Palestinians: Israeli troops mistakenly kill man

[January 07, 2011]  HEBRON, West Bank (AP) -- Israeli troops mistakenly shot and killed a 65-year-old Palestinian man Friday during a predawn raid to arrest a Hamas militant in the West Bank, Palestinian officials said.

Omar Kawasmeh lived on a different floor of the same building, according to security and rescue officials in the city of Hebron.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement was made.

Associated Press television footage showed a bloodstained bed and shell casings in the man's bedroom.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it "regrets the outcome of the incident" and was investigating. It said the wanted militant had been involved in planning suicide bombings before his arrest by the Palestinian Authority two years ago.

The raid targeted one of six Hamas fighters released from prison Thursday by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian officials said. The militants, who had launched a hunger strike to protest their incarceration, were freed following a series of high-level contacts between Hamas officials and Palestinian Authority officials, as well as an intervention by the emir of Qatar.

The Israeli military said five of the freed militants -- including the target of the raid in which the man was killed -- were arrested overnight.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority has cracked down on Hamas in areas of the West Bank under its control. Hamas, an Islamic group backed by Iran, runs a competing Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas regularly condemns the Palestinian Authority for its cooperation with Israel, and did so again after the man's death Friday. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, said the Palestinian Authority and Israel were "equal in their responsibility" for the killing.

The Palestinian Authority wields limited authority in the West Bank under Israel's overall security control. While Palestinian forces trained by the U.S. have become more effective, Israel still deems them incapable of preventing attacks on Israel and Israeli forces regularly carry out arrest raids in West Bank cities.

Also Friday, several hundred Palestinians, Israelis and international activists attended a weekly demonstration against the Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin.

Some held banners with photographs of Jawaher Abu Rahmeh, a 36-year-old villager who collapsed at last week's protest and died the next day. Palestinian doctors who treated Abu Rahmeh said she collapsed after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli troops and died as a result of the gas.

The Israeli military says there are "inconsistencies" in the Palestinian account and is investigating the death. Relatives have given conflicting accounts about whether Abu Rahmeh had a pre-existing condition that might have turned the ordinarily non-lethal gas deadly in her case.

[Associated Press; By NASSER SHIYOUKHI]

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