Nine indicted for East Jerusalem firebombings

Nine Palestinians were indicted Sunday on suspicion that they hurled Molotov cocktails at a vehicle near the Beit Hanina neighborhood in northeast Jerusalem earlier this month, wounding three Israelis.

One 27-year-old woman suffered burns in the firebombing attack on August 3. She and her husband abandoned their burning car, which proceeded to roll and hit a 20-year-old pedestrian, who was lightly hurt. A third man was lightly injured when he tried to extinguish the car.

The Palestinians — five adults and four minors — were arrested two weeks ago. Several of them are Israeli citizens.

They are also suspected hurling Molotov cocktails on several occasions at a Jewish-owned building in Beit Hanina, the court said. No injuries were reported in those attacks.

Speaking after the August 3 attack, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat ordered increased security in the northeast of the city.

“Every rock and Molotov cocktail that is thrown is a serious terror attack that we will not accept,” he said. “We will not give in to terror and we will not change our routine.”

The attack on the vehicle near Beit Hanina came days after a fatal firebombing in the Palestinian village of Duma in the West Bank, allegedly by Jewish extremists, killed an 18-month-old baby and his father, and left his mother and four-year-old brother badly hurt.