In the West Coast, Palestinian recognition was welcomed despite fears of Israeli annexation

States are there to protect. But so did fathers.

Abdel Aziz Mayermah stood next to his 13-year-old son, Islam, as he was shot dead by Israeli forces this month at the entrance to the refugee camp in Yen, in the occupied West Coast.

My son fell to the ground and then I heard the sound of a shot”, he said. A military jeep came and five or six soldiers pointed at me, telling me to leave. I didn't even know my son was martyred. I started dragging it”, he says, writes BBC.

Abdel Aziz said he had gone to camp occupied by Israel's army since January to obtain family documents from his home there.

“There is no one to complain to,”, he said. “They control everything. The Palestinian authority can't even defend itself. It only applies the decisions of the Jews”.

As Palestinian, Abdel Aziz is reconciled to his power. As a father, he's tortured.

“in my mind, I keep asking that soldier: why bother a 13-year-old boy? I'm standing next to him. Shoot me. Why are you shooting kids? I'm here, I'm gonna get it.

The Israeli Army said it had fired to neutralise a threat posed by suspects who had approached them in a closed military area and was investigating the incident.

She refused to explain the threat the teenager had posed.

Cities like Yen came under full control of the Palestinian Authority three decades ago, according to Oslo's Israeli-Palestinian Peace Accords.

They were supposed to be seeds from which citizenship would grow.

But Israel says it was terrorism that flourished there. In January, he sent tanks to Yeen and the nearby town of Tulkarem to crush Palestinian armed groups, saying he would implement lessons learned in Gaza.

Since then, Israeli forces have remained, destroying large areas of camps in both cities and destroying buildings in other areas.

The UK, France and other countries are now ready to recognise a Palestinian state, as Israeli control spreads throughout the West Coast and the war in Gaza continues.

Yeni Mayor Mohammed Jarr took BBC journalist to the entrance of the camp near where Islam was shot. Former military vehicles are nowhere to be seen, but a large mud coast now blocks the road, and locals say Israeli snipers still scan the area from buildings above.

Jarr said about 40% of Yeni now was a military zone for Israeli forces, with about a quarter of the residents involved in the entire camp displaced from their homes.

The “was clear from the beginning that this was a major political plan, not a” security operation, he said. “This Israeli government wants to annex the West Coast and in preparation, wants to prevent any [armed] opposition to its plan”.

Israel has also placed the Palestinian Authority under a long-term economic siege, maintaining tax revenues the AP must pay to teachers and police.

Israel accuses him of financing terrorism by compensationing the families of Palestinian militants who are killed. The AP says it has now removed that payment scheme.

Jarr said that it is now very challenging to offer even basic services to the local population and to obey the young people not to leave.

In this context, he said, recognition of a Palestinian state from Britain, France and others is important, even after more than 140 other countries have already done so. /Periscopi/