarrass Ali infront of his girlfriend and when Ali began arguing with the soldier, the soldier shot him dead,” he told Gulf News.
Abu Qalbain said that there are no consequences for Israeli soldiers who shoot Palestinians and it is a reguarly occurance.
The soldier who shot and killed Abu Ghanam is an Arab Druze soldier from the northern areas of the historic Palestine serving in the Israeli army and the argument allegedly took place in Arabic.
“We are investigating the issue to find out the identity of the killer soldier and the residents of the occupied East Jerusalem will not keep their mouths shut about this premeditated murder,” he stressed.
Ali’s family is only allowed to have ten family members attend their son’s funeral. However, the family wants to have a big funeral and Palestinian residents of Occupied Jerusalem have already begun a three-day strike in protest of the murder.
