Another Extrajudicial Israeli Killing

by Stephen Lendman

Israeli soldiers, police and other security forces kill Palestinians with impunity, investigations when conducted systematically whitewashed.

Days earlier, Israeli border police lethally shot 27-year-old Palestinian Sarah Hajuj at an Ibrahimi Mosque compound checkpoint at Hebron's Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Israel alleging she threatened border police with a knife was claimed as justification. A B'Tselem investigation indicated Hajuj was stopped for "appear(ing) susp(icious), then taken to a checkpoint side room, followed by sounds of scuffling inside and her fatal shooting - "four shots…fired in succession" against a defenseless woman, an assassination by any standard.

"(V)ideo footage captured by a Palestinian passerby belie the police claim that (shooting her) was 'precise and targeted,' " said B'Tselem.

Evidence indicates officers "could almost certainly have (handled things) with non-lethal means, thereby rendering the shooting unjustified."

Like numerous similar cases, Israeli security forces could have avoided violence. Claiming otherwise based on what's known rings hollow.

Hajuj was murdered in cold blood despite posing no threat, Israel's open-fire policy providing immunity for state-sponsored killings.

Last November, the IDF designated the area in Hebron's Old City where the incident occurred a closed military zone, over 40 Palestinians killed there since last October.

Its military status was lifted in May. Severe movement restrictions remain for most of the Old City and areas around the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Separately overnight, Israeli forces used live fire, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas in Dura, south of Hebron - targeting youths and civilian homes, injuring dozens.

The assault came with Hebron under military siege, Palestinian movement extremely restricted, other draconian measures imposed - following the killing of an Israeli man, his wife and children injured.

In response to these type incidents, collective punishment follows, at times affecting the entire West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza - mass Palestinian suffering imposed, including sealing off entire communities, mass arrests, home demolitions and targeted killings.

Israel consistently and without justification violates core international law, Palestinians victimized by its viciousness.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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