Man shot dead in Shuafat clan violence

Man shot dead in Shuafat

By ABE SELIG
Calm had returned to the Shuafat refugee camp in northeast Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon, after an overnight feud between rivaling clans left one resident dead and three others arrested. Forty-five-year-old Anwar Gheit, who had been shot in the back during the altercation, arrived at a Border Patrol checkpoint that sits at the entrance to the refugee camp early Thursday morning. Security forces at the checkpoint alerted Magen David Adom paramedics to the scene, but Gheit had succumbed to his wounds when they arrived and was pronounced dead at the scene. In retaliation for his death, members of Gheit's family hurled rocks and firebombs at the home of the suspected shooter's family, setting a number of vehicles on fire. According to police, firefighters who arrived at the scene were also pelted with rocks, and a large number of security forces entered the area to restore order. The shooter and two other Shuafat residents were arrested and all three were still in custody Thursday evening, said police. At the entrance to the refugee camp on Thursday afternoon, all appeared calm. However, a beefed-up Border Patrol force had been deployed there, as a result of the violence. Throughout the day, security forces continued to patrol the refugee camp in an effort to prevent members of either side from reigniting the violence. According to Palestinian sources, the two families had called for a three-day truce in order to sort out their differences without additional bloodshed. Nonetheless, security forces on duty in the area were pelted with stones at various intervals throughout the day. Two Border Patrol officers sustained light wounds from rocks thrown at them, but were treated on the scene and did not require hospitalization. A similar clash between feuding clans took place in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan last July, which left two residents dead. In that incident, a brawl between young members of the two families escalated into a full-blown gunfight, when armed members of either clan began exchanging fire with one another. One man was killed by gunshots and another fatally injured when he was run over by a car during the melee.