Israel has not spoken to Palestinians in probe of deadly weekend clash
Three days since an al-Mughayyir resident was shot dead in clashes with army and settlers, locals say Israeli authorities have not reached out for accounts from eyewitnesses
Israeli authorities have yet to gather testimony from residents of a West Bank village that saw a deadly altercation over the weekend, as officials investigate conflicting accounts over what led to the shooting death of a Palestinian man.
The mayor of al-Mughayyir and a relative of Hamdi Na’asan, who was killed in the Saturday clash, both told the Times of Israel on Tuesday that they have yet to hear from the army or police who are separately probing the incident.
A police spokeswoman said the investigation is still ongoing but declined to comment further.
“Neither the police nor the army has come to take testimony from us at all,” said the deceased’s uncle Faraj Na’asan. “I was an eyewitness. I saw what happened there.”
Al-Mughayyir Mayor Amin Abu Alia said that authorities did come to the scene of the clash on Monday to collect evidence — including bullet shells from the live fire shot at Palestinians — but the visit did not include speaking to the locals who were present during the clash.
There are conflicting claims as to how the deadly incident unfolded. Local Palestinians say the settlers fatally shot Nassan during an altercation, but residents of the neighboring Adei Ad outpost claim their security guards fired shots in the air to chase away Palestinians attackers who stabbed a Jewish teen.
The Israel Defense Forces said initial indications were that a settler from Adei Ad had a “physical confrontation” with several Palestinians and was slightly hurt.
“Shortly thereafter, a conflict erupted between Israeli civilians and Palestinians in the area, in which live rounds were fired by the civilians,” the IDF said in a statement. “One Palestinian died and several others are injured.”
It said that troops and border police responding to the altercation used “riot dispersal means” to break up the disturbance, not live ammunition.
However, Abu Alia and Faraj Nassan said they saw soldiers firing at Palestinians along with settlers.
“They were standing on a hill together. Both were shooting at us,” said Nassan.
He said that because of his role as director of the PA civil coordinator’s office in Jericho, he was among the first called to the scene when locals reported that settlers were attacking the home of a family on the outskirts of the village.
Roughly 200 Palestinians arrived at the scene “in order to repel the settlers,” Nassan said, adding that they did so by hurling stones at the Adei Ad residents standing 60 meters away.
Soon after, the PA official said that the Israelis began shooting. Footage posted to Twitter appears to spot Hamdi Nassan evacuating one of the Palestinians injured early on in the clash before locals say the 38-year-old father of four was shot in the back.
Faraj Nassan rode with his nephew to a Ramallah hospital where he was pronounced dead.
While Israeli authorities have not yet asked Palestinians to provide testimony, police summoned over 20 members of the Adei Ad security squad that responded to Saturday’s incident to offer their account of what took place. A police spokesman clarified to The Times of Israel that the settlers were not questioned as suspects, but that their weapons were seized as part of the investigation.
One member of the security squad that spoke on the condition of anonymity said that he also saw soldiers fire live bullets during the altercation.
In a statement to the media, the Israeli 19-year-old who was allegedly attacked said he had walked 200 meters (600 feet) from the outpost for some solitude when “suddenly I saw three Arabs who ambushed me. They attacked me, hit me, and tried to drag me towards [their] village. I managed to escape to Adei Ad, and on the way I realized I had been stabbed in the hand. I saw blood.”
The teen said he got in touch with the outpost’s security squad and “they gave chase to the attackers.” He added that he was lightly injured, but did not require hospitalization.
For his part, Nasan’s uncle claimed settlers were lying about the injured teen.
Confusion still surrounds the different versions of events and the timeline of the clash. Audio recordings obtained by Hadashot news appeared to show the army being called by a local settler, half an hour after the clash started, who said that the Adei Ad civilian security team had been sent to the village. The caller was told by the army officer that “we are not dispatching forces to that.”
Twenty minutes later, a member of the security team called the army again, saying “we are talking about immediate threat to life.” The caller confirmed to the army dispatcher that he was talking about Mughayyir and the dispatcher replied that a Border Police force was already on the scene. However, the security team member said that the force was south of the village and apparently not at the location of the clash.
Many settlements have civilian security teams composed of residents who are usually army veterans. The teams train regularly and serve as a first response unit to security incidents until the IDF or police arrive on the scene.
UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov called Nasan’s killing “shocking and unacceptable!” on Twitter, saying that Israel “must put an end to settler violence and bring those responsible to justice.”
