Ref: 60/2020

Date: 24 June 2020

Time: 10:00 GMT

On Tuesday, 23 June 2020, ‘Alaa Mohammed al-‘Amouri (41) was killed and his two brothers and his cousin were wounded with live bullets when a police force along with al-‘Izariyia Municipality staff implemented a judicial decision to receive a rented-property from lessors. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) expresses its deep concern over the incident, calls for opening a serious investigation into it, publishing the results and taking necessary legal action.

According to PCHR’s investigations and eyewitnesses’ testimonies, at approximately 14:00, the Palestinian police accompanied with al-‘Izariyia Municipality staff  and security services officers in civilian clothing took off to implement a judicial decision issued by the court to fulfill the property transfer of a land rented by al-‘Amouri family for several decades. The land belongs to a monastery and the municipality intends to establish a park on it.

Security officers and Municipality staff stopped al-‘Amouri family members, who refused to hand over the land, claiming their ownership of it. During which, an altercation broke out between al-‘Amouri family members and police officers, as the latter arrested and handcuffed 2 members of al-‘Amouri family. Meanwhile, al-‘Amouri family members attempted to intercept the police officers, who fired live bullets at them. As a result, ‘Alaa Mohammed al-‘Amouri (41), his two brothers ‘Amer (44) and Omar (37), and his cousin ‘Ali sustained live bullets wounds. At approximately 15:15, ‘Alaa was pronounced dead succumbing to wounds he sustained in the chest, shortly after arriving at Hadassah (al-Issawiya) Hospital in occupied East Jerusalem for treatment.

Following al-‘Amouri’s death, a group of young men attacked the head office of al-‘Izariyah village’s municipality and threw stones and Molotov Cocktails, setting it on fire, despite that there were some people inside the building. The young men also burned a vehicle owned by Issam Far’oun, Head of the al-‘Izariyah village’s municipality  and threatened him.

Police spokesperson, Loai Irzeiqat, said that a force of police  and security services  headed to al-‘Izariyah village to clean  to clean up a plot of land and open a road to set up a project on it. In the meantime, a group of persons intercepted them, and an altercation occurred where the Palestinian force opened fire, wounding a number of persons. The wounded civilians were transferred to Palestinian hospitals for medical treatment. Izreiqat added that: “A citizen died after being shot in an altercation and investigations are still pending to identify the circumstances of the incident.”

PCHR is deeply concerned over the recurrence of such incidents and calls for a serious investigation, and that the investigation results be published to the public in addition to taking the necessary legal proceedings.  PCHR also emphasizes the authority’s right to apply law and prosecute the outlaws but in the same time the security services should comply with the opening fire standards, which oblige the security officers to use weapons only when defending themselves or others from an imminent danger according to the proportionality rules codified by international standards.