State to compensate family of dead Palestinian girl

Jerusalem Court orders state to pay over NIS 1.5 million in compensation to family of Abir Aramin after she was killed by a rubber bullet.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
Abir Aramin Palestinian girl killed (photo credit: REUTERS)
Abir Aramin Palestinian girl killed
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Jerusalem District Court ordered the state on Sunday to pay over NIS 1.5 million in compensation to the family of Abir Aramin, a ten-year-old Palestinian girl killed by a rubber bullet in 2007.
Abir was killed outside her school in the West Bank town of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem, as Border Police dispersed a riot nearby.
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According to a pathologist’s report published by Abir’s family, with assistance from the B’Tselem human rights group, the girl was killed by a rubber bullet shot into her head, although border police claimed she had been killed by a stone.
In a ruling in the Jerusalem District Court in August 2010, it was decided that there was no dispute that Abir's death had been due to 'state negligence'.
However, since that ruling the parties had not been able to agree on the amount of compensation due to Abir's family.
Judge Orit Efaal-Gabay ruled on Sunday that Abir's family should be compensated for the child's burial expenses, plus money for "lost years", and damages caused by the family's pain and suffering after the loss of their daughter.
The state was also ordered to pay the Aramins' court fees.
In addition to the case in the Jerusalem District Court, Abir's parents had also filed a petition to the High Court of Justice asking the court to indict the border policemen suspected of shooting the rubber bullet that killed their daughter.
However, that petition was rejected in July.