PA vows to crack down on ‘war criminal’ settlers

Following firebomb attack that killed Palestinian baby, PA says it considers settlers behind attacks to be ‘wanted by Palestinian security’

By ToI Staff 1 August 2015, 12:49 pm

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Palestinians carry the body of one-and-a-half year old Ali Dawabsha, killed in an apparent 'price tag' attack, during his funeral in Duma village near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, July 31, 2015. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinian Authority security forces intend to crack down on acts of terrorism carried out by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, a PA official told the Palestinian news agency Ma’an on Saturday.

PA security spokesman Adnan Dmeiri told Ma’an that the PA “will take legal procedures and do everything we can do against them [settlers behind attacks] as war criminals who committed crimes against humanity.”

Dmeiri said that the PA considers such settlers to be “wanted by the Palestinian security.”

His comments come the day after 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha was killed and his family members severely burned when an incendiary device was hurled through the window of their home in the village of Duma, near Nablus. Ali’s father is in critical condition at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and his mother and four-year-old brother are in serious condition at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.

A Star of David and the Hebrew word 'Revenge' are spray-painted on the walls of a Palestinian home which was burned down by arsonists on July 31, 2015 in the Palestinian village of Duma, near Nablus (Zacahria Sadeh/Rabbis for Human Rights) — A Star of David and the Hebrew word ‘Revenge’ are spray-painted on the walls of a Palestinian home which was burned down by arsonists on July 31, 2015 in the Palestinian village of Duma, near Nablus (Zacahria Sadeh/Rabbis for Human Rights)

The house, one of two targeted in the attack, had “Revenge” and “Long live the king messiah” scrawled on the walls in Hebrew, along with a Star of David.

Palestinian Health Minister Dr. Jawad Awaad on Saturday visited the hospital bed of Ali’s father, Saad.

The attack has caused outrage in Israel and worldwide, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it a terror attack and vowing to arrest those responsible. The United Nations Security Council joined widespread condemnation of the attack late Friday, while US Jewish groups demanded that the Israeli government step up its actions to prosecute perpetrators of so-called “price tag” hate crimes.

Israeli security forces seen at a house in the Palestinian village of Duma, near Nablus, where a Palestinian infant was killed July 31, 2015, in an arson attack, apparently by Jewish extremists. Two homes in Duma, were set on fire, and the Hebrew words “revenge” and “long live king messiah” were spray-painted on their walls, alongside a Star of David. (Photo by FLASH90)

But PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday expressed doubt that Israel would bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice, and called on the international community to label settlement organizations in Israel and the West Bank as terrorist organizations, Ma’an reported.

The PA said Friday said it held the Israeli government responsible for the attack and that the killing would be prominently highlighted in the Palestinian case against Israel in the International Criminal Court.