Shimshon Citrin was acquitted Sunday of attempted murder charges over his involvement in an attempted lynch of a Palestinian youth on the eve of the disengagement in 2005.

Citrin, a resident of the West Bank settlement of Nahniel, was convicted however of causing injury, aggravated assault, causing a disturbance, making threats and entering a restricted area. He was 18 years old at the time of the assault.

Citrin and another suspect were arrested after several television crews documented the attempted lynching of Hilal Majaida, 18.

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The incident took place after right-wing extremists took over an abandoned building in Muasi, a Palestinian area adjacent to Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip. The extremists and Palestinians hurled rocks at one another. Majaida, who was throwing rocks, was embroiled in a fight with the extremists, some of whom beat him and continued to throw rocks at him after he lost consciousness.

The indictment details Citrin's actions. "While the [Palestinian] youth was lying injured, near the wall, the defendant approached him, determined to harm the wounded youth and cause his death. He was equipped with a rock, jumped over the wall, and hurled the rock towards the youth's head, with the intent of causing his death. The rock hit the youth on the forehead. He [the youth] tried to stand, and collapsed. At this point, the wounded youth was aided by journalists, and was taken into one of the houses. The soldiers and journalists alerted Aryeh Levi, a medic who was on the scene, to treat the wounded Palestinian. As the medic approached the youth, the defendant said to him 'If you want to get beaten up, treat him.'"

The court was sufficiently convinced that Citrin had in fact hurled rocks at Majaida while the latter was lying injured on the ground. The Be'er Sheva District Court ruled that "there is no doubt the defendant meant to harm the victim. The fact that the defendant looked at the victim while he was on the ground and aimed the rock at him before throwing it, combined with the force with which the rock was hurled all point to the defendant's clear intent to harm the victim."

However, the judges also wrote "we don't believe that this intent was the intent to kill." The judges mentioned that after the defendant threw the biggest rock, he "left the young man alone after throwing the rock, and did not attempt to hit him again, though he could have easily finished the unsuccessful attempt if he had wanted to."

Majaida told Haaretz shortly after the incident "a settler came near me and hit me in the head with a rock. He came to me from behind and I didn't see him. After that, I felt several more rocks falling on me. I don't remember anything more. I walked a few steps and fell. After I was awakened by the jolt of another rock that hit me. I got up. After that , there was a soldier that dropped my head into a wall and then another rock fell on my head, and I fell down again. I yelled 'leave me alone, I want to go home' and I fell on the sand."