Palestinian Killed After Stabbing Soldier at Deadly West Bank Junction

The Israeli military has demolished the homes of two Palestinians involved in deadly attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem past year, saying bulldozing is an effective tool to “deter” attacks. These attacks have consisted of stabbings, shootings, and car-rammings.

The Dawabsha family were sleeping in their home when it was firebombed early on 31 July, and daubed with slogans in Hebrew, including the word “revenge”.

The crime angered Palestinians, and caused several clashes between Palestinians and Israelis for three months.

It said that Israeli police registered the attack against an “unknown” suspect, although surveillance cameras in the area prove that it was carried out by settlers.

The attack in Duma village and ensuing Israeli investigation laid bare fissures in Netanyahu’s coalition government, where one ultra-nationalist partner voiced misgivings about the handling of Jewish suspects.

Yinon Reuveni, 20, and another minor were charged for other violence against Palestinians, including setting fires to two of the Holy Land’s most famous churches – the Dormition Abbey, a Benedictine monastery located just outside Jerusalem’s Old City, and the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fish on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Last month Israeli police made arrests after a video emerged of extremists at a wedding at which guests can be seen celebrating the Duma attack.

Saad Dawabsheh’s brother Naser said he hoped the defendants would receive the maximum penalty, but was skeptical of Israel’s seriousness in prosecuting the case.

Also Tuesday, Israeli forces apprehended a young Palestinian in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, who had been feared to be on his way to attack Israelis, police said.

Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, says the main suspect in the July arson attack is affiliated with a fringe Jewish extremist group responsible for other attacks on Palestinian and Christian targets.

Yet, the lawyer of one of the criminals said that his client’s confession was forced due to sleep deprivation and being tied upside down by his interrogators.

Having the suspects indicted was applauded, however, by the Yesha council, which is made up of a group of settlements in the West Bank.

Palestinian elections have not been held in a decade due to the bitter split between Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah, based in the occupied West Bank.