A senior Palestinian Authority minister has claimed that the autopsy report on the death of the PA minister who died during a protest and clash with the IDF Wednesday “without a doubt” was killed by soldiers, contradicting an Israeli source who said violence was not the direct cause of his death.
Hussein al-Sheikh, the Palestinian Authority responsible for personal affairs, said the autopsy showed Ziad Abu Ein’s death was caused by being beaten and by inhaling tear gas. Abi Ein’s career in the Palestinian Authority includes murdering two Israelis and wounding 32 others in a bomb explosion in Tiberias in 1979,
Video footage of Wednesday’s incident shows clips but no continuity of the events. The only violence that is shown is that a soldier pushed Abu Ein while he tried to shove his way past them yelling at the same time that the IDF is a “terrorist’ group.
He also made the incredible accusation that the Israeli doctor at the autopsy agreed that Abu Ein died from violence but refused to sign the autopsy report, which states:
The death of Ziad Abu Ein was caused by a blockage of the coronary artery (one of the arteries that supplies blood to the heart) due to hemorrhaging underneath a layer of atherosclerotic plaque. The bleeding could have been caused by stress.
Indications of light hemorrhaging and localized pressure were found in his neck.
The deceased suffered from ischemic heart disease; blood vessels in his heart were found to be over 80% blocked by plaque. Old scars indicating that he suffered from previous myocardial infarctions were also found.
The poor condition of the deceased’s heart caused him to be more sensitive to stress.
It is necessary to wait for the medical treatment report before determining more incisive explanations on this matter.
The video footage of the protest clearly shows that at Abu Ein fell while holding his chest and that there was no direct physical contact from someone else. Aides tended to him while soldiers stood by and Abu Ein then stood up and collapsed.
Moments after Abu Ein died, it was clear that the Palestinian Authority had decided he was killed, regardless of what an autopsy report would state. The same thing happened last month, when an autopsy report of the death of a Jerusalem Arab bus driver declared he hanged himself. The Palestinian Authority insisted “settlers” had killed him.
Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday condemned the “barbaric act” by Israeli soldiers and predicted that Israel would fabricate accounts in order to clear itself of the “murder of minister Abu Ein.”
Abbas declared him a “martyr.”