Israel makes arrests over Palestinian teen murder; video shows cops beating his cousin

Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha Jerusalem: Even as Israel arrested six Jewish extremists on suspicion of abducting and murdering a Palestinian teenager in suspected revenge killing, a mobile phone video emerged on Monday showing the police badly beating up the cousin of the murdered boy. According to the BBC, the disturbing mobile phone footage shows how brutally the police kicked and punched the teenager repeatedly in the head, knocking him unconscious. The teenager in the video is a 15 year old Palestinian-US boy named Tariq Khdair, who is the cousin of Mohammed Abu Khdair, the Palestinian teen whose brutal murder on July 2 sparked fierce clashes in east Jerusalem that spread across a bunch of Arab towns with fiery protesters pelting stones at Israeli riot police. Tariq has a US citizenship and lives in Florida. He was arrested by the Israeli police on Thursday from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Shuafat during anti-police protests.

The teenager who has now been placed under house arrest, says he was a mere spectator during the protests, but the police say that he was one of the angry protesters attacking the riot police, says a BBC report. The boy`s aunt has said that his hands were tied behind his back while the Israeli police were beating him black and blue. The video could add fuel to the fire that has already been ignited by the revenge attack of the 16 year old Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdair, who was allegedly killed in revenge attack by the Israeli extremists, was burnt to death. The autopsy said that 16-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khdeir suffered burns on "90 percent of his body." The revenge attack on Palestinian teen was said to be staged in retaliation to the death of three Israeli teenagers and the issue fuelled intense anger and clashes that spread into Arab Israeli towns.  Meanwhile, the tensions remained high on Israel-Gaza border, with both sides continuing with the exchange of mortar and rocket fire. However, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that it was important to act with “a cool head”. Speaking in a weekly Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu on Sunday urged the Arab leaders "to show responsibility and come out against the wave of disturbances in order to restore quiet".  Also, showing restraint over the border tension with Gaza, he said, "Experience has proved that at moments like this, we have to act responsibly and with a cool head and not with harsh words and impetuousness". Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, on the other hand, said he had asked UN chief Ban Ki-moon to form "an international investigative committee" to probe Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.  At the heart of the recent conflict is the murder of three Israeli teens last month, that is said to have triggered the brutal revenge killing of a Palestinian teen, whose funeral was held on Friday.