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Photo: AFP
Palestinians: Teen shot by settler
Sources in West Bank say 17-year-old farmer shot by Jewish settler while working his land; settlers claim Palestinians threw stones at settler's vehicle. Teen sustains moderate to serious wounds from bullet that entered his back and exited his chest
A Palestinian teen from the West Bank village of Madama sustained moderate to serious wounds after being shot by a Jewish settler near the settlements of Bracha and Yitzhar, Palestinian sources said Monday afternoon.
According to the sources, the 17-year-old farmer was working in the field along with members of his family when he was shot. The settlers offered a different version of the events, saying the Palestinians threw stones toward an Israeli vehicle and damaged it; the driver stepped out of the vehicle and fired a warning shot, they said.
Investigators questioned the settler to check whether the Palestinian teen was injured from his gunfire.
The Palestinian sources said the teen, Muhammad Faraj, was tending to his land near a bypass road used by settlers from Bracha and Yitzhar when a settler stepped out of his vehicle and opened fire in his direction.
'My son didn’t have time'
Faraj was hit and later evacuated to the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, where it was reported that a bullet had entered his back and exited through his chest. He was scheduled to undergo surgery.
The teen's father said that just before entering the operating room his son told him that he had been shot by a settler from just a few meters away.
"Muhammad told me that he was picking almonds when the settler got out of his car, yelled at him and then opened fire in his direction from the road," Naim Faraj said.
"My son didn’t have time to step out of the way, and the bullet entered his back and came out the other side," he said.
Resan Da'rlas of the department of supervision over the northern West Bank settlements told Ynet, "The Palestinians fear that now that the bean harvest has begun the settlers will resume their violent and brutal behavior towards the farmers, as they do during the olive harvest."
Rabbis for Human Rights demanded that the settler who opened fire be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
In another incident, Israeli security officers manning the Tarqumiya checkpoint, located south of Hebron in the West Bank, opened fire at a Palestinian who approached the checkpoint and refused their order to stop. The officers fired warning shots, and then aimed at the Palestinian's lower body.
Palestinian sources identified the man, who was lightly injured in the incident, as 62-year-old Adna Abu-Asta from the town of Halhul. The sources said he did not hear the officers' order.
