Israel yesterday indicted four Jewish extremists suspected in an arson attack on a Palestinian home in July last year that killed a toddler and his parents — a case that has been unsolved for months and helped fuel the current wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
The long-awaited indictment follows months of investigations into a web of Jewish extremists operating in the West Bank. The indictment named Amiram Ben-Uliel, 21, as the main suspect in the attack. A minor was charged as an accessory.
Yinon Reuveni, 20, and another minor were charged for other violence against Palestinians.
The arson attack in the West Bank village of Duma killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh, while his mother, Riham, and father, Saad, later died of their wounds. Ali’s four-year-old brother Ahmad survived.
The firebombing, carried out under the cover of darkness while the family slept, sparked soul-searching among Israelis rattled by the horrific attack. It was condemned across the Israeli political spectrum and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged “zero tolerance” in the fight to bring the assailants to justice.
However, for months, Palestinians watched angrily as the case remained unsolved, intensifying a feeling of skewed justice in the occupied territory, where suspected Palestinian militants are prosecuted under a separate system of military law that gives them few rights.
Israel’s Shin Bet security service says the suspects admitted to carrying out the attack, saying it was in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli a month earlier.
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.
Jewish extremists have for years vandalized or set fire to Palestinian property, as well as mosques, churches, the offices of dovish Israeli groups and even Israeli military bases. The so-called “price tag” attacks seek to exact a cost for Israeli steps seen as favoring the Palestinians.
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