Israel hunts Palestinian baby’s arson killers

Emerging from discussions with Israeli military commanders Friday, Netanyahu announced that Israeli security forces would intensify operations in the West Bank, using “all means at their disposal” to find the killers and prevent further terrorism.

The Israeli army said Khaldi was shot after throwing a Molotov cocktail at forces at a checkpoint.

The hearth was probably the most critical such assault in current months and comes on the heels of the Israeli military’s demolition of two buildings in Beit El, an Israeli settlement north of Ramallah, after the Israeli Supreme Courtroom had ordered their removing on the grounds they have been constructed on personal Palestinian land.

There have been calls for retribution in the West Bank after a Palestinian toddler was burned alive in an arson attack blamed on Jewish settlers.

The outspoken leader of the Respect Party criticised the media and warned it would prioritise Cecil the lion’s death over the death of baby Ali Saad Dawabsha in the West Bank village of Duma. The military said they were searching for the assailants.

Ibrahim Dawabsheh of Duma said he heard people shouting for help from the house and rushed to it.

Palestinian security officials said four suspected settlers set fire to the house before dawn and fled to a nearby Jewish settlement. “It stresses that the continuation of settlement is in flagrant contravention of the principle of the global law, worldwide legitimacy, and the relevant United Nations resolutions, as well as it undermines all regional and global efforts to resume peace talks and chances of a lasting peaceful settlement based on the global recognised and acceptable terms of references”, the statement said.

Israel unequivocally condemns this morning’s brutal attack, this atrocity. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah went to Duma and attended the funeral.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday sharply condemned an arson attack by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank that killed an 18-month-old Palestinian boy. Israeli civilians and soldiers are shot or stabbed or deliberately run over by Palestinians on almost a weekly basis in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

He added: “We refuse to accept any official Israeli condemnation of the terrorist crime; they hold direct responsibility for the crime by their ongoing silence and deliberate ignoring and rejection of labeling these groups as terrorists”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and denounced what he described as “reprehensible terrorism”, according to a statement from his office.

“All indications are that the perpetrators of this violence are Jews, engaged in the kind of “price tag” attacks that have become all too frequent”, Rabbi Jonah Pesner, the director of Reform’s Religious Action Center, said in a statement. Though Israel has vowed to crack down on such assailants, only a handful of indictments have been handed down. They found a partly burned picture of the slain child and his bottle, still one-third full of milk.

Six other Palestinians were injured in clashes erupting during arson-related protests in the West Bank and Jerusalem on Friday, Haaretz reported.

After speaking with Abbas, Netanyahu visited the Israeli hospital where the mother and brother of Ali Saad Dawabsha were being treated for severe burns.

Earlier, he said: “When the Israeli government encourages settlements everywhere, they’re also encouraging these thugs to carry out these attacks”.