An 18 month old Palestinian baby was killed and his family critically injured in a terrorist attack by Israeli settlers on the West Bank town Duma early Friday morning. Two houses were fire bombed and Jewish extremist graffiti sprayed.
The mother of the slain child was being treated for burns on 90 percent of her body, hospital officials told NBC News. Israeli officials named the slain child as Ali Dawabsha and said his four-year-old brother was in intensive care.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the "Price Tag" slogan used in the past by extremist Israelis was daubed on the walls of the family home that had been torched in the village of Duma, which is located near the West Bank city of Nablus.
Along with "Price tag", the graffiti included "Revenge" and "long live the messiah". The attack comes a day after another Jewish extremist attacked six people at Jerusalem's Gay Pride parade, having been released earlier this year from a 12 year prison sentence for a similar attack. It also comes in the middle of a battle between Israeli forces and settlers who
stole private land to build on:
At Beit El, residents have faced off repeatedly with Israeli police in recent weeks. The High Court ruled that two buildings there were built illegally by settlers on private Palestinian land, and ordered them demolished by July 30th. That ruling created much friction between Mr Netanyahu and the settler movement, which played a big part in his re-election back in March. He promised a wave of new construction in return. Four months later, his supporters feel duped; they accuse the prime minister of placing a quiet freeze on building in the West Bank. Pro-settler members of the coalition rushed to Beit El in solidarity; and turned to outrage when the demolition crew moved in on July 29th to destroy the two buildings.
Let's hope the killing of Ali Dawabsha gets as much media coverage as that of Cecil the lion.
7:06 AM PT: My apologies, the NBC link above contains an autoplay video of the burned out house, immediately followed by a video of a gun shop owner in the USA who refuses to sell to Muslims. In view of this unfortunate coincidence (I hope!), I would advise caution when clicking on it.
This link contains a section of the Reuters video on the attack and also has a charred picture of the family. http://www.nytimes.com/...