Witnesses to an attack in which a 14-year-old Palestinian boy died have challenged the Israeli police version of how the boy died.
The witnesses say the teenager was beaten to death and have contradicted police and ambulance officials who claimed there were no signs the 14-year-old youth had been shot or beaten.
In the incident, which happened on Friday, a 24-year-old Israeli woman was stabbed to death in the popular tourist area known as the Forest of Peace in southern Jerusalem.
Police said they chased four suspects, who they identified as Arabs, and shot at them, wounding one in the hand.
They said one youth, Samer Abu Mayyaleh, collapsed and died despite paramedic attempts to resuscitate him. Two Palestinian witnesses, 24-year-old actor Nidal Abu Sal'oum and 32-year-old taxi driver Ahmed Abul-Sheikh said they saw five or six policemen surround the boy and beat him about the head and the body. They said the boy stopped screaming and became motionless, while the police continued to beat him for another 15 minutes.
The Palestinian LAW human rights group has demanded an independent inquiry. George Abul-Zuluf, a local representative of human rights group Defence for Children International, accused the police of committing a brutal crime.
Israeli police and ambulance officials denied Abu Mayyaleh had been mistreated and medics said they saw no sign they had been beaten on their bodies.
The Palestinian witnesses said the medics were about 1000 yards away while the boys were allegedly being beaten by police.
Palestinian human rights groups said Palestinians have requested an autopsy be delayed until an Arab doctor can attend.