Palestinian who was shot by settler questioned on claim he threw rocks during incident
Zakaria al-Adra was fired at by an Israeli who came into the Palestinian village of At-Tuwani armed with an assault rifle; police says he is suspected of rioting
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
A Palestinian man who was shot and severely wounded in October by a resident of a West Bank settlement was questioned under caution at the Kiryat Arba police station on Monday on suspicion of disturbing the public order and rock throwing during the same incident, and released on a NIS 1,000 bond.
According to the police, Zakaria al-Adra, a 30-year-old father of four, was one of several people who rioted and threw stones in the village of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills region before he was shot on October 13.
Al-Adra’s attorney said he had been summoned to the police station to file a complaint against the shooter, even though his father and another relative had filed a complaint in his name in October, and a police investigation into the incident was concluded in late March or early April and passed to the State Attorney’s Office for a decision as to whether charges would be brought.
Once at the police station, al-Adra was questioned about his alleged rock-throwing and rioting.
A video of the incident showed an Israeli man from a nearby settlement armed with an assault rifle walking down from an area of scrubland into At-Tuwani and approaching al-Adra, who remained stationary.
In the course of the next three seconds, the Israeli man then slams the barrel of his rifle into al-Adra’s upper body causing him to stumble backwards; Al-Adra briefly raises his right hand in response with what appears to be a rock in it, but then lowers it; and in the next split second the assailant fires a shot from point blank range into al-Adra’s abdomen.
An IDF soldier was several meters up the hill from the incident, and there were at least two other individuals present.
A spokesperson for the Judea region of the southern West Bank said that al-Adra had been “one of those who rioted and threw stones and then the resident fired.”
When it was pointed out that al-Adra had never been seen throwing a stone during the incident, the spokesperson stated that he had “intended to throw a stone.”
Asked why the Israeli assailant had entered At-Tuwani in the first place, the police spokesperson said he did not know, but noted that the shooter was in the civilian security squad of the nearby Maon settlement just up the hill from At-Tuwani.
The State Attorney’s Office has not yet replied to a request for comment as to whether charges will be brought against the shooter.
Eitan Peleg, who is representing al-Adra in the criminal proceedings, described the allegation that he had thrown rocks as “total nonsense.”
Peleg is representing al-Adra in a civil process in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court in which he is asking for a restraining order against the shooter.
Al-Adra was hospitalized for 82 days after being shot, 60 of them in intensive care, and suffered life-changing injuries as a result of the incident.
Speaking to The Times of Israel in April, al-Adra said he needs help standing up because of the pain, and that it hurts to speak loudly or laugh as a result of the injuries to his abdomen and ribs.
He also had a colostomy bag fitted because of injuries to his intestines which itself caused him pain, although that was slated to be surgically removed at the time of the interview.
Doctors have told him he will not be able to return to work in the construction industry, since such physical labor would be both painful and harmful.
