Israeli border guard held over West Bank shooting

Sun Aug 3, 2008 5:09pm BST

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has put a police border guard under house arrest after an investigation into the fatal shooting of a 10-year-old Palestinian boy at a protest held in the occupied West Bank, a spokesman said on Sunday.

The incident took place on July 29 in a village that has become a frequent site of confrontations between Israeli troops and Palestinians protesting against the construction of an Israeli barrier that cuts through their property.

A Palestinian autopsy showed the boy had been shot with live ammunition through the head at close range, officials said. Witnesses said the victim was among a group watching Israeli bulldozers at work on the barrier.

Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for Israeli police, said a border policeman had been held for questioning a day after the shooting, then placed under house arrest for a five-day period.

Israeli media reports said the policeman held was the one suspected of having killed the boy.

Israeli police had said after the shooting that police had fired teargas and rubber bullets at the site in response to protesters who threw stones at the troops.

Israel says the barrier it is building through the West Bank is needed to prevent Palestinians from carrying out attacks in Israel. Palestinians denounce the network of walls and fences as a land grab that cuts deep into territory they seek for a state.

The World Court found in 2004 that the barrier was illegal in a ruling disputed by Israel.