SILAT AL-HARITHIYA: Zionist forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank during what the army yesterday described as an operation to demolish the home of a Palestinian. The Palestinian health ministry identified the youth as Mohammed Abu Salah, 17, who was killed after Zionist forces late Sunday entered the village of Silat al-Harithiya near the flashpoint town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

Salah's mother, Rafika Abu Saleh, told AFP that when her son left their home in the nearby village of Al Yamun, he said he was going to a wedding party, but in fact went to the scene of the clashes, where he was shot in the head. Soldiers and border police had entered the village "to demolish the floor of the residence in which the terrorist Muhammad Jaradat resided", the army said in a statement.

The Zionist entity has blamed Jaradat and others for the fatal shooting of a Jewish settler in the illegal West Bank outpost of Homesh in December. The army said "violent riots" broke out ahead of the planned demolition, "with the participation of hundreds of Palestinians", some of whom hurled explosives at Zionist troops.

"The troops identified a number of armed rioters, and fired towards them in order to neutralize the threat," the army said about the operation which continued in the early hours of yesterday. The military did not comment directly on the teen's death. Abu Salah's body, draped in a white sheet, was hoisted by mourners ahead of his funeral, with the burial attended by hundreds of people, including masked gunmen who fired into the air.

The army had set up checkpoints in the area, removing rubbish bins which had been set on fire by Palestinian protesters. It later said it had completed the demolition and withdrawn from the village. The Zionist entity regularly destroys the homes of individuals it blames for attacks on Zionists. The practice, which often fuels tensions, has been condemned by critics as a form of collective punishment. The Zionist entity insists it deters attacks.

The army said Jaradat was responsible for the death of Yehuda Dimentman, killed when gunmen sprayed a settler car with roughly a dozen bullets as it drove out of Homesh in December. Two others were injured in the attack. Dimentman was studying at a religious school in Homesh, which has remained open despite the Zionist entity not recognizing the settlement.

Homesh had been evacuated by Zionist forces in 2005 but settlers have nevertheless continued to operate there, fueling tensions with Palestinians. The Zionist entity arrested four people days after the December shooting. Around 475,000 Zionist settlers live in the West Bank, alongside some 2.9 million Palestinians, in communities widely regarded as illegal under international law. - AFP