Iran condemns killing of Palestinian minister by Israelis

“This act is another clear piece of evidence proving that the Zionist regime [of Israel] is criminal,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Wednesday, offering condolences to the Palestinian nation and officials.

The recurrence of Israeli crimes undoubtedly motivates the Palestinian people to demonstrate steelier determination to stand up to the Tel Aviv regime and further cements unity among the Palestinians, she said

Abu Ein, who was a minister in the Palestinian Authority, lost his life as he participated in a march by some 300 Palestinians who planned to plant olive trees as a symbolic act of protest against Israeli settlements.

According to Palestinian security sources, Abu Ein, who was in charge of  the issue of Israeli settlements within the Palestinian Authority, died after Israeli soldiers hit him with the butts of their weapons and their helmets during the rally in the village of Turmusayya.

The president of the Palestinian national unity government, Mahmud Abbas, condemned “the brutal assault that led to the martyrdom” of Abu Ein, calling it “a barbaric act that cannot be tolerated or accepted.”

Tensions have been running high in the past few weeks in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) over the desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli troops.