An eye for an eye
A Palestinian teenager was reportedly kidnapped and killed on Wednesday, triggering violent clashes in east Jerusalem, in an apparent act of revenge for the murder by militants of three Israeli youths.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a statement, urged police to “swiftly investigate who was behind the loathsome murder and its motive.” He called on all sides “not to take the law into their own hands”.
Palestinian residents in Shuafat, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem, told Reuters they had seen a teenager forced into a vehicle outside a supermarket on Tuesday night. They identified him as Mohammed Abu Khudair, 16.
An Israeli security source said Israel suspected the youth had been kidnapped and murdered, possibly in retribution for the killings of the Israeli teens, whose bodies were found on Monday, nearly three weeks after they were abducted in the occupied West Bank.
Israel says Palestinian Hamas militants killed them. The Islamist group has neither confirmed nor denied the allegation.
Shortly after dawn, crowds of angry Palestinians began gathering outside the teenager’s home in Shuafat, with clashes erupting around 8 am local time when stones were hurled at police, who responded with sound bombs and rubber bullets, an AFP correspondent and police said.
Clouds of black smoke rose into the summer sky as hundreds of masked Palestinians faced off with Israeli police in riot gear.
At least 35 people were injured by rubber bullets, among them at least six journalists, the correspondent said.
Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said it was too early to draw conclusions as to the motive.
“We know of a boy who apparently was abducted and we see a link to the discovery of a body. This is still under investigation by the forensic labs and detectives,” Aharonovitch told reporters.
While the teenagers were laid to rest in the city of Modi’in, several hundreds Israeli demonstrators, some chanting “Death to Arabs”, blocked the main entrance to Jerusalem.
Cries for revenge have echoed throughout the decadesold Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Before Netanyahu issued his statement, Abbas, who had condemned the abduction of the three Israeli youths, called on the Israeli leader to condemn the killing of the Palestinian teen, the Palestinian state news agency WAFA said.
Tensions were also high in the West Bank, where around 40 Palestinians were arrested in raids on Tuesday.