Palestinians looking at the damage after a house was set on fire by Jewish settlers in the West Bank village of Doma yesterday.
AFP
United Nations
UN chief Ban Ki-moon yesterday condemned the killing of an 18-month-old baby in an arson attack by Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Ban called on the perpetrators of the “terrorist act” to face justice, and expressed condolences for the family of the dead baby, Ali Saad Dawabsha.
“The secretary-general strongly condemns (the) murder of a Palestinian child in the West Bank and calls for the perpetrators of this terrorist act to be promptly brought to justice,” a spokesperson for Ban said.
“He expresses his deepest condolences to the family of Ali Dawabsha, who were themselves severely injured in the arson attack.”
According to Palestinian security officials, four settlers set fire to the family’s house before dawn before fleeing to a nearby Jewish settlement.
The Israeli military and army radio said a total of two homes had been torched by two masked men, with the child killed and four family members wounded, including the baby’s parents and four-year-old brother.
The attack added to tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, sparking protests by hundreds of people and sporadic clashes, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare call to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to avoid further escalation.
Ban said he “urges both sides to take bold steps to return to the path of peace”.
“Continued failures to effectively address impunity for repeated acts of settler violence have led to another horrific incident involving the death of an innocent life. This must end,” he added.
“The absence of a political process and Israel’s illegal settlement policy, as well as the harsh and unnecessary practice of demolishing Palestinian houses, have given rise to violent extremism on both sides.”
In Jeddah, the Organisation of the Islamic Co-operation (OIC) condemned the ugly crime.
The OIC viewed the crime as “a serious escalation of the terrorist acts perpetrated by extremist settlers against the Palestinian people, their territories and sanctuaries under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces”.
OIC secretary-general Iyad bin Amin Madani held the Israeli occupation forces “fully responsible for the repercussions of the heinous crime and the various systematic terrorist acts committed by the extremist settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories”.
Madani said the OIC general secretariat would hold an emergency Islamic summit called by the Palestinian leadership.
Meanwhile, the EU has urged Israel to show “zero tolerance” for settler violence after the arson attack.
“The Israeli authorities should ... take resolute measures to protect the local population. We call for full accountability, effective law enforcement and zero tolerance for settler violence,” a spokesperson for EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogeherini said in a statement in Brussels.
“The cold-blooded killing of Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsha, presumably by extremist settlers ... highlights the urgent need for a political solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” it added.
The EU said it too wanted a “full and prompt investigation to bring the perpetrators of this terrible crime to justice.
“Acts like this terrible attack can easily lead to a spiral of violence and bring both sides further away from a negotiated solution.
The US also condemned the “vicious terrorist attack”.
A statement from the US State Department urged Israel to “apprehend the murderers” and called on both sides to “avoid escalating tensions in the wake of this tragic incident.”
Also yesterday, a Palestinian man was killed and another wounded by Israeli gunfire in the northern Gaza Strip after they approached the border with Israel.
Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said 27-year-old Mohamed al-Masri died of his wounds after being shot near the border fence west of the Beit Lahiya area.
Another man was in a moderate condition following the incident, Qudra said. Page 4
