55-year-old Palestinian Authority cabinet minister Ziad Abu Ein was killed today during a protest march in Ramallah, when Israeli troops arrived on the scene and beat him to death.
Abu Ein was choked and beaten with rifle butts during the crackdown and reportedly suffered a stroke on the scene. He was rushed to a nearby Palestinian hospital but died shortly thereafter.
Though the entire killing was not caught on tape, video of the early moments of the crackdown on the protest were shown by Sky News, which included an Israeli soldier putting his hands around Abu Ein’s throat.
The protesters were complaining about the expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, and was carried out entirely on Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank, with a march to farmland illegally seized by settlers to plant olive trees. Israeli officials defended the crackdown as simply using standard riot dispersal methods.
The European Union and United Nations are both demanding an independent investigation into the killing, though the Israeli government insisted that the only probe will be an internal one by the Israeli military.
The killing is being called an assassination by some Palestinian officials, though it seems more to be business as usual for the occupation forces, who kill Palestinians at protests with alarming regularity. The death is fueling calls from PA officials to end security cooperation with the Israeli military.
The PLO should be called the IFL, for the Israel Foreign Legion, for it is a Palestine Liberation Organization in name only.
For this assignation took place in Palestine territory, in the PLO home turf and the PLO should have had their riot gear on and going blow for blow with the IDF.
are you on drugs?
Rick, I can assure you that John's suggestion, above, is a reflection of what most Palestinians think and believe.
World watching watching stoically a wild animal running amok causing death and destruction.Who will reign in Israel?
'An accidental' over reaction to a misplaced grab. Had it been the other way round, however -murder! A revisitation of Dr. Mengele and the Jewish babies.
"Security is important to both sides." Look, we killed a protestor and we still have so much in common.
maybe the israeli killer can sue the family of the victim. Isn't that how justice works in israel?
"GOD BLESS AMERICA"
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East where every Palestinian has equal rights to be abused, beaten, tortured, imprisoned, or killed. And Israel is determined to ensure each and every Palestinian is given those rights.
It's a nazi dump. Are you smoking dope. Every day is like Krystal night in this doomed dump.
God damn it, you've got to read this straight from someone who was there!
Younes Arar:
I was honored to know him,
Today morning I met him in the elevator while we were going down to the basement where the cars are waiting to take us to a filed activity, he had a cup of coffee in his hand and was smiling and joking with us, and was explaining to us about today's activity, olive trees planting activity in Turmus Ayya village, near Ramallah, the activity will take place on endangered land. So, we went on our way to Turmus Ayya village, about 60 people, we reached the village and were received by the village's citizens who joined us to the activity, on the way to the targeted land we were stopped by 10s of heavily armed Zionist occupation forces who asked us to leave the area or else, but we refused to leave without planting our trees, they attacked us physically, they beaten us using their hands, feet, platoons, , shot a lot of tear gas and stun grenades and riffles buts, and they targeted our Minister Zeyad Abu Ain, they wanted to hurt him, they wanted him dead, they attacked him many times, showered him and us with tear gas, they killed him in front of us, I was next to him, to his left when they attacked him, he fall on the ground in front of me, in front of us, in front of everybody, he died in front of us, they killed him, they killed him because he wanted to make life look better, because he wanted to make life, because he wanted the land to look green and pretty, because he wanted to save our land from the illegal Zionist occupation colonization. Zeyad Abu Ain lived and died for the people and land he loved..Sir, I was honored to know you, I was honored to work with you, I was honored to stand against Zionist occupation with you, I was Honored to be friends with you, Palestine is honored and grateful to have a son like you.
His name is Zeyad Abu Ain, 55 years old, a husband and father of four (3 boys, one girl), he was kidnapped by the USA, delivered after few years to The Zionist occupation intelligence and sentenced for life in Zionist occupation jails, but he was released after 13 years of imprisonment following prisoners swap. He was very modest, very friendly, always smiling, talks gently to everyone, and in turn he was loved by everyone.
He was appointed recently to become the chairman of the Colonization and Apartheid wall Resistance Commission, where am working as Coordinator and doing translation as well, in addition to my field peaceful resistance activism. Zeyad Abu Ain was assassinated in cold blood by Zionist occupation forces in front of the whole world, he was killed live on Satellite channels, the whole world is our witness. Rest In Peace Zeyd, 10 December 2014.
A martyr in sha,a Allah
WHERE is the previously reported incident in which the minister was shot in the chest at point blank range, after which he was immediately unconscious.
No regional country is willing to directly help these people including the impotent United Nations. What will it take for the Palestinians to reach their tipping point and organize collectively to throw out the Zionist oppressors from their sovereign land? How much longer will they endure this egregious and inhuman suffering of death by a thousand cuts?
Israel does not want peace, they do not want a two-state solution, they do not want the occupied people to be contained and controlled. They want the Palestinians to be completely removed from the land through some sort of national diaspora or by killing every last one of them. Why can't the Palestinian people see this stark reality and go all out to defend their existence and rights to their own land?
hahahah. You think anything will happen to this criminal govt of Israel? Like anything will come about the criminals of the former U.S. Administration for their torture regime.