Palestinian killed at Jerusalem checkpoint
Border Guards fire at car trying to breach a-Zaim checkpoint, near Ma'aleh Adumim, killing one passenger and wounding another. Driver flees
A Palestinian man was killed early Monday morning in a checkpoint clash with Border Guard forces, near Jerusalem.
Border Guard spokesman Shai Hakimi said that 40-year-old Akram Badr was traveling in a car that rammed through the a-Zaim checkpoint, near Ma'ale Adumim, at high speed and tried to run over the officers who ordered him to stop.
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The officers fired at the car, killing Badr. Another Palestinian was injured during the incident and the car's driver was able to flee the scene.
A Palestinian police source said that the car had entered a wrong lane and was backing up to enter the right one when the border guards mistakenly thought it was trying to hit them and opened fire.
'Soldiers just started shooting'
Khaled Ziada, one of the injured Palestinians who was in the car during the incident rejected the Israeli claim.
According to Ziada, there were 13 Palestinian workers from Ramallah in the vehicle, who were attempting to enter Israel without a work permit.
The smuggling method included a separate vehicle with an Israeli driver who drove ahead of the Palestinian car and provided the Palestinian driver with information on the security checks performed at the checkpoint.
"We were about 30 meters from the checkpoint when the Israeli driver called and informed us that we would not be able to cross the checkpoint and ordered us to move to the right lane in order to turn back to the Palestinian Authority. The driver attempted to back up but he panicked."
At this point the border guards must have suspected something was not right. Ziada said that as soon as the guards approached the vehicle, the driver began driving towards the Palestinian Authority. He further said that the guards began shooting at the car at this point.
"They did not warn us or fire any warning shot. If they had told us to step out of the vehicle, we would have done that but they didn't even give us a chance," he said.
Noam (Dabul) Dvir, Elior Levy and AP contributed to this report
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