JERUSALEM: Israel charged a policeman on Sunday in the fatal shooting of a teenage Palestinian protester, accusing him of deliberately switching his rubber bullets for the live round that killed the youth.

The prosecutors’ decision to level a charge of manslaughter rather than murder drew criticism from the boy’s father, who said there was ample proof the killing was premeditated.

Nadim Nuwara, 17, was shot in the chest during a demonstration in May at which Palestinians hurled stones at Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. A second teenage protester was killed but Israel has made no arrest in that case, citing lack of evidence as an autopsy was not carried out.

CCTV footage suggested neither youth posed any immediate threat to the troops stationed some 70 yards away, in that neither appeared to be throwing stones when they were shot. Their deaths stoked Palestinian fury at Israel in the weeks after US-sponsored peace talks collapsed in April.

The accused, a member of the paramilitary border police, was arrested on Nov 12. His name has not been released for publication. He denies wrongoing in the incident, which occurred near an Israeli prison and the Palestinian town of Beitunia.

Published in Dawn, November 24th , 2014