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August 1, 2015

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West Bank toddler burned to death

A SLEEPING toddler was burned to death when suspected Jewish assailants set fire to two Palestinian homes in a West Bank village early yesterday, an attack that also critically wounded the child’s 4-year-old brother and parents and outraged both Israelis and Palestinians.

The attack threatened to set off another violent escalation and further stirred Palestinian fears that Israel allows attacks by militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank to go unpunished, though Israel says it does its best to track down assailants.

Palestinian officials blamed Israel for the attack while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the incident a “terror attack.”

According to the Israeli military, the suspects entered the village of Duma, near the city of Nablus, where they set the homes ablaze and scrawled graffiti in Hebrew, including “Long live the Messiah,” “revenge” and “price tag” and then fled the scene. The so-called “price tag” attacks have been used by Jewish settlers for years to exact a price on any Israeli steps they see as favoring the Palestinians.

Fire bomb

The slain child was identified as 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh. His 4-year-old brother Ahmad, father Saed and mother Riham were seriously hurt, according to Gassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official from the Nablus area. He said Jewish settlers broke the window and flung a fire bomb inside, “causing a quick and huge fire.”

The Israeli military said three people were critically wounded and one was slightly injured. The critically wounded were taken to Israeli hospitals for treatment.

Lee Gat, a spokeswoman for Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv, said Riham had 90 percent life-threatening burns while her son Ahmad had burns over 60 percent.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the incident a “war crime” and said it would be part of the Palestinians’ case against Israel at the International Criminal Court. Palestinian official Saeb Erekat blamed Israel for the incident, calling it a “brutal assassination.”

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




 

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