Palestinians dispute autopsy finding of Abu Ain heart attack

Palestinian officials called Ziad Abu Ain, 55, who collapsed and died during a scuffle with Israeli border police Wednesday “a martyr” and held Israel responsible for his death. They refused to accept the findings of the overnight Palestinian post mortem in Ramallah that he had died of a heart attack. It was also attended by Israeli and Jordanian pathologists.

To guard against violent outbreaks in protest at the death of the man in charge of Palestinian “Resistance to Jewish Settlement and the Wall,” the Israeli military Thursday sent two battalions of troops and two companies of paramilitary border police to reinforce West Bank security. His funeral was scheduled for Thursday. Abu Ain was known to suffer from a heart ailment as well being a heavy smoker. Israel offered to take part in a joint investigation of the incident with the Palestinian Authority and voiced regret over his death..