Palestinians yesterday accused Israel of “killing” a senior official who died a day earlier in a confrontation with troops during a protest march in the West Bank.
“After hearing the results of the post-mortem, the Palestinian government holds Israel fully responsible for the killing of Ziad Abu Ein,” government spokesman Ihab Bseiso told reporters.
Abu Ein, a Palestinian Authority Cabinet minister, died on Wednesday following a violent confrontation with Israeli soldiers near the city of Ramallah, in an incident that prompted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to threaten measures in response.
Photo: Reuters
A post-mortem was carried out by Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian pathologists, who could not agree on their findings.
The Palestinian concluded that Abu Ein died as a result of a blow to his body, not of natural causes.
Israeli pathologists Chen Kugel and Maya Furman said the 55-year-old’s death was caused by the blockage of a coronary artery due to arterial bleeding that could have been caused by stress.
They said Abu Ein had a bad heart, including 80 percent blockage by plaque in the blood vessels of his heart, and that this “caused him to be more sensitive to stress.”
They said they wanted to see the medical treatment report before reaching further conclusions.
Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh told reporters that the autopsy showed that Abu Ein was killed by the actions of Israeli troops.
“The reason for the death of Abu Ein was his being hit by [Israeli] occupation troops and because of the heavy use of tear gas,” he said.
Al-Sheikh said Israeli forces had prevented Abu Ein from getting to a hospital quickly enough.
The confrontation erupted as Abu Ein took part in a march of about 300 Palestinians who intended to plant olive trees as a symbolic act of protest against Israeli settlements, according to a photojournalist at the scene.
The group was confronted by soldiers and border police in the village of Turmus Ayya. Tear gas was fired, three soldiers grabbed Abu Ein and he was struck in the chest, the photographer said.
At one point, a member of Israel’s paramilitary border police grabbed Abu Ain by the throat and pushed him.
Several minutes after the scuffle, Abu Ein collapsed to the ground, clutching his heart. He received first aid from an Israeli army doctor and was evacuated, but died en route to a nearby hospital.
Israel’s army yesterday deployed reinforcements to the West Bank, anticipating clashes with Palestinians after Abu Ein’s funeral, which was to take place early in the afternoon in Ramallah.
Abbas has decreed three days of mourning for Abu Ein.
Additional reporting by AP
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