Al-Aqsa Brigades apologizes for killing Israeli-Arab
Jerusalem Post Staff
Friday, March 19, 2004--
The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, the military wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, issued a statement Saturday in which it apologized for killing George Elias Houri, an Israeli Arab student, in the shooting attack in Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood on Friday evening.
"Our fighters thought they are dealing with a settler who went out for a jog in his neighborhood," al-Aqsa's commander told Reuters. "We will consider him a martyr like hundreds of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces," he added.
The 20-year-old who was shot dead by a passing vehicle on Friday evening in the French Hill neighborhood in Jerusalem. A resident of Beit Hanina in north-east Jerusalem, Houri was a student of economics at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
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Speaking on Army Radio, Houri's father Elias spoke of his son's "outstanding" academic achievements, both at school and university. "Terrorism is barbaric, occupation is barbaric," said Elias Houri, who is a lawyer. Houri also lost his father in a terror attack in Zion Square in Jerusalem in 1975.
Arafat's office called Houri's father to condemn the attack and asked him for permission to attend the funeral, reported Army Radio Saturday.
Elias Houri said he has not yet accepted the PA's request to attend his son's funeral.
Shot twice in the head and once in the stomach, Houri was evacuated to Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Kerem, and died in the emergency room.
He was reportedly killed when he was jogging; explaining why police say he was not carrying identity documents.
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Amazing.