Palestinian cops killed an Israeli Sunday when they opened fire on ultra-Orthodox Jewish worshippers sneaking into a Palestinian-ruled area to worship at Joseph’s Tomb.
The dead man, Ben-Joseph Livnat, was the nephew of Israel‘s Culture and Science Minister.
After his funeral later Sunday, some Israeli mourners stoned and burned Palestinian cars. Israel Radio reported that some Palestinians also rioted, burning tires near the tomb in Nablus.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Livnat was part of a convoy of three cars of ultra-Orthodox who went to the site in the Palestinian-contolled West Bank without Israeli or Palestinian authorization.
Palestinian policemen told them to leave. Instead, they tried to break through a checkpoint outside the religious site and Palestinian policemen fired on them.
Livnat, 25, a father of four, was killed and four others wounded.
“This is cold-blooded murder. Ben Yosef went to pray with other Jews, and he was murdered simply because he was Jewish,” said his aunt, Minister Limor Livnat, who said the killer was “a terrorist disguised as a Palestinian policeman.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the Palestinian Authority “take serious steps against the terrorists who committed this criminal act against Jewish worshipers on their way to pray.”
The Jerusalem Post said the four wounded men were detained by Israeli police for obstructing the investigation by refusing to tell authorities their version of events.
The officers on duty during the shooting were held for questioning by the Palestinian Authority, which was reported to be embarassed by the incident.
The Israeli Army and Palestinian Authority coordinate a monthly pilgrimage to the site for hundreds of worshipers in armored buses.
Jews believe the Biblical patriarch Joseph, eleventh son of Jacob, is buried there. The site is also holy to Christians, especially the Eastern Orthodox, and to Muslims, who consider him Yusuf, a prophet.
