Israel pays family of dead Palestinian-American detainee

Israel says it has reached a settlement to compensate the family of a Palestinian-American man who died earlier this year after he was detained by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank

Israel Palestinians Detainee Death (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Israel's Defense Ministry said Sunday that it had reached a settlement to compensate the family of a Palestinian-American man who died earlier this year after he was detained by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank.

The settlement marks a rare case of compensation in a Palestinian claim against alleged wrongdoing by Israeli military forces and comes after U.S. criticism against Israel.

In January, Israeli troops detained Omar Asaad, 78, at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, binding his hands and blindfolding him. Israeli troops then unbound his hands and left him face-down in an abandoned building.

Asaad, who had lived in the U.S. for four decades, was pronounced dead at a hospital after other Palestinians who had been detained found him unconscious. It was unclear when exactly he died.

On Sunday, the Defense Ministry said that it had reached a settlement with Asaad’s family, which had filed a claim against the state in an Israeli court.

The ministry said that “in light of the unfortunate event’s unique circumstances," it agreed to pay the family 500,000 shekels, or about $141,000.

After an outcry from the U.S. government, the Israeli military issued a rare statement earlier this year saying the incident “was a grave and unfortunate event, resulting from moral failure and poor decision-making on the part of the soldiers.” It said one officer was reprimanded, and two other officers reassigned to noncommanding roles, over the incident.