Palestinian president accuses Israel of killing minister

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israeli troops of killing a Palestinian minister during a protest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

Ziad Abu Ein, a Palestinian Cabinet member who was recently appointed as head of a government-backed commission to resist Israeli settlements and the Gaza Wall, died after an Israeli border policeman grabbed him by a throat while he was heading what participants said was a peaceful protest against Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Footage of the incident did not show Abu Ein responding violently.

Around 30 Israeli soldiers and border policemen had broken up the protest, firing tear gas and sound grenades at protestors, while an Israeli policeman was witnessed assaulting Abu Ein. Minutes afterwards, the minister fell to the ground, clasping his chest, and he died while on his way to hospital. His family members told Haaretz newspaper that he suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure. 

Shortly before his death, the minister spoke to Palestine TV reporters, describing the Israeli occupiers as “terrorists”.

“This is the terrorism of the occupation, this is a terrorist army, practicing its terrorism on the Palestinian people,” he said. “We came to plant trees on Palestinian land, and they launch into an attack on us from the first moment. Nobody threw a single stone.”

Abbas condemned the killing as a “clear crime” and a “barbaric act” as he called a meeting between officials from his Fatah movement and the Palestine Liberation Operation on Wednesday evening. Calls have grown for Abbas to suspend security coordination with Israel and the President said that he is keeping all options open.

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said that Israel was investigating the incident.

“We are sorry about Abu Ein’s death,” Yaalon said. “Security stability is important for both sides and we will continue coordinating with the Palestinian Authority.”

Following Abu Ein’s death, clashes broke out in a refugee camp near Ramallah in the West Bank and an Israeli soldier shot and critically injured a youth protestor. The Israeli military announced that it was sending two battalions of soldiers and two companies of paramilitary border police to the region as reinforcements.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Israel to conduct a “swift and transparent” investigation into Abu Ein’s “brutal” death, while the US called on both Israel and Palestine to “work to lower tensions and prevent an escalation of violence”.