Palestinian baby dies in fire started by Israeli settlers

That followed the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers by Palestinians in the West Bank.

A fire broke out in two adjacent homes in the Palestinian town of Duma south of Nablus (biblical Shechem) during the predawn hours on Friday. Eighteen-month old Ali Saad Dawabsha died in the gasoline fire-bombings, and his mother and brother were seriously injured.

Authorities found the words “price tag” on the walls of the house in Duma, said Luba Samri, a spokeswoman for the Israeli police.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the incident a “war crime” and said it would be part of the Palestinians’ case against Israel at the worldwide Criminal Court.

“This attack against Palestinian civilians is a barbaric act of terrorism”, IDF Spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner tweeted shortly after the attack. “The State of Israel takes a strong line against terrorism regardless of the perpetrators”.

Thousands of Palestinians today participated in the funeral of the 18-month-old infant, Ali Saad Dawabshe, who was burned to death today in an arson by Israeli settlers.

“This is a direct effect of decades of impunity given by the Israeli government to settler terrorism”, it said.

That was indicative of so-called “price tag” violence – a euphemism for nationalist-motivated hate crimes by Jewish extremists.

The Obama administration is condemning an arson attack by suspected Jewish extremists in the West Bank that killed a Palestinian toddler, branding it a “vicious terrorist” act that must be punished.

The “Price Tag” group has been blamed for torching a number of mosques in the West Bank in recent years.

A neighbor, Ibrahim Dawabsha, told Reuters he saw two masked assailants fleeing the scene.

Netanyahu said he had instructed “security forces to use all means at our disposal to capture” and bring to justice those responsible for the attack in Duma. The government nearly immediately announced the approval of 300 houses to take their place.

The attack was widely condemned in Israel.

Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon described the attack as an “act of terrorism”.

Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran called for retaliation, saying that “occupation soldier and settlers everywhere” were now “legitimate targets”.

We are faced with a determined and unsafe, ideological group, which aims to destroy the fragile bridges which we work so tirelessly to build. I believe that the more we understand this significant danger to the State of Israel, the more we will be aware to confront it, and uproot it.

“If the Israeli government and the Israeli army wanted to prevent the crime, they could have stopped the terrorists but they chose not to”.

“Such a crime would not have occurred if the Israeli government did not insist on continuing settlement and protecting settlers”, Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement released by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

West Bank settlements are viewed as illegal under worldwide law, but not by the Israeli government. “Over a year ago President Abbas requested global protection for Palestinians, a call that has been ignored so far”.