Discovery of Dead Palestinian Teen Incites Clashes in Jerusalem
*Updated August 6*
On July 17, an adult and two minors were indicted for the death of a Palestinian teen on July 2, which was one of the incendiary events that led to the bloody conflict between Israel and Gaza.
According to Israeli authorities, the three abducted, beat up and burned Mohammed Abu Khedair, 16.
Prosecutors say the killing was in retaliation for the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens in the West Bank at the end of June, CNN reports.
The suspects are a 29-year-old man from Adam, a settlement on the West Bank, and his two relatives, both 16, from Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, respectively.
The body of a Palestinian teenager was found in Jerusalem on July 2, inciting violent clashes between Palestinians and Israelis. The clashes erupted amid already heightened tensions after the bodies of three missing Israeli teenagers were discovered Monday in the West Bank.
It is not yet clear if the death of the Palestinian teen was a retaliation for the killing of the Israeli teens. The death is currently under investigation, CNN reports.
The body was discovered an hour after Israeli police were informed that a Palestinian teen had been forced into a car in Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighborhood.
"We are concentrating on two things," Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told CNN, "whether the two incidents are related, and we're looking into whether this is a crime or nationalistic."
According to a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, he is demanding a fast and thorough investigation to discover "who is behind this despicable murder and the background to this act."
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat called the death "horrible and barbaric."
"This is not our way and I am fully confident that our security forces will bring the perpetrators to justice. I call on everyone to exercise restraint," Barkat said, according to CNN.
Palestinian television said that 17-year-old Mohammed Abu Khedair was kidnapped in Jerusalem by Israeli settlers.
A cousin of the teen, Majdi Abu Khedair, said that the car he was forced into had been used in a prior abduction two days ago.
"We blame the Israeli police for the kidnapping and killing of (Mohammed) and his burning," Khedair said, according to CNN. "The Israeli police and Israeli government should do the same as they have done in Hebron: Demolish and blow the settler houses who have done this crime."
After the bodies of the three Israeli teens were discovered Monday, the Israeli military destroyed the homes of the two people suspected of killing the teens. The two suspects are affiliated with Hamas, the militant group that is considered a terrorist organization by the West and is now in a unity government with Fatah.
After news broke of the Palestinian teen's death, violent clashes erupted between Israeli security forces and Palestinian residents in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat.
Palestinians threw stones at the Israeli military, and the military responded with stun grenades and tear gas. According to CNN, more than 50 were injured.
The Jerusalem Post also reported that Palestinian protesters attacked two Palestinians who they believed were Israeli police forces.
There was public outrage in the region Monday after the bodies of the three teens -- Eyal Yifrach, 19, and Naftali Frankel and Gilad Shaar, both 16 -- were discovered in the West Bank, near where they went missing more than two weeks prior.
The Israeli government blames Hamas for the killings. Hamas praised the abductions of the three teens, but has denied responsibility for the deaths.
The group said that the "gates of hell" will open to Prime Minister Netanyahu if he "brings a war" to Gaza.
At the funerals for the teens, Netanyahu said Israel will avenge their deaths.
"A broad moral gulf separates us from our enemies," he said. "They sanctify death, we sanctify life. They sanctify cruelty, and we mercy and compassion. That is the secret of our strength."
Netanyahu later announced that hundreds of Hamas activists had been arrested, Hamas affiliates' homes had been destroyed and dozens of Gaza institutions that are affiliated with Hamas had been closed down.
Israel also released air-strikes in Gaza after rockets were fired into Israel Monday.
While Hamas praised the abductions, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the West Bank's Fatah party, condemned the kidnappings.
Meanwhile, The Palestinian Cabinet condemned the alleged killings of Palestinians Tuesday in the search for the teens. They claim that 12 Palestinians were killed during the widespread operation to locate the teens. However, it did not identify those killed by name.
On Tuesday, after the boys were found dead, an emergency call surfaced that Shaar, one of the kidnapped young men, made to police on June 12.
"I've been abducted," he says in Hebrew in the recording.
A voice in the background shouts "Put your head down. Hands down!" in Hebrew, with an Arabic inflection.
Western powers have condemned the kidnapping and the killings, with the Human Rights Watch calling the deaths "a war crime if committed by an armed group."
U.S. President Barack Obama called the deaths a "senseless act of terror against innocent youth," and repeated his "full support to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to find the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice."
British Prime Minister David Cameron also called the deaths "an appalling and inexcusable act of terror."
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