JERUSALEM
Senior Palestinian official Ziad Abu Ein was laid to rest on Thursday at a military funeral in Ramallah, one day after his death during the dispersal by Israeli troops of an anti-settlement protest in the West Bank.
Thousands of mourners took part in the funeral, which was led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his prime minister, Rami Hamdallah.
"We're ready to sacrifice our lives for the martyr [Abu Ein]," mourners chanted as they carried Abu Ein's body to the Martyrs' Cemetery in the city of Al-Bireh near Ramallah.
Abu Ein, who had been in charge of the Israeli settlements file for the Palestine Liberation Organization, died Wednesday when Israeli troops dispersed an anti-occupation demonstration – in which he had been taking part – in the northern West Bank town of Turmus Ayya.
Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Hassan al-Sheikh, citing the findings of a delegation of Arab doctors, said Thursday that Abu Ein had died after being beaten by Israeli troops, exposed to excessive amounts of teargas, and prevented by the Israeli army from reaching a hospital in a timely manner.
"The forensic report [by the Arab doctors] is an essential piece of evidence implicating Israel [in Abu Ein's death]," al-Sheikh said following an autopsy conducted Wednesday evening.
However, an Israeli spokesman said Thursday that Abu Ein's death had been the result of a blocked coronary artery.
The Palestinian Authority's Abbas, for his part, described the Israeli attack on the demonstration in which Abu Ein had been taking part as "barbaric," declaring a three-day mourning period for the slain official.
The Israeli army, meanwhile, has since pledged to conduct a "review" of the circumstances of Abu Ein's participation in the protest and his subsequent death.
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