Field Update

On Monday, 11 February 2013, a man was
killed and a bystander injured when gunmen fired at them in al-Bireh in the
West Bank. This incident is demonstrative of the
situation of security chaos, misuse of weapons, and assaults on the rule of law which prevails in the occupied
Palestinian territory (oPt).

According to investigations conducted
by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), following Dhuhur (midday)
Prayer on Monday, four masked persons attacked Ahmed Sidqi Ma’ali, 39, from
Deir Jaris village northeast of Ramallah, as he was leaving Jamal Abdul Nasser
Mosque in al-Bireh. One of the four persons stabbed Ma’ali in the chest, and
another fired at him with a pistol. Ma’ali was killed by three bullets to the
head and chest. An officer of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service,
Mohammed Arafat Abu Libda, 33, from al-Am’ari refugee camp near Ramallah, who
was coincidentally in the area, pointed his gun at the attackers. However, the
gunman immediately fired at him and he was injured by a bullet in the neck. The
masked persons fled the scene. Later, a man presented himself to the
Palestinian security services in Ramallah and confessed to committing the
crime.

It is worth noting that Ma’ali was
previously injured during an incident related to a family dispute in Deir Jarir
village on 01 May 2012, during which a man was killed with a sharp tool.

PCHR condemns this crime, which is demonstrative of the situation of security chaos, misuse
of weapons, and assaults on the rule of law
which prevails in the oPt, and calls upon the Public Prosecution to
seriously investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.