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The attack was the worst by Israeli assailants since a Palestinian teenager was burned to death in Jerusalem a year ago. (Image credit: REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini)
The world has been surprised and shocked by the death of a lion and many people have condemned the man who killed the animal while hunting in Zimbabwe. But not all living beings are the same, it seems, as the murder of a Palestinian baby by Israeli settlers has not seen the same level of outrage.
A Palestinian baby as young as a year and a half was burned in a fire at his home. The murder was perpetrated by Israeli settlers, local media reported.
In the fire, which took place in the town of Duma, near Nablus, seriously injured three other members of his family, including his parents.
“The baby was burned alive, not killed by smoke. It was horrible,” a witness told EFE news agency, detailing that an Israeli settler attacked two Palestinian houses, which resulted in the death of the baby, while his parents and siblings were seriously injured.
“We got a group of about ten neighbors to the house at about two in the morning. The father, mother and child were badly injured. He [the father] begged us to come and help take the baby. We tried, but the smoke made it impossible,” said Dawathe Hatem, a 27 year old resident of Duma.
The baby was later taken to his grandfather’s house, 20 minutes from the burning house to say goodbye to him, and when they finished the noon prayers, he was buried.
“Baby Ali died he burnt alive, not by smoke. And his father Taed Dawabsha, 32, is in a very bad situation, with 80 percent of the body burned,” he said, noting that he has been transferred to Israel’s Soroka hospital.
The mother, Rihan, 27, and her son Ahmad, 4, also entered the hospital in serious condition.
“Ahmad has his legs burned and it seems they may have to amputate,” recounts Dawathe.
A half hour after the attack dozens of neighbors came to the place, together with Palestinian police and members of the Israeli army.
According to the neighbor, the village had previously been in trouble with the settlers from nearby settlements. They had cut trees or attacked property, but “had never done anything like killing anyone, burning a house with people inside. This is inexplicable “.
People in Duma, “are very, very angry, but do not think anything will happen, because this is an isolated village, no a military checkpoints.”
Pain and anger in the community
The anger and pain spread today in Palestine after the murder of baby Ali in an attack that has been identified as caused by an extremist settler in the northern West Bank.
“They killed my neighbors. I do not rule out a third intifada,” said Afsha Dawabsha, a man who lives also lives in Duma. Him along with fifty women concentrated near the burned house of the victims to cry them and show their support.
“We are not aggressive but look what these settlers have done,” he complained.
Five hundred men from the small town of three thousand people attended the prayer carried out at the mosque at noon, before participating in Ali’s funeral. Ali’s grandfather’s house was surrounded by hundreds of people.
“The whole village awoke to the screams, people are extremely sad and angry,” said Yaser Dawabshe, who woke up and ran to the house, but when he got there “the baby was dead”.
“All I could do to help was to disconnect the gas. The house was totally burned,” he said.
Residents of this small village near Nablus are greatly demoralized and angered by the fact that the Israeli authorities “do nothing to control the settlers who attack the houses, kill sheep and now kill children” one local resident said.
Palestinian Authority will take murder of baby to International Criminal Court
The murder case of Ali will be taken before the International Criminal Court (ICC), said a Palestinian official who asked not to be identified.
“This case is going to be taken before the Court. This morning I met the Palestinian emergency legal team to see what steps we need to take in international courts,” the source said.
According to him, the case “may fall under more than one category of crimes that the court can consider. If it is confirmed to be related to the guaranteed impunity by Israeli settlers, it can be considered a war crime or a crime against humanity “.
“All the facts of the case and the results of the investigation will be surrendered to the ICC,” he added.
Xavier Abu Eid, a spokesman for the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO), told EFE that “the Palestinians need justice.”
“These attacks happen because of the impunity that Israel guarantees settlers. We do not believe in Israeli condemnation, they are responsible for what happens,” he said.
“If these settlers are there it is because of a policy decision of Israel. They are protected by Israel. Israel cannot act surprised to crimes committed by a culture of hatred that they have implemented,” he added.
Israel has ordered to keep secret any information relating to the investigation.
The secretary general of the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO) and Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat blamed the Israeli government today for the attack that resulted in the death of baby Ali.
“We consider the Israeli Government fully responsible for the brutal murder of baby Ali Saad Dawabsha and the burns suffered by his mother and sister. This is a direct result of decades of impunity that the Israeli government has given the terrorist settlers,” he denounced in a statement.
International Condemnation
The German government harshly condemned the arson attack allegedly committed by a Jewish settler against two houses of Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank, while hailed Israel’s determination to do justice and to respond to the aggression.
The “brutality” of the attack is “shocking,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement today after the attack.
The Department of Foreign Affairs expresses its condolences to the family, praises the expressed condemnation for the attack by the Government of Israel and stresses that it needs to be given the “highest priority” to prosecute those responsible.
The German government referred to the reaction of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nentanyahu, who harshly condemned the attack.
It was a matter of time
“A burnt child was only a matter of time in view of the policy of not enforcing the law on violent settlers”, said the Israeli NGO Betselem, that works for human rights and against Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.
“The killing this morning of baby Ali Saad and the serious injuries to his parents, Taeb and Rihan, and his brother Ahmad, was due to “the policy of the authorities of not applying Israeli law on those who harm Palestinians and their properties. This policy creates impunity for crimes of hatred and encourages attackers to continue them, bringing the horrible outcome of this morning,” said the NGO in a statement.
According to Betselem, in the past three years, Israeli civilians set fire to nine Palestinian homes in occupied West Bank and threw a Molotov cocktail at a Palestinian taxi, igniting and causing serious injury to the family going inside. Israeli Security forces have not attributed any fault to anyone for those attacks.
“In recent years, Israeli civilians have set fire to dozens of homes, mosques, businesses, crops and Palestinian vehicles in the West Bank. The vast majority of these cases were never solved, and in many of them, the police did not even bother to take measures or to investigate the attacks,” denounced the NGO.
Luis R. Miranda is an award-winning journalist and the founder and editor-in-chief at The Real Agenda. His career spans over 18 years and almost every form of news media. His articles include subjects such as environmentalism, Agenda 21, climate change, geopolitics, globalisation, health, vaccines, food safety, corporate control of governments, immigration and banking cartels, among others. Luis has worked as a news reporter, on-air personality for Live and Live-to-tape news programs. He has also worked as a script writer, producer and co-producer on broadcast news. Read more about Luis.
The article Many Tears Shed For Cecil, But Who Will Cry For Baby Ali Saad? published by TheSleuthJournal – Real News Without Synthetics
The media played their part, and the public mourned for Cecil. Once you understand who owns the media you realise why they remain relatively quiet about the deaths of so many innocents in Palestine. Wish people would wake up and smell the coffee!