Shooting of teen attackers sparks concern at Israeli use of forceIf both attackers had been killed with just one shot, this would have been justified. This possibly was not. However, police are human too, and the attacks have been on the police, as well as others. Perhaps this cop lost it; that doesn't justify it, but it is likely to happen again, because it is essentially a war event and is a feverish situation.
"By Joe Dyke
Qalandiya (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian mother Maleeha Awwad still cannot explain what happened the day her 14-year-old daughter stabbed a man with scissors and was shot dead by police.
As far as she knew Hadeel had walked to school with her cousin Norhan, 16. Instead the two girls went to Jerusalem's central market and carried out the attack.
Nearly a month later, Israeli authorities finally released Hadeel's body on Friday to enable the family to bury her.
"I still don't understand what happened," Awwad said at her home on the edge of the Qalandiya refugee camp near Ramallah, shaking her head and close to tears.
The United Nations and human rights groups have voiced concern that Israeli security forces are responding to attacks with excessive force.
The Israeli police officer who shot the teenagers has been placed under investigation -- the first such probe since a wave of violence began on October 1.
Security camera footage from the incident on November 23 appears to show the two girls in school uniform chasing a man with scissors before being shot.
Police said the girls had stabbed and lightly wounded a 70-year-old Palestinian nearby, apparently mistaking him for a Jew.
The footage shows both girls shot and on the ground. The policeman runs back towards one of them -- apparently Norhan -- and opens fire despite her being curled in a ball.
Norhan was seriously wounded, but survived and has been charged with attempted murder."
The furor now will be focused on the cop, not the "poor teenagers".
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