Saturday May 15, 2010 08:42 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian medical sources reported that Aysar al-Zaben, 16, who was killed on Friday, was shot by illegal Israeli settlers in Wad Al Haramiyya area near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, apparently bled to death as a bullet struck him in the heart.
Al Zaben, from Al Ma'sara Al Sharqiyya village, was shot and by a Jewish settler and was left to die.

Palestinian medics who were informed of the shooting by local residents searched the area and located his body three hours after he was wounded.

After the body of al-Zaben was located and autopsy revealed he was shot by one live round.

The Israeli army only stated that “there was shooting in the area after stones were hurled at a settlers’ vehicle” on Friday evening at settler road number 60.

Meanwhile, Palestinian eyewitnesses confirmed that a settler stepped out of his vehicle carrying an assault rifle and chased several children while firing at them.

Israeli sources reported that Israeli eyewitnesses said that they phoned the police and said that they saw three persons, one armed, leaving a vehicle, and that the armed person opened fire at Palestinian youths who hurled stones at him.

Meanwhile, member of Israeli Knesset of the fundamentalist “National Union Party”, Michael Ben Ari, defended the settlers and said that attack was an act of self defense.

Ben Ari added that Palestinians who hurl stones at the settlers and the soldiers and the setters “have the intention to kill Israelis”.

Shortly before the incident, two settlers were mildly wounded by Palestinian fire near the settlement of Ofra, not far from the area were the Palestinian youth was killed.

The Israeli army warned the Palestinian Authority that it takes any similar incident as a serious issue, and demanded the P.A police and security forces to calm the situation down.