According to a report from BBC News [1], Israeli troops shot and killed a 12-year-old boy during a protest against the barrier [2] being erected in Nilin [3]. Although soldiers shot at other protestors with rubber bullets, injuring up to 18 people, the boy was the only person hit by a live bullet.
The Palestine Solidarity Project explained [4] the incident in detail:
Friday, August 1, residents of Ni’lin, who have buried a 10 year old boy, Ahmed Mousa, and have another youth, Yousef Amira, brain dead in a hospital in Ramallah, returned to their struggle against the confiscation of their land. Palestinians were joined by Israeli and international solidarity activists as they marched towards the site of the construction of the Annexation Barrier and where Ahmed Mousa was fatally shot in the head. More than a hundred meters away from the site several rolls of razor-wire had been set up by the military to prevent access to the construction site after several demonstrations had successfully reached the bulldozers and prevented their work in past weeks. It was this razor-wire that Ahmed Mousa was killed for touching.
Climbing Walls, who describes herself as “an American Muslimah in Palestine,” takes note [5] of Nilin's (Na'alin) prominence in the news of late:
The village of Na'alin has been in the news lately, at least the news here. They have been protesting the construction of the wall which will cut much of the agricultural land from the village. These protests seem to always have a group of foreign or Israeli activists who are committed to nonviolence, but their protests are often forcefully dispersed. That is where the young man was shot in the foot with a rubber bullet while he was bound and blindfolded. The officer who was holding him has been suspended for 10 days pending an investigation into whether he actually ordered the shooting. And today a 9 year old boy was shot and killed. It is so sad.
DesertPeace, an American who lives in Jerusalem, had this [6] to say about the boy's death:
Just remember, the bullet that killed this 11 year old boy was a gift from the United States government….
Jews Sans Frontieres, an “anti-Zionist blog,” expressed anger [7] as well:
What games the mainstream plays for Israel. Oh, by the way Israel killed yet another child today. Or was it yesterday, or tomorrow. Actually this one was today. But look at how CNN reports the crime:
“ Palestinian boy killed during protest, witnesses say
JERUSALEM (CNN) — Israeli soldiers Tuesday fired shots near a group of Palestinian youths during a demonstration in the West Bank, killing a 9-year-old boy, eyewitnesses told CNN.”
They fired “shots near a group of Palestinian youths”. See, if they weren't the most moral army in the world they would have fired at them and that could have been fatal.
Arab-American blog KABOBfest took a cynical view [8] of the situation:
Those poor Israeli soldiers, eh? Dealing with civilian protestors from Nil’in objecting to the theft of their land for the benefit of illegal settlements, the soldiers are becoming increasingly frustrated at the villagers refusal to just shutup and give in.
So they shoot them.
More somberly, the blogger reminds us that:
There have been over 70 Palestinian children killed by Israeli soldiers in this year alone.
Our thoughts are with the family of Ahmed Ussam Yousef Mousa. May he rest in peace.