Israel Zeev, an American-born Jewish settler from the West Bank town of Shiloh, was given a three-year prison sentence Sunday for killing an Arab shepherd in a quarrel over grazing rights last May 5.
Zeev also received a two-year suspended prison term. The sentence, pronounced by Jerusalem district court Judge Zvi Cohen, is the lightest allowed by law.
Cohen took Zeev’s word that his fatal shooting of Jawda Abdullah Awad and the wounding of another shepherd in a field near Shiloh were not intentional.
The judge decided that Zeev fired only to frighten the Arabs. Nevertheless, he ordered him to pay the wounded Arab 30,000 shekels (about $18,500).
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