State to pay NIS 1.5M to family of Palestinian killed by troops
Mahmoud Shusha was shot in 2002 by Border Guard officer who demanded he close his store during curfew hour in West Bank village; state accepts responsibility in damages claim
The state will pay NIS 1.5 million (USD $345,000) to the family of a Palestinian shot and killed in 2002 by a Border Guard officer, Judge Joseph Shapira of the Jerusalem District Court ruled on Sunday.
According to the verdict, in July 2002 a Border Guard patrol entered the village of Hussan in the West Bank at a time when there was a military-decreed curfew in effect. The patrol vehicle stopped in front of a place of business where the 33-year-old Mahmoud Shusha was working, and demanded that he close the store.
The officer then fired a rubber-coated steel bullet from his personal firearm towards the store. Shusha was critically wounded, and died of his injuries five days later at the Hadassah Ein Karem hospital.
Following his death, the Shusha family sued the state for negligent homicide. According to the verdict the state accepted responsibility for the damages caused, but the sides were in disagreement as to their extent.
Judge Shapira awarded the family damages in the sum of NIS 1.5 million (USD $345,000). One million is intended as compensation for loss of wages, NIS 400,000 for pain and suffering and the remainder of the sum was awarded as extra compensation for the loss of Shusha as a husband and father.
