By Bilal Ghaith
Every morning, Iyad Khairi Hallak, 32, a person with special needs, goes to his institution, which specializes in special education for people with disabilities, near the Lions Gate in occupied Jerusalem. But on this morning, he did not know that it was the last time he goes there.
Before he reached the school, Hallak, who suffers from a partial movement disability and is mentally slow, was asked by Israeli police officers to stop for bodily search, but he was afraid and did not comply with their orders. Thus, the officers opened gunfire at him and left him bleeding until he died. The police claimed the young man had a pistol on his possession, which was later dismissed by the police.
Ziyad Hammouri, director of the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights, suggested that the Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem are easy on the trigger when it comes to opening fire at Palestinians, even on the mere suspicion and when no real danger is there.
“The photo of the American black youth who was killed by US police in cold blood and which went viral worldwide, is being practiced in Jerusalem every day,” he noted.
He pointed out that the Israeli forces kill Palestinian civilians in cold blood under false pretexts. “On some occasions, when Israeli police execute a Palestinian, they open a mock investigation, which often ends with no results and with no one brought to trial.”
Shawan Jabarin, director of the Al-Haq human rights group, told WAFA that the recent four shootings by Israeli forces that took place during the past two days in Ramallah and Jerusalem are evidence that murder of Palestinian civilians was a tolerated practice by the occupation forces.
He said the Israeli policy of tolerating the killing of Palestinians was a result of the fact that the Israeli army or police officers know very well they will not be prosecuted or held accountable.
“The accusations and allegations by the occupation are ready. Data shows that most of those who were killed could have been arrested, but the occupation insisted on killing them,” he remarked.
Jabarin stressed that the Israeli occupation’s policy is based on zero accountability and full impunity, and that the killing of the Palestinian is a daily, ordinary and tolerated practice, which reflects the spirit of discrimination and racism inherent in the Israeli occupation’s regime.
“We are talking today about killing a man with special needs, and it is easy to know that the victim has some kind of mental issue, but they [the Israeli police] are shooting because they made sure he is Palestinian. If this person was an Israeli, he would not be treated like this or shot.”
(WAFA)
