Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Muhammad Shatayya on Wednesday night called on the international community to intervene quickly to halt the “execution policy of the occupying forces” as he put it, Kan 11 tweeted Thursday. He warned of the dangerous consequences of the IDF’s new rules of engagement, which he said encouraged soldiers to shoot to kill Arabs.
Shatayya mentioned the two most recent cases in which soldiers applied the new rules of engagement, and killed Hikmat Abd al-Aziz (the terrorist from Mevo Dotan on Tuesday) and Mohammad Abbas (who was killed Wednesday evening by IDF gunfire in Ramallah).
PA Arab sources reported Wednesday night that 26-year-old Mohammad Abbas from the al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah was killed by IDF gunfire in the Ramallah area. He was reportedly shot in the back and fatally wounded, then died of his wounds.
The official PA news agency WAFA reported that the soldiers shot at the car Abbas was driving.
The IDF spokesman stated that “an IDF force entered the outskirts of Beira in the area of the Binyamin Brigade following the identification of suspects who were seen approaching the settlement of Psagot. During the searches for the suspects, a terrorist fired at the force from a moving vehicle. The soldiers responded by firing and hitting the terrorist. There are no casualties to our forces. Later, a riot broke out with dozens of PA Arabs who gathered around the force which responded using riot dispersing measures. IDF forces are scanning the area.”
As we reported earlier this week, one month after the IDF had changed the rules of engagement to permit soldiers to open fire on Bedouin thieves that break into military bases in the Negev to steal weapons and ammunition, now the IDF has ruled that from now on, soldiers will not be punished if they open fire on Arabs who rain stones and Molotov cocktails on their heads (IDF Relaxes Rules of Engagement But Soldiers Aren’t Safe from Prosecution).
Here’s a useful suggestion to Prime Minister Shatayya: tell your people to stop firing on IDF forces. Otherwise, as we understand the new rules, they’ll continue to be killed.