IDF soldier in West Bank (Archive photo)
Photo: Reuters
State, officer blamed for death of Palestinian teen
Court blames state, officer of Palestinian teen's death in 2002 operation, orders hefty financial compensation be paid to his family
The family of a Palestinian teenager who was killed by the IDF five years ago was granted hefty compensation from the government and from the officer convicted of his killing on Wednesday.
Mohammad Ali Ziad, 16, was killed in the village of Nazlet Zait in the West Bank in October 2002.
The Petah Tikva Magistrate Court ordered the state and an officer, who was convicted by a military court of killing Ziad through negligence, to pay the teenager's family NIS 520,000 (about $123,000) in compensation and an additional NIS 15,000 (about $ 3,600) in legal costs.
Ziad was killed at home by a bullet fired by the officer whose platoon was sent to the village to intercept a car transporting suicide bombers. The officer's unit was told that the car was making its way to Israel.
Soldiers who entered the village encountered a group of stone-throwing teenagers whom the commander tried to disperse. When the teenagers refused to obey the officer he fired one shot in the air. The bullet pierced the window of a room where Ziad was staying, fatally wounding the teenager.
The court found that the IDF unit's encounter with the youth in the village was not life-threatening, adding that the officer's decision to open fire was in breach of army regulations.
The court added that although the unit was hard pressed to intercept the car, the officer could have circumvented the stone-throwing crowd without opening fire.
