Content area
Full Text
In the midst of the international furor that erupted over the June 12 abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers, the death of an 18-year-old Palestinian shepherd in the West Bank went unremarked.
Sakher Daragmeh was killed on June 21, as he tended goats close to the remote village of al-Aqaba, on the high slopes of the northern Jordan Valley.
His father, Burhan Daragmeh, said he and other relatives found Sakher's body covered in blood, with a bullet wound to the chest. The army quickly took charge of his body, which was sent into Israel for an autopsy.
The Israeli authorities so far have declined to divulge their findings, said the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem. However, the Israeli police have initiated an investigation.
Whatever the precise circumstances of Daragmeh's death, everyone agrees that the Palestinian youth died in an area that Israel has declared a closed military firing zone since the 1970s.
It is one of several that have hemmed in al-Aqaba on all sides, making life for the 300 villagers-as well as dozens of Bedouin families encamped in the surrounding hills-a continuous game of Russian roulette. Most are engaged in grazing animals.
"He was shot on purpose by the Israeli army, in cold blood," said Burhan Daragmeh. "There was no reason to shoot him. But everyone of us who lives in this area knows that we are not safe."
B'Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said that, based on her previous experience, the Daragmeh family might have to wait years before they receive an official explanation from Israel about how their son died.
Over the years, six other villagers from al-Aqaba, including a six-year-old girl, have been killed in firing zones, two by live fire and four by faulty shells that exploded. A further 38 inhabitants have been injured.
Following a petition to the Israeli courts in 1999, the army agreed not to continue conducting live-fire exercises in al-Aqaba or carry out maneuvers among the houses. However, according to the Israeli human rights group ACRI, the pledge has been violated on several occasions.
As a result, more than 700...