Press TV has interviewed Saeed Nimer, professor of political science at Birzeit University in Ramallah, about Israeli military forces fatally shooting a young Palestinian man and critically injuring another after they allegedly sought to carry out separate stabbing attacks in the occupied West Bank.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Please tell us overall, this sense it seems of overall frustration that the young people are having and more and more we are seeing them defy the Israelis. Do you think, do you see this trend continuing or not?
Nimer: As a matter of fact the frustration also on the Israeli side, it is quite obvious that the Israeli army are not holding themselves and they are just opening fire at any Palestinian approaching them or passing by and apparently that is an indication also of an unrest for the Israeli soldiers who feel all the time insecure in the Palestinian territories.
Now for the Palestinians, yes, this is alarming issue and especially that we are talking about children and now we have so many children since October last year till now who have been killed in the same way allegedly attacking the Israeli soldiers, killed and then there is a knife appearing near to him. But the most important issue here [is] that the Israelis are killing on purpose and they do not give any treatment to the Palestinian injured and they leave them to bleed to death which is an execution without even a trial, without anything, just execution on the roads and that is going on and on in several occasions all over the West Bank now.
Press TV: And tell me, you mentioned that it is actually the Israelis obviously who are very antsy. I have just reported on a young man today actually being arrested basically because they said that he approached them suspiciously. What has to be done in your idea, what can be done in order to protect the Palestinian populist from this?
Nimer: Yes, this is also a very important point and it has been discussed today among the Palestinians how to protect but you cannot predict the Israeli actions. That is the problem. If there is a child who is walking in the streets, going towards a road block because he wants to cross to the other side and they say he is coming suspiciously. How do you define suspiciously, his face being an Arab, a Palestinian because he had a dark complexion, because of what? How do you define someone, a child, as suspicious?
So I think that it is all atrocities by the Israeli troops, by the Israeli occupation army and they are killing the Palestinians without even thinking about. Some of the Israeli leaders, they talk about that, that the Israeli soldiers today and police, their hands are very light on their weapons and they just kill on any suspicion. They can apprehend, they can arrest, they can take over anyone, and especially girls, but they prefer on the other hand to kill them and the … [regime], [the] right-wing … [regime], the secular … [regime] encouraging them, as easy as that. And we did not have even one incident.
There was an investigation inside the Israeli army to see if that person was killed while he is innocent or not, none, and to the contrary lots of Israeli soldiers were decorated because they killed Palestinians. So it is quite obvious it is the Israeli plan and the Israeli … [regime] encouraging the Israeli soldiers to do so.