Israeli army raids Palestinian city to remove memorial of Palestinian fighter

Israeli army raids Palestinian city to remove memorial of Palestinian fighter
Israeli bulldozers entered a major West Bank city to remove a memorial to high profile Palestinian fighter Khaled Nazzal on Friday, sparking clashes that left six Palestinians injured.
2 min read
01 July, 2017
Since October 2015, at least 274 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire [AFP]
Israeli bulldozers entered a major West Bank city on Friday to remove a memorial to a high profile Palestinian fighter, sparking clashes in which six Palestinians were wounded, the army and a local mayor said.

The memorial to Khaled Nazzal, the man believed to be behind a 1974 attack that killed 26 Israelis was recently erected by the municipality of Jenin.

Many Palestinians see Nazzal and other fighters as heroes, while Israel views them as terrorists and maintains that glorifying their attacks is incitement to violence.

Nazzal was allegedly assassinated by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in Athens in 1986.

Israel had demanded the memorial be removed and before dawn on Friday bulldozers and soldiers entered Jenin.

"Forces removed a memorial erected to commemorate the terrorist Khaled Nazzal," an army spokeswoman said.

During clashes that broke out afterwards, two people were shot with live ammunition and four with rubber bullets, Mohammed Abu Ghali, head of the Jenin municipality, told AFP.

One of the young men was in serious condition after being shot in the chest, Abu Ghali said.

Since October 2015, at least 274 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, at least 33 of them under the age of 18.

Israeli authorities claim most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

However, rights groups accuse Israel of carrying out "unlawful killings" against Palestinians.

Amnesty International said Israeli forces were displaying "an appalling disregard for human life by using reckless and unlawful lethal force against Palestinians."

The rights group said it sent a memorandum to authorities in Tel Aviv detailing at least 20 cases of "unlawful killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces."

"Palestinians were deliberately shot dead, despite posing no imminent threat to life, in what appear to be extrajudicial executions," Amnesty said.

Agencies contributed to this report.