JERUSALEM
An Israeli pathologist will join a team tasked with examining the death of a senior Palestinian official who died Wednesday after inhaling teargas used by the Israeli army to disperse a West Bank demonstration.
"The coordinator of government activities in the territories, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, and his Palestinian counterpart, Hussein al-Sheikh, have agreed that an Israeli pathologist will join a delegation of pathologists from Jordan [to conduct] a joint examination of the circumstances of Ziad Abu Ein's death," the Israeli army said in a Wednesday statement.
It added: "A proposal has been made to the Palestinians to establish a joint investigation team to review the incident."
Abu Ein, the official in charge of the Israeli settlements file at the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), died on Wednesday after suffocating on teargas used by Israeli troops to disperse an anti-occupation demonstration in the northern West Bank town of Turmus Ayya.
Dozens of other demonstrators suffered temporary asphyxiation after inhaling excessive amounts of teargas.
Abu Ein was rushed to the Ramallah medical complex in critical condition before being pronounced dead.
The Israeli army has since said it was reviewing the circumstances of Abu Ein's participation in the protest and his subsequent death.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, for his part, denounced the Israeli attack on Abu Ein as "barbaric" and declared a three-day mourning period.
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