Witnesses: Israeli police 'execute' Palestinian in Jerusalem over alleged attack

MARCH 13, 2017 10:02 A.M. (UPDATED: MARCH 13, 2017 5:13 P.M.)
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25-year-old Ibrahim Mahmoud Matar, from Jabal al-Mukabbir

JERUSALEM (Maan) -- Israeli police shot and killed a 25-year-old Palestinian
near the Lions Gate entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem's
Old City early Monday morning after he allegedly stabbed two Israeli police
officers, who were lightly and moderately injured.
The slain man was identified as Ibrahim Mahmoud Matar, a resident of the East
Jerusalem neighborhood Jabal al-Mukabbir, located south of the Old City.
The shooting happened ahead of the Muslim fajr (dawn) prayers, as worshipers
were headed to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Witnesses told Ma'an they saw a dispute inside an Israeli police post located
near Lions Gate between an Israeli policeman and a Palestinian "who was carrying
a stick.
Israeli police then forced the young man outside of the enclosure and
executed him at point blank range with with four bullets, leading to his
immediate death, witnesses said.
Referring to the dispute that lead up to the shooting, eyewitnesses told Maan
that Israeli police were controlling the situation and could have easily detained
Matar without using lethal force.
However, a statement released by Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri
alleged that Matar entered the police post with a knife and stabbed two Israeli
police officers before a third police officer shot and killed him immediately.
According to al-Samri, Matar had arrived to the area in his car, which he parked
near Lions Gate. Israeli border police stopped him as he tried to walk through
Lions Gate and led him into the police room to search him, when he attacked
two Israeli border police officers that were inside.
A third officer was able to leave the room, and then shot and killed Matar, the
police statement said.
Al-Samri said the first officer sustained moderate injuries, while the second
was lightly injured. They were both taken to a hospital for medical treatment.
Following the killing, Israeli forces were heavily deployed in and around Lions
Gate and prevented many Palestinians from reaching Al-Aqsa Mosque to pray,
with witnesses saying the lockdown lasted from 4:30 until 6 a.m.
Later Monday morning, Israeli forces raided Matars home in Jabal al-Mukabbir
and detained his brother, parents, and his uncle, according to locals and Israeli
police.

Israeli police detain Ibrahim Mahmoud Matar's brother after the shooting.
Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said in a written statement later
Monday morning that Israeli police were carrying out "general security
measures" in public areas across Jerusalem as celebrations for the Jewish
holiday of Purim were scheduled throughout the day, and that investigations into
the shooting were ongoing.
The incident came as Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza
Strip were placed under temporary blockade for the duration of the Jewish
holiday, with the Israeli army imposing a closure on all travel -- with the
exception of "humanitarian and special cases" -- in and out of the occupied
territory from between midnight on Friday and until midnight on March 13
between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Israel often implements massive closures on the Palestinian territory during
Jewish holidays. Last year during Purim, Israel shut down all checkpoints
between the occupied West Bank and Israel and occupied Jerusalem, and all
checkpoint crossings with the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians were also restricted access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the
third holiest site in Islam, in East Jerusalem with all Palestinian men younger
than 50 denied entry to the site.
Restrictions at the mosque compound during a succession of Jewish holidays in
September 2015 played a major role in triggering a wave of unrest that has
since left some 250 Palestinians and 35 Israelis killed.
Amid the unrest, rights groups have disputed Israel's version of events in a
number of cases, denouncing what they have termed as a "shoot-to-kill" policy
against Palestinians who did not constitute a threat at the time of their death,
or who could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner -- amid a backdrop of
impunity for Israeli forces who have committed the killings.
Israel's response to attacks have meanwhile be denounced as "collective
punishment" and illegal under international law
Jabal al-Mukabbir has already been subjected to a policy of reprisal in recent
months through the closure of main roads resulting in the disruption of the
movement of people and public transport, after resident of the neighborhood
Fadi al-Qunbar was shot dead after driving a truck into a group of Israeli
soldiers, killing four.
In the wake of the attack, the Israeli Minister of Interior decided to revoke
the residencies of 13 members slain attackers family -- including al-Qunbar's
mother, demolition notices were delivered to some 81 houses in Jabal al-
Mukabbir under the pretext that they were built without permits, and the al-
Qunbar home was ordered to be punitively demolished.