Forever Young

As noted previously, Palestinians are eternally young when it comes to portraying themselves as the victim.

In Jerusalem today, a Palestinian male was arrested and later died in custody. Hamas claims the Israeli police beat the child's head until he died.

The Occupation forces hit a Palestinian child at his head till he was died [sp] in Salah El-Deen street in the occupied land of Al-Quds. Witnessess [sp] reported that the boy was beaten in the head many times by the occupation forces.

The equally-reliable Palestinian Information Center (PIC) sheds a little more light.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli policemen on Saturday killed a Palestinian young man after cruelly beating him in occupied Jerusalem, local sources said.

They identified the youth as Wael Karawi, 32 [!], who was beaten to death this afternoon at the hands of Israeli policemen who focused their beatings on his head and other sensitive areas of his body.

The child/youth is 32 years old. It seems that you're only as young as you feel. Now the beatings were done not just on the head, but also other places on his body. The Israeli news portal Ynet offers a different version.

Wa'al Qaraawi from West Jerusalem who was arrested for transporting an illegal resident, died in police custody. His family accused the police of beating him to death, while police reported that the man, after stating he felt unwell, collapsed and died.

Qaraawi was detained after being discovered transporting a Jordanian woman in Israel without a permit. According to police, "He was told to drive to the police station on Salah al-Din Street. When he arrived, there he felt ill.

Quite different stories. What evidence is there?

The uncle of the deceased, Jamal Qaraawi, said that the family heard from local residents that four police officers hit him in his chest with their guns. Another Palestinian witness, however, said that Qaraawi had not been beaten.

The only eyewitness said there was no beating. The claims of beatings (which were only in the chest, and not the head at all) appear to be uncorroborated rumors. But what about the body of the deceased?

The emergency doctor who arrived at the scene said that there were no signs of violence on his body.

It is hard to know what actually is the truth based on these conflicting reports. Given the credibility of these reporting agencies based on their accuracy, history of factual claims and accuracy (like the "youthfulness" of the deceased), and inherent report bias one can get a relatively clear picture of what probably or probably didn't happened. But, as with everything, it is better to wait until the facts come out after something is actually known, instead of reporting rumor as a matter of fact.