Nasr Dawabsha, a member of the Dawabsha family, says he is satisfied with the court’s decision to give three life sentences to an Israeli man convicted of murdering three members of his family.
Three members of the Dawabsha family — Saad, Riham, and their 18-month-old son Ali — were burned to death in an arson attack committed by Amiram Ben Uliel in 2015. Only their oldest son Ahmed survived; he was five years old at the time.
“This is the most we could have hoped for from an Israeli court. But we wish this decision could have come before the crime — that the Israeli government would have acted from the beginning. That they wouldn’t have allowed the settlers to come and act with their protection,” says Dawabsha.
Hussein Dawabsha (L) sits with his grandson Ahmad, the survivor of the arson attack that killed his parents and 18-month-old brother, in the West Bank village of Duma on May 18, 2020. (JAAFAR ASHTIYEH / AFP)
Dawabsha says that he took Ahmed, now 10 years old, to school today in the West Bank village of Duma. Ahmed is missing an ear from the attack, and so he couldn’t wear a mask like the children.
“He began crying, asking us why he isn’t like the other children,” Dawabsha says.
“These are deep, deep wounds, especially for Ahmed. No matter what the court decides, it won’t give him his childhood back. It should have been his mother and his father taking him to school today,” Dawabsha says, his voice breaking up.
— Aaron Boxerman
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