Last update - 00:00 28/01/2007
Police re-enact death of 10-year-old killed in West Bank clashes
By The Associated Press
Israel Police on Sunday re-enacted the killing of a 10-year old Palestinian girl killed earlier this month, but did not come to firm conclusions about what killed her.
The case of Abir Aramin, daughter of a peace activist, shocked many. She was critically wounded January 16 during a clash between Palestinian rock throwers and Border Police in the town of Anata, just outside Jerusalem in the West Bank. She died two days later in a Jerusalem hospital.
Police fired rubber-coated steel bullets at the Palestinians during the disturbance. The bullets a common riot-control weapon but can be fatal.
Abir's father, Bassam, 37, said he believed the girl was hit in the back of the head by a rubber bullet, but an autopsy performed by Israelidoctors, with a pathologist appointed by the family in attendance, was inconclusive, according to Israeli officials.
The police re-enacted the incident yesterday and interviewed witnesses as part of the investigation. Those questioned included Abir's 12-year-old sister, Areen, who had been with her sister when she was struck just outside her school. Areen said she did not know what hit her sister.
Israel Police Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said yesterday that pathologists at the Israeli forensic institute still don't know what killed Abir.
The girl's father is one of the founders of Combatants for Peace, a group of former Israel Defense Forces soldiers and Palestinian gunmen, who are touring schools to preach coexistence.