Image: Salah Qawasmeh
Str  /  AP
Salah Qawasmeh, father of 37-year-old Izzedine Qawasmeh, holds his son's portrait after he heard the news of his death at the family house in the village of Sair near the West Bank city of Hebron, on Sunday.
updated 10/3/2010 10:26:34 AM ET 2010-10-03T14:26:34


The victim, Izzedine Qawasmeh, a 35-year-old father of five, was part of a group of Palestinian construction workers trying to enter Israel without permits when he was killed in east Jerusalem near the West Bank separation barrier. Most were headed to construction jobs in Israel, said a cousin who witnessed the shooting.

Despite a modest recovery in the West Bank after years of conflict-driven downturn, there is still significant economic hardship. Jobs remain scarce and pay is lower than in Israel. A workers' rights group said thousands sneak into Israel every day in search of jobs.

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The dead man's cousin, 22-year-old Mohammed Qawasmeh, said his relative was shot from close range and without provocation.


"We climb on each other's shoulders to the top of the wall, and we tie the rope, then descend to the other side," Qawasmeh said. "We usually choose (Saturday) midnight, because there are no soldiers and security. We move to a nearby place, a hill, where we stay until the morning," then travel by bus and on foot for several more hours to various construction sites.



Israeli police said the Palestinians trying to enter Sunday ignored police orders to stop and fled. But an officer caught up with Qawasmeh. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said he was shot after trying to grab the officer's gun, but it wasn't clear whether the officer fired or his gun discharged accidentally.

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The cousin denied that Qawasmeh tried to grab the gun.







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Also Sunday, an Israeli military court convicted two soldiers of using a 9-year-old Palestinian boy as a human shield during last year's Gaza war, in the most serious conviction yet connected to soldiers' war conduct.



A U.N. probe accused both Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers of committing war crimes. Israel denies the allegations, saying its justice system is capable of conducting an investigation that meets international standards.






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