Trial starts for Palestinian teen suspected in knife attack

In the video, broadcast by the Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm satellite television network, the Israeli officers can be seen yelling, cursing at and verbally abusing 13-year-old Ahmad Manasra, whom they accuse of carrying out a stabbing attack on an illegal settler near Pisgat Ze’ev settlement in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Administrative detention is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months.

The violence over the past six weeks has in part been fueled by an increase in Jewish visits to a site in Jerusalem’s walled Old City that is holy to both Muslims and Jews.

The Palestinian arrived at the Kiosk checkpoint near Bethlehem in the West Bank on Tuesday afternoon and arose the suspicion of border guards, a police spokesperson said.

The Ynet news outlet named the 12 and 13-year-old boys as cousins Moawiyah and Ali Alkam from the refugee camp of Shuafat. The video, which was aired on Palestinian television, showed Israeli security service interrogators shouting at Manasra and showing him surveillance footage of the attack. The Israelis, aged 20 and 13, survived their wounds.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas caused an uproar in Israel when he erroneously claimed in a televised speech that Israelis had “summarily executed” Manasra. His 4-year-old brother Ahmad is being treated in an Israeli hospital.

Israel promptly accused Abbas – as it has done repeatedly in the past months – of fomenting violence with what it says are incendiary comments. The video made no mention of the preceding attack.

In addition, Palestinians are frustrated as U.S.-backed peace efforts have stalled and Israel’s 48-year occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem shows no sign of ending. One of the officers shouts at him, “Is this you, this person?” as the teen cries and says he doesn’t remember. “You can not terrify or threaten or tempt for the objective of achieving a confession”, she said.

In Monday’s shooting, the Israeli Defense Ministry said the woman ignored warning shots and calls to stop as she walked toward a checkpoint near the Alfei Menashe settlement in the northern West Bank.

An Israeli soldier runs past a flag belonging to the ruling Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, on November 17, 2012.