Palestinian-American convicted of alleged murder of Israeli

An Israeli military court convicted a Palestinian man with US citizenship of murder for allegedly shooting dead a Jewish student in the occupied West Bank, the army said Tuesday.

The court convicted Montasser Shalabi, "based on his confession, of the crime of intentional manslaughter - equivalent to the offence of murder," the army claimed.

Shalabi was also convicted of "several counts of attempted intentional manslaughter, and possession of a weapon and obstruction of justice," according to a statement from the military.

Shalabi, 44, was arrested by Israeli forces in May after he allegedly opened fire on passengers waiting at a bus stop at Tapuah junction, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

The attack killed Yehuda Guetta, 19, a student at a Jewish seminary in the Itamar settlement, and wounded two of his friends.

More than 600,000 Jewish Israelis live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in constructions considered illegal under international law.

Israel has occupied the West Bank illegally since 1967, and commits various abuses against Palestinian civilians, human rights groups say.

Last month, the Israeli army demolished Shalabi's house in Turmus Ayya, a village northeast of Ramallah in the West Bank.

The move was denounced by the United States, which said such demolitions "exacerbate tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution". Critics have denounced such demolitions as unjustified collective punishment.

Shalabi will be sentenced at a later date.