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WORLD NEWSFriday 16 October 2015
Teenager becomes a focus in Israel-Palestinian conflict
KARIN LAUB legs splayed, as bystanders
curse him and shout “Die!”
JOSEF FEDERMAN in Hebrew. The images,
widely circulated on social
Associated Press media, made no mention
of the preceding attack by
JERUSALEM (AP) — The fate Ahmed and his cousin Has-
san, 15, who was then shot
of a Palestinian boy seized and killed by police Mon-
day.
center stage Thursday in The case has become a
lightning rod for both sides.
the battle of narratives ac- Israel has repeatedly ac-
cused Abbas of fomenting
companying the recent violence with what it says
are incendiary comments.
burst of deadly Israeli-Pal- “Now we have a new big
lie. That new big lie is that
estinian violence. Israel is executing Pales-
tinians,” Netanyahu said
Palestinian President Mah- Thursday. Still, he said he
would be “perfectly open”
moud Abbas ignited an to meeting Abbas to ad-
dress what the Israeli leader
uproar in Israel after false- said was a wave of incite-
ment.
ly claiming in a televised
speech that Israelis had
“summarily executed”
Ahmed Manasra, when the
13-year-old actually was
recovering at an Israeli hos-
pital after he stabbed two
Israelis, including a boy his
own age.
Palestinians, in turn, were Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on during a press conference at the Foreign Min-
istry in Jerusalem, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015. Netanyahu on Thursday said he would be “perfectly
enraged by video showing open” to meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in order to end weeks of Israeli-
Palestinian unrest.
Ahmed lying in the street,
(AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)
his head bloodied and his
Abbas, who has long ar- would deploy 300 soldiers Palestinian authorities,
gued that armed attacks in Jerusalem to help police
on Israelis go against Pal- maintain order, guard pub- meanwhile, have focused
estinian interests, has de- lic transportation and the
nied the Israeli allegations city’s main streets. on releasing amateur vid-
that he is fomenting unrest. Both sides use social me-
He did not immediately re- dia to promote their official eo appearing to show Is-
spond to Netanyahu’s of- narratives.
fer. In his speech Wednes- Israeli officials have re- raeli police using excessive
day, Abbas said Israel has leased security camera
engaged in excessive videos of the attacks, force.
force and the “summary sometimes within minutes.
execution of our children in The police, army, Foreign The battle also plays out in
cold blood.” Ministry and prime minis-
The high-level name-calling ter’s office cooperate, col- private Facebook, Twitter
highlighted the abyss be- lecting clips from Palestin-
tween the two leaders, at a ian websites that are seen and Instagram accounts.
time when prospects for a as promoting violence or
return to Israeli-Palestinian searching for Facebook On the Palestinian side, so-
negotiations appear nil. posts from assailants that
In the past month, eight Is- they say indicated they cial media play a growing
raelis were killed in Palestin- were about to commit vio-
ian attacks, most of them lent acts. role in the conflict. Palestin-
stabbings. During the same Foreign Ministry spokesman
period, 31 Palestinians were Emanuel Nahshon said the ian media experts say the
killed by Israeli fire, includ- strategy is to spread Israel’s
ing 14 labeled by Israel as messages and complain vast majority of Palestinians
attackers, and the others to popular services about
in clashes between stone- allegedly offensive com- between the ages of 12
throwers and Israeli troops. ment. He said Israel per-
Israel has increased secu- suaded Google’s YouTube and 22 use social media.
rity across the country in service and Facebook to
response to the unrest. On remove several Palestinian For the young, social media
Thursday, the military said it videos.
have taken the place of
political factions that were
key to organizing major
bouts of fighting with Israel
in the past.
In this round of violence,
Palestinian attacks on Is-
raelis have largely been
carried out by individu-
als with no ties to militant
groups. Motives often re-
main murky, but relatives
of assailants have cited as
potential triggers both the
pressures of life under Israeli
occupation and videos
seen on social media.q
