Mourners Lay to Rest Palestinian Who Died During Protest

iStock/Thinkstock(JERUSALEM) — Thousands flocked to the state funeral Thursday for a high-ranking Palestinian official who died at a protest over Jewish settlements. Palestinian honor guards placed the coffin of Zaid Abu Ein on a red carpet at the Presidential compound in Ramallah.

Abu Ein, 55, died Wednesday at a hospital after fainting at the protest. He was considered a minister with the Palestinian Authority although he did not hold an official cabinet position.

Photos of the protest in Turmus Aya began circulating immediately afterwards with one showing an Israeli soldier grabbing Abu Ein by the neck with one hand.

Before Israeli medics at the protest could examine him, Palestinian supporters rushed Abu Ein to a nearby clinic and then to a hospital in Ramallah where he was pronounced dead.

Israeli and Palestinian authorities are investigating Abu Ein’s controversial death, which has enraged Palestinians and further roiled relations between the two sides.

Both Israeli and Palestinian pathologists have concluded from the autopsy that Abu Ein’s death was caused by a stress-induced heart attack. Eighty percent of Abu Ein’s heart arteries were clogged and scar tissue attested to previous heart attacks, according to the released autopsy.

Signs of internal bleeding were also found around Abu Ein’s neck, which Palestinian doctors say is evidence of the neck-grabbing scuttle with Israeli soldiers that sent Abu Ein into cardiac arrest. The Israelis say he was vulnerable for many reasons.  

President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority said later, “What happened today is an intolerable crime in every sense of the word. All options are open for examination, discussion and application.”

Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio