U.S. Consulate employee dies of heart attack at Israeli checkpoint

Monday June 09, 2008 06:27 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Mohammed Mousa, 63, who has worked for forty years at the US Consulate in Jerusalem and is an American citizen, died of a heart attack when Israeli soldiers refused to allow him to pass through the checkpoint to work this week.

Checkpoint to Jerusalem

The incident took place on Tuesday, and the IMEMC has confirmed that the heart attack was directly correlated to the stress of being held at the checkpoint.

Mousa's family stated that he has recently suffered at the hands of the young Israeli soldiers stationed at the Beit Hanina checkpoint. Although he has worked in Jerusalem for 40 years, soldiers have been giving him difficulty in passing to work in recent weeks.

Israeli soldiers stationed at checkpoints in the Jerusalem area regularly deny entry to Palestinians holding foreign citizenship and holding all necessary permits to pass. In addition, there have been multiple incidents of soldiers humiliating and harassing elderly Palestinians, on a nearly daily basis at many checkpoints.

There are currently 750 Israeli military checkpoints throughout the West Bank. Those at the entrance to Jerusalem have, in the past three years, been turned into full-fledged border crossings, with multiple buildings, turnstiles, metal detectors and full military staff.

jerusalem | the wall | news report saed at imemc dot org