• Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem
• The Guardian, Wednesday 10 December 2014 15.35 GMT

A senior minister in the government of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has died following a violent confrontation with Israeli soldiers in a West Bank village near Ramallah.

Ziad Abu Ain, who dealt with the issue of Israeli settlements and the separation wall, died as he was being rushed to hospital after becoming involved in clashes with Israeli troops while planting olive trees in the village of Turmusiya near Ramallah.

The Israeli military said it was looking into reports that Abu Ain, a senior figure on Fatah’s revolutionary council, collapsed and died after being struck in the chest at an event where he also inhaled teargas fired by Israeli security forces.

Mohammed Mohesin, an assistant from Abu Ain’s office who witnessed the incident and travelled in the ambulance to hospital, claimed that over the course of a few minutes one policeman grabbed Abu Ain by the throat, a second struck him in the throat, and a third headbutted him in the chest.

According to his family, Abu Ain had suffered from health problems including diabetes and high blood pressure.

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Guardian