Shock follows footage of settler running over Palestinian - twice

Published today (updated) 02/12/2009 22:51

Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies -

See the video at:

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=243887

Click here for an uncut version of the film.

 An amateur video shocked Palestinians on Tuesday, catching what appeared to be a settler running over a wounded Palestinian man at a gas station in Hebron last week.

The Palestinian youngman, Waseem Masooda, shot several times following an alleged knife attack at the station (the usual Israeli justification of killing Palestinians), appeared in the video staggering, when a silver Mercedes ran him down, stopped, reversed, and ran him over a second time.

The video was taken on Thursday, although at the time, Israeli representatives made no mention of the settler's alleged attack, telling reporters only that a Palestinian man had been shot after he stabbed and lightly injured two Israeli settlers.

A military spokesman told Ma'an that after the two Israelis were hurt, a soldier shot and injured the Palestinian, who was taken to the Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital in Jerusalem. The Israeli settler, on the other hand, was released under house arrest.

That evening, a hospital spokeswoman told Ma'an the Palestinian was undergoing surgery for serious wounds, but did not mention he had been run over and trapped under a car. The man was transported by an Israeli ambulance, she added.

What follows is a partial clip from Al-Jazeera. Click here for an uncut version of the film.

Warning: contains graphic images.

The video captures several soldiers standing by as the incident unfolds. Those who run up to the vehicle and appear to take the keys out of the ignition are armed Israeli settlers. The Palestinian man is left underneath the car screaming as settlers extract the driver. Several moments of silence follow, after which medics approach the injured man.

According to The Jerusalem Post, the driver of the car was David Mizrachi, from the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba and the husband of one of the knife attack victims. He may stand trial for attempted murder, the newspaper reported.

Both incidents come as tensions in the illegal Israeli settlements rise, with settlers vowing to defy recent orders to slow down certain construction. Israeli occupation soldiers have also shown an increasing aversion to cracking down on settler behavior, with some announcing their refusal to take part in missions that involve removing settlers from what Israeli courts determine are illegally occupied Palestinian homes.

Last fall in Hebron, dozens of Israeli occupation soldiers were sent to evacuate the Al-Rajabi home in Hebron, following which rampaging illegal Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba shot a Palestinian at almost point-blank range. The settler was briefly arrested and later released without charge.