Protesters have marched in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank calling for justice after Israeli security forces killed a 31-year-old Palestinian activist.
The march came late on Monday, a day after Basil al-Araj was killed by Israeli troops in a house in al-Bireh, on the outskirts of Ramallah.
Two other Palestinians were wounded by gunfire in subsequent clashes with Israeli security forces, according to Palestinian hospital sources.
Seen as “close to Islamists”, Araj, who was from al-Walaja in Bethlehem, had spent several months in a Palestinian Authority prison, according to a Palestinian security source.
Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian non-violence activist and the head of the Palestinian National Initiative political party, told Al Jazeera that Araj’s death was “nothing but an act of extrajudicial killing and assassination”.
The Israeli police said on Monday that the security personnel were there to arrest Araj and later found two firearms in the house.
He said his nephew was an intellectual who devoted much of his time to reading and research, particularly about the history and geography of Palestine.
He said Araj never belonged to any particular faction but believed that intellectuals should express their thoughts in action and not only words.
For his part, Barghouti, the independent Palestinian politician, said he visited the house in Ramallah where the Israelis said a firefight occurred.
“The said there was a fight and clash, but what I found was that the only side that was shooting was the Israelis,” he told Al Jazeera.
“If Araj had any chance to shoot, he would not have been able to shoot more than one bullet. The house was completely bombarded with Israeli bullets. The Israeli side is trying to claim there was shoot back.”
