RAMALLAH
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to condemn the kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian teen by suspected Jewish settlers.
"Abbas calls on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to condemn the kidnapping and killing of Mohamed Abu Khdeer…just as the Palestinian Authority condemned the kidnapping and killing of the three Israeli settlers," the PA said in a statement published by the official Wafa news agency.
"Abbas called on Israel to take real action on the ground to stop the settlers' attacks and the havoc wreaked by the Israeli military escalation in the West Bank which had left 15 Palestinians dead since the beginning of June," it added.
Mohamed Hussien Abu Khdeer, 16, was abducted in the early hours of Wednesday.
Israeli police had summoned his father to identify a body found in a Jerusalem forest.
The news sparked violent clashes with Israeli forces near Mohamed's house in Shuafat district, leaving at least 70 Palestinians injured, according to sources at Shuafat medical center.
Tension has been high since three Israeli settlers – who went missing in June – were found dead Monday near the West Bank city of Hebron.
Netanyahu has blamed Hamas for their deaths and threatened to retaliate.
In the almost three weeks since the settlers' disappearance, Israel has rounded up hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, including Hamas lawmakers, former cabinet ministers and senior members.
No Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the settlers' disappearance or deaths.
Netanyahu condemns Palestinian teen murder
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned on Wednesday the "despicable" killing of a Palestinian teen abducted by suspected Jewish settlers in what seemed like a revenge attack for the recent killing of three young settlers.
"Israel is a nation of laws and everyone must act according to the law," Netanyahu said in a statement.
He added that he had asked Israeli Interior Security Ministry Itzhak Aharonovich and police to find those behind the "despicable" murder.
Netanyahu also called on all sides not to take the law into their own hands.
Mohamed Hussien Abu Khdeer, 16, was abducted from outside his home in Shuafat district near Jerusalem in the early hours of Wednesday.
According to footage from a security camera seen by AA, two Jewish settlers had manhandled Abu Khdeer, a high school student, and forced him into their car before fleeing the area.
Israeli police have since confirmed that a body found in a Jerusalem forest belonged to the Palestinian teen.
The abduction and murder news had sparked violent clashes with Israeli forces near Mohamed's house, leaving at least 70 Palestinians injured, according to sources at Shuafat medical center.
Talking to AA before being summoned by the Israeli police to identify his body, the father blamed Jewish settlers for abducting his boy.
"The settlers kidnapped him inside a car and fled," he said.
Tension has been high since three Israeli settlers – who went missing in June – were found dead Monday near the West Bank city of Hebron.
Netanyahu has blamed Hamas for their deaths and threatened to retaliate.
In the almost three weeks since the settlers' disappearance, Israel has rounded up hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank, including Hamas lawmakers, former cabinet ministers and senior members.
www.aa.com.tr/en
