Israeli police shoot, kill 17-year-old Palestinian in Hebron

OCT. 25, 2015 2:39 P.M. (UPDATED: OCT. 26, 2015 3:15 P.M.)

Scene of the incident (MaanImages)

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli border police shot and killed a 17-year-old
Palestinian girl near the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in the southern occupied
West Bank on Sunday, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.
The girl was identified as Dania Irsheid, 17, from central Hebron.
An Israeli police spokesperson said that the girl was shot dead after police
officers allegedly saw "a knife in her hand." No Israelis were injured during the
incident.
A Palestinian woman who was in the area told Ma'an that she watched as
"occupation soldiers covered a young Palestinian woman who was lying on the
ground bleeding without giving her medical aid at all, before an ambulance
arrived and took her."
Another witness told Ma'an that he saw a schoolgirl with a schoolbag on her
back trying to cross the Israeli checkpoint near the Ibrahimi mosque.
"An Israeli soldier asked her to take the knife out of her bag, then he
immediately fired gunshots into the air," the witness said. "Seconds later the
schoolgirl was lying on the ground bleeding."

The woman's death brings the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli
forces to at least 57 since the beginning of the month.
While 29 of those killed were shot after allegedly carrying out attacks on
Israelis, a number of alleged attacks have been disputed by Palestinian
witnesses and investigations by rights groups who say the suspects posed no
threat at the time of their death.
Video footage in a number of cases has raised criticism of what Israeli rights
group B'Tselem terms "extrajudicial executions," where a "shoot-to-kill" policy
advocated by Israeli officials has led to high numbers of unnecessary deaths.
Hebron has seen a particularly high death toll in recent weeks with nine
Palestinians shot dead since late September -- in every case after an alleged
stabbing attempt -- and one Palestinian activist dying from excessive tear gas
inhalation.
At least nine Israelis have been killed by Palestinians since Oct. 1, leading Israeli
authorities to deploy large numbers of Israeli military personnel and police
forces across the occupied Palestinian territory.

(MaanImages)

(MaanImages)
After years of peaceful protest, Hebron activist dies in tear gas
OCT. 22, 2015 4:45 P.M. (UPDATED: OCT. 25, 2015 4:40 P.M.)
2,036471

Hashem al-Azzeh died from excessive tear gas inhalation when he was stopped
at a checkpoint in Hebron's Old City. (Karam Saleem)
By: Killian Redden
BETHLEHEM (Maan) -- Dr. Hashem al-Azzeh, who died on Wednesday after
suffering excessive tear gas inhalation in Hebrons Old City, was the latest
victim of the Israeli settlement policies he spent most of his life struggling
against.
The 54-year-old activist and medical doctor was one of a few Palestinians who
chose to remain with his family in Tel Rumeida, a neighborhood in central Hebron
that over the course of decades has seen most of its Palestinian residents
pushed out by aggressive Israeli settlers.
On Wednesday, after experiencing chest pains in his home, he found himself
trapped.
His family called an ambulance, but it was unable to reach him due to a series of
Israeli army checkpoints along the nearby Shuhada Street, his niece Sundus alAzzeh told Maan.
Hashem began to walk toward the checkpoint at Bab al-Zawiya, where fierce
clashes were underway as Palestinians protested the death of two Palestinian
teenagers shot dead the night before.

Once there, however, Sundus said that Israeli soldiers stopped him from moving
on, and he soon found himself engulfed by tear gas. Unable to breath, he
collapsed.
He was rushed to Hebrons governmental hospital, but doctors were unable to
save him.
A doctor told Maan that Hashem had a history of cardiovascular disease, but it
was tear gas inhalation that killed him.
Sundus said she was at his side when he passed away -- it was the first time she
had seen someone die.
Daily attacks
Palestinians freedom of movement in Tel Rumeida was severely restricted in
1994, after an American-born Israeli settler, Baruch Goldstein, massacred 29
Palestinians in the Old Citys Ibrahimi Mosque.
While most Palestinians chose to leave the neighborhood, Hashem chose to
remain, at one point even refusing an Israeli offer to buy his home.
He wanted to face the settlers, said Jawad Abu Aisheh, who works in the
nearby Youth Against Settlements activist group. It was Hashems belief that if
every Palestinian were to leave, nothing would stop the settlers from taking all
their land.
He began to guide foreigners through the divided city, showing them Hebrons
illegal settlements, the military checkpoints, and the streets entirely closed to
Palestinians.
Abu Aisheh said that Hashem viewed these tours as non-violent means to
defend himself.
However, life in the neighborhood was a constant struggle.
You could say that the attacks were daily, said Abu Aisheh, adding that when
the settlers did not physically assault Hashem and his family, they would swear
at them, demanding that they leave for Jordan.
Sometimes, the soldiers refused him entry through the Shuhada Street
checkpoint, and he would have to take a dangerous back-route through olive
trees and fences, where he risked arrest by Israeli forces.
In footage filmed before his death, Hashem said that his wife had suffered two
miscarriages after settler attacks, while a stone was used to destroy the teeth
of his nine-year-old nephew.
Later on, they came and attacked us inside our houses, Hashem said,
describing how they destroyed the furniture, and smashed his head and teeth
with the butts of their guns.

Clashes have broken out in Hebron nearly every day this month. (AFP/Hazem
Bader/File)
Abuse of powers
The settlers that have taken over Hebrons Old City are widely known to be
among the most aggressive in the occupied West Bank.
They began arriving in the late 1970s, using armed force to evict Palestinians
from their homes. There are now some 500 of them living among nearly 200,000
Palestinians and protected by the Israeli army.
Israeli rights group BTselem has reported that Israels legal and physical
segregation between the Israeli settlers and the Palestinian majority has led to
more than 1,000 Palestinian homes being vacated in Hebrons center, and the
closure of up to 1,829 Palestinian businesses.
While settlers routinely use violence again Hebrons Palestinian residents,
B'Tselem reported that the increased presence of soldiers and police brings
with it violence, excessive and unjustified use of force, and abuse of the powers
granted by law.
Hashem's niece, Sundus, said that her uncle had always remained hopeful,
despite the extreme changes he witnessed throughout his life.
She said that while their family was less strong now, Hashem's death would
ultimately leave them stronger.

She could not be sure whether Hashems wife and four children, the eldest 17
years old, the youngest only five, would choose to remain in Tel Rumeida
following his death. While Hashems wife has relatives in Jordan, Sundus said
that her family would take care of them if they stayed.
We have to be here -- its our home, its our land, she said. We have to be
patient. We have to be strong.
Abu Aisheh agreed: Anyone who lives in that area must be very patient.