Funeral for Palestinian killed by Israeli forces

(17 Mar 2017) Several hundred Palestinians gathered on Friday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem for the funeral of a Palestinian activist turned militant killed in a shootout with Israeli forces.
Basil al-Araj headed a group planning attacks against Israeli targets and collected weapons for the group, police said earlier in the week.
He was detained by Palestinian forces last year for about a month.
Police said in a statement that Israeli forces entered the Ramallah area in the West Bank to arrest al-Araj, and he opened fire, leading to a shootout that killed him on 6 March.
Israeli authorities returned the body to the family on Friday.
Al-Araj didn't fit the typical profile of a Palestinian attacker, his relatives said, describing him as an intellectual who devoted much of his time to reading and researching, particularly about the history of Palestinians.

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