News / Palestine

Palestinians mark anniversary of deadly Israeli raid in Duma

Monday, 01 August 2016 5:29 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 01 August 2016 5:59 AM ]

Mahmoud al-Aloul, a Fatah official, speaks while Ahmad Dawabsha, the lone survivor of an Israeli raid on his family house, looks on during a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the attack, in the northern West Bank village of Duma, July 31, 2016.

On July 31, 2015, Israeli settlers killed three members of a Palestinian family, including a baby, in the northern West Bank. One year on, Hundreds of Palestinians have converged on the village of Duma, southeast of Nablus, to mark the anniversary of the firebombing attack on Dawabsha family’s house.

They urged unity among Palestinians and waved national Palestinian flags as well as those of Palestinian political factions, including Fatah and the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas.

Duma residents, Palestinian officials, and a former Arab member of the Israeli parliament were in attendance.

Addressing Israelis, Nasr Dawabsha, a relative of the victims of the arson attack, said, “You all are delusional. You thought that your crime would make us leave our land, but we have disappointed you. We will steadfastly remain in our land.”

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official in charge of monitoring Israel’s settlement expansion activities, also called on the international community to force Israel into bringing the perpetrators of the attack to justice.

A Palestinian inspects the house torched in an attack by illegal Israeli settlers, which killed an 18-month-old Palestinian toddler, in Duma, near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. (Photo by AFP)

A number of Palestinian officials underlined the need for the Palestinian nation to unite.

“What we must do now to stop this series of crimes is to achieve Palestinian national unity. I call on all Palestinians to unite now,” Muhammad al-Baraka, a former member of the Israeli Knesset, said.

Akram Rajoub, Nablus’ district governor, also said, “Our people must unite and our political forces must undertake the responsibility and come together... The time has come for us to unite.”

Mahmoud al-Aloul, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, said he had no faith in the Israeli legal system.

“The Israeli regime should stop these crimes and prosecute the perpetrators; but instead it is hiding the evidence and trying to find excuses to save the people responsible for the crime,” Aloul said.

A man shows a picture of 18-month-old Palestinian toddler Ali Sa’ad Dawabsha, who died when his family house was set on fire by Israeli settlers in the West Bank village of Duma on July 31, 2015.

In July last year, a large fire broke out at the Dawabsha family house after extremist Israeli settlers threw firebombs and Molotov cocktails into the house in Duma. An 18-month-old baby boy, identified as Ali, was burned to death in the fire.

Ali’s 32-year-old father, Sa’ad Dawabsha, also died of burns a week after the assault. His mother, Riham, was pronounced dead after spending five weeks on life support as a result of burns on September 5, 2015.

The sole survivor of the arson attack, Ahmad, spent several days in intensive care and underwent multiple surgeries, skin grafts and other treatments.

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