News / Palestine

Israel gives settlers license to kill Palestinians: Relatives of slain family

Friday, 04 December 2015 6:04 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 04 December 2015 6:05 AM ]

A file picture taken on July 31, 2015 shows a person holding a picture of 18-month-old Palestinian toddler Ali Sa’ad Dawabsheh, who died when his family house was set on fire by illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank village of Duma. (Photo by AFP)

The relatives of a Palestinian family whose three members were killed in an arson attack on their home by illegal Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank several months ago hold the Tel Aviv regime accountable for the deadly assault.

“The Israeli regime is the one who gave settlers a license to kill by giving them freedom to enter Palestinian villages,” Hussein Dawabsheh, the father of a woman named Riham, who succumbed to the severe burn injuries she sustained in the incident, said on Thursday.

“My message to the Tel Aviv regime is clear, which is not only to arrest settlers but to prevent any settlers assaulting Palestinians and entering Palestinian villages and towns,” he added.

“It would not be enough even if they (settlers) were sentenced to death. I will not be satisfied by any sentence as nothing will bring back the family that I lost,” Dawabsheh said.

Palestinian police carry the body of Riham Dawabsheh, who died as a result of injuries sustained in the July firebombing of her family house, during her funeral in the occupied West Bank village of Duma, September 7, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

On July 31, a large fire broke out at Riham’s home when extremist Israeli settlers threw firebombs and Molotov cocktails into the house in the town of Duma, located 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. The fire killed her 18-month-old baby boy, Ali, on the spot. Riham and her husband, Sa’ad, were severely injured in the arson attack and both died later in hospital.

The incident sparked angry reactions from Palestinians, including political and resistance groups.

Earlier on Thursday, Israeli police announced that it had arrested “youths belonging to a terror group” suspected of carrying out attacks on Palestinians over the past few days, and said there were “solid suspicions” linking them to the arson at the Dawabshehs’ home.

A file picture taken on July 31, 2015, shows Palestinians looking at the damage as they stand in the Dawabsheh family’s house, which was set on fire by settlers in the occupied West Bank village of Duma. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations (UN)’s Secretary General Ban Ki-moon censured the arson attack as a “terrorist act,” calling for the perpetrators to be promptly brought to justice.

Israeli settlers have in recent years carried out various attacks, including arson assaults, on Palestinian property in the West Bank and al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Meanwhile, tensions are escalating between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The wave of unrest was triggered by Israel’s imposition in August of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds.

More than 110 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis since the start of October and amid the new wave of unrest.

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