Palestinian-American boy, 14, shot dead by Israeli troops in West Bank
April 7 (UPI) -- A 14-year-old Palestinian-American teen was shot and killed by Israeli troops in the central West Bank village of Turmusaya 10 miles northeast of Ramallah, the de-facto capital of the occupied Palestinian territory, authorities said.
Turmusaya Mayor Lafi Shalabi identified the boy as Omar Rabea, saying two other boys aged 14 and 15 were injured in the incident Sunday night, one of them seriously.
The IDF said it opened fire as part of a counterterrorism operation but said it had targeted "terrorists" killing one and hitting the two others because they were hurling stones at Israeli motorists, placing civilians using the road in peril.
Poor quality footage being circulated by the IDF appeared to show one individual among a group of three people throwing a projectile of some kind.
The foreign ministry of the Palestinian Authority accused Israeli forces of carrying out another "extrajudicial killing" and condemned the targeting of children with live fire.
"Israel's continued impunity as an illegal occupying power encourages it to commit further crimes," it said in a statement.
Rabea's killing, one of two Palestinian-Americans and Americans Mohammed Khdour and Rachel Corrie killed in the West Bank over the past two decades, apparently by Israeli forces, came hours before Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was scheduled to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday.
The Israelis and U.S. State Department did not immediately offer any comment on Sunday's incident.
However, the Council of American-Islamic Relations criticizaed a lack of actions on behalf of U.S. administrations to hold Israel, its soldiers or illegal settlers accountable for killing or injuring Palestinian-Americans and reiterated its call for the U.S. Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation seeking justice for Rabea and other victims of Israeli violence.
"Every hour of every day, Palestinians -- including Palestinian-Americans -- are subjected to injury, death or expulsion from their homes and land by the far-right Israeli government and its racist supporters, all with the complicity of our own government," CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.
"If the Trump administration really wants to put 'America first,' its first duty is to protect the lives of American citizens. The Department of Justice must act to investigate this and all other murders and attacks targeting Palestinian-Americans. Those responsible must be brought to justice," said Awad.
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