Israeli military attacks funeral of slain youth

Sunday June 29, 2008 09:55 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

On Saturday afternoon, Israeli military forces attacked the funeral of 17-year-old Muhammad Anwar 'Alami, who was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Friday night. Several of the mourners were injured.

The attack took place at the Beit Ummar village cemetery, just outside the village of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron. According to eyewitnesses, hundreds of villagers had gathered to bury the child in the cemetery when they were attacked without warning by Israeli military forces. The soldiers fired dozens of canisters of tear gas and volleys of rubber-coated steel bullets at the unarmed civilians. After this provocation, some youth began to throw stones at the soldiers, who responded with even more rubber bullets and tear gas.

'Alami was shot in the heart on Friday night during an Israeli invasion of the town. He was not 'wanted', nor a part of any resistance group, so it appears that he was simply a civilian who happened to get too near to the invading forces. During that invasion, Israeli forces abducted nine Palestinians from their homes. Israeli forces often invade Palestinian towns on 'tips' from paid Palestinian informants. There is usually no evidence against the arrestees other than the 'tip' provided by the informant, who receives more pay with each arrest.

The village of Beit Ummar lies in the path of an Israeli settler-only highway, which has been constructed to bisect the village, splitting it in two parts. The cemetery where the mourners were attacked lies near the settler road. Some of the graves had been desecrated during the construction of the road several years ago.

hebron | israeli attacks | news report saed at imemc dot org