Palestinian family deaths: Israelis indicted

A mourner reacts next to the body of 18-month-old Palestinian baby Ali Dawabsheh, who was killed after his family’s house was set to fire in a suspected attack by Jewish extremists in Duma village near the West Bank city of Nablus on July 31, 2015.

Two other members of the same “Jewish extremist infrastructure” were also indicted on Sunday at the Lod District Court near Tel Aviv over other nationalist-extremist crimes. The case ignited a furor and delays in solving it have been blamed for sparking an outbreak of violence.

On Saturday, Israel released the bodies of 17 Palestinians from Hebron who were killed during the past three months of violent unrest.

Israel’s national police said in an announcement that Amiram Ben Uliel was the primary suspect in the assault and has been accused of racial homicide.

And as the investigation into the Duma attack dragged on, Palestinians complained of a double-standard, where suspected Palestinian militants are quickly rounded up and prosecuted under a military legal system that gives them few rights while Jewish Israelis are protected by the country’s criminal laws.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labelled it “terrorism” – a word usually used by Israelis to refer to violence committed by Palestinians. Most of the others were killed in clashes with security forces.

A further five suspected Jewish extremists were also charged for six separate attacks against Arab persons or property.

While 21 Israelis have died, 131 Palestinians have been killed by occupation troops – many of them young protesters.

Israel’s Shin Bet security service said Sunday that the suspects admitted to carrying out the Duma attack, saying it was in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli settler by Palestinians a month earlier.

According to the United Nations, 19 homes of families and neighbours of Palestinian attackers were destroyed by Israel a year ago. It said all the suspects were part of a group of extremists that had carried out a series of attacks over the years and whose goal was to undermine the state.

He then hurled the second Molotov cocktail into the home of Saeed and Riham Dawabsheh – in which four members of the family were sleeping – before fleeing the scene, the indictment adds.

Some observers say the attack – which drew worldwide condemnation at the time – was a key factor in a recent outbreak of violence that has left at least 144 Palestinians and 25 Israelis dead since October 1. “It’s clear there was an organisation behind this crime, even the media knows that”.

A lawyer for the two suspects rejected the allegations and said both had been mistreated in police custody.