Palestinian teen dies of gunshot in east Jerusalem

[May 14, 2011]  JERUSALEM (AP) -- A Palestinian teen died Saturday after being shot and wounded near a Jewish settler enclave in east Jerusalem, a hospital official and a local activist said, as new clashes erupted in the disputed city ahead of Palestinian commemoration of their uprooting more than six decades ago.

The clashes raised concerns of increased violence on the eve of the annual Palestinian day of mourning over Israel's founding, which is marked by protest marches across the West Bank and Gaza.

The Palestinians call the May 15, 1948 creation of Israel the "Nakba," Arabic for catastrophe.

During the 1948 Mideast war over Israel's creation, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven out, losing homes and land. The dispute over the fate of the Palestinian refugees and their descendants, now numbering several million people, remains at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict until today.

The 17-year-old Milad Ayyash died in hospital on Saturday, after suffering a gunshot wound in the neighborhood of Silwan on Friday, according to Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby.

As Ayyash's funeral got under way Saturday, more confrontations erupted in east Jerusalem between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli border police who fired tear gas, witnesses said.

Fahri Abu Diab, a local activist in east Jerusalem's Silwan neighborhood, said Palestinians threw stones Friday at a Jewish settler enclave in the area, known as Beit Yonathan. Abu Diab said Ayyash was close to the enclave, and that a settler guard fired from the rooftop at the stone throwers. He said Israeli border police fired tear gas, but not live rounds.

Suheir Nakhle, supervisor at east Jerusalem's Mukassed Hospital said Ayyash was shot in the abdomen and suffered massive bleeding. But Ben Ruby, the police spokesman, said the teen was wounded in the shoulder. He said the family did not grant permission for an autopsy. Ben Ruby said he could not confirm if police used live fire during the incident, and only heard about the wounded Palestinian after he was brought to the hospital.

Also Friday, Israeli troops fired tear gas during a stone throwers in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, an Israeli army spokeswoman said. A 25-year-old American demonstrator was hit in the head by a tear gas canister, said Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli activist. The Israeli army spokeswoman could not confirm the source of the injury.

Palestinians also planned marches in the east Jerusalem on Sunday to mark the Nakba. Ben Ruby said police were increasing their presence in east Jerusalem, in anticipation of possible violence.

[Associated Press; By DANIEL ESTRIN]

Associated Press writer Dalia Nammari in Ramallah contributed to this report.

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