May 16, 2021: Shaher Abu Khadija, 41, was killed by Israeli soldiers at a military roadblock near Jerusalem, in the West Bank.
Media sources said the young man drove his car into an Israeli military roadblock at the entrance of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem.
The Israeli army claimed the crash was intentional, and added that seven soldiers were injured, two critically, and added that the soldiers opened fire at the car, immediately killing the driver.
Eyewitnesses said Shaher was not trying to ram the soldiers with his car but was speeding and was surprised by the soldiers on the street, before trying to swerve to avoid them.
Shortly after the accident, the soldiers attacked nearby Palestinian homes and fired teargas bombs and stun grenades into them, in addition to abducting two young men.
Sheikh Jarrah is the neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem where the current tensions began. At least 550 indigenous Palestinians, from twenty-eight families live in Sheikh Jarrah and are facing eviction and displacement from their homes they have inhabited for more than 48 years.
Despite allegations by the illegal Israeli colonialist settlers of ownership of the Palestinian homes, the government of Jordan provided Israel with official deeds proving their ownership of the properties.
However, Israel’s government and colonialist groups, are ongoing with their attempts to control more Palestinian lands, for the benefit of its illegal colonialist activities, especially to link the neighborhood with other nearby colonies.
Shaher was from the neighborhood of Kafr Aqeb north of Jerusalem. Source: IMEMC