RAMALLAH
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that "all options remain open" following the death of a senior official during Israeli dispersal of an anti-settlement protest in the West Bank.
"What happened today was a crime in every sense and it cannot be tolerated," Abbas said during a meeting of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
Ziad Abu Ein, a Palestinian official in charge of the Israeli settlements file at the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), died on Wednesday after suffocating on teargas used by Israeli troops to disperse an anti-occupation demonstration in the northern West Bank town of Turmus Ayya.
Dozens of other demonstrators suffered temporary asphyxiation after inhaling excessive amounts of teargas.
Abbas said that all options remain "open" for the Palestinians following Abu Ein's death.
"We are determined to continue our popular resistance and struggle until the end of the [Israeli] occupation," he added.
The Palestinian leader said that Israel will come up with several scenarios about the Abu Ein's death.
"They [Israelis] will say that one of the soldiers suffering from mental illness or who lost his patience was behind the killing," he said.
Abbas earlier denounced Israeli attack on Abu Ein as "barbaric" and declared a three-day mourning period.
The Israeli army has since said it was reviewing the circumstances of Abu Ein's participation in the protest and his subsequent death.
Israeli PM sends message to Abbas following official's death
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday sent a message to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, following the death of a senior official in Israeli dispersal of an anti-settlement protest in the West Bank.
In the message, delivered by Netanyahu's personal envoy Yitzhak Molcho, the Israeli Premier said that Israel will look into the death of Ziad Abu Ein, who is in charge of the Israeli settlements file at the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
www.aa.com.tr/en
