Israeli soldiers shoot dead Palestinian judge at border crossing between Jordan and West Bank

A copy of the Israeli flag is burned during a protest following the shooting of Palestinian-Jordanian judge Raed Alaa el-Deen Zaeiter (AFP/Getty)

Soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian judge from Jordan on Monday in an altercation at a crossing point between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said.

The Israeli military said troops had shot the man, later named as Raed Alaa el-Deen Zaeiter, 38, a West Bank-born judge working in Jordan, after he tried to seize a soldier’s gun.

The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank city of Ramallah condemned what it called the "shooting at close range" by Israeli troops. It demanded an investigation, as did Jordan.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh met an Israeli diplomat in Amman after the incident and condemned the killing,

Jordan's state news agency Petra reported. Judeh called on Israel to investigate and to inform Jordan of the result. The two countries signed a peace treaty in 1994.

Two weeks ago, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian they were seeking to arrest in the West Bank town of Bir Zeit.

Last month, Amnesty International published a report which said Israeli forces were using excessive violence in the West Bank, killing dozens of Palestinians over the past three years in what the rights group said might constitute a war crime.

The Israeli army dismissed the criticism, saying security forces had seen a substantial increase in Palestinian violence.

Reuters