PA OFFICIALS VISIT DAWABSHA FAMILY AT TEL AVIV HOSPITAL
Bethlehem, 17 Shawwal 1436/2 August 2015 (MINA) – A delegation of senior Palestinian officials visited members of the Dawabsha family in a Tel Aviv hospital on Saturday, a day after they suffered severe burns in an arson attack carried out by Israeli settlers that killed their 18-month-old son.
Among those visiting the Tel Hashomer medical center in Tel Aviv were Secretary-General of the PLO’s Executive Committee Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority intelligence chief Majid Frarj, and Minister of Health Jawad Awwad, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Awwad said that President Mahmoud Abbas had directed his ministry to provide all possible support to Riham and Saad Dawabsha and their four-year-old son, Ahmed.
He said that the president had told him that “they should be taken to any hospital in the world if necessary to help save their lives and help them recover.”
An Israeli doctor said Friday that the mother, Reham, was in critical condition, with third-degree burns covering 90 percent of her body, while the father, Saad, had burns across 80 percent of his body and four-year-old Ahmed across 60 percent of his body.
Their younger son, 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha, was killed in the arson attack that was carried out by Israeli settlers on Friday morning at their home in the West Bank village of Duma south of Nablus.
Israeli settlers smashed the windows of two homes in the village before throwing flammable liquids and Molotov cocktails inside, killing the infant who was trapped inside the house.
Erekat reiterated that the Israeli government was “responsible for the crime.”
He told Ma’an that the PA had officially asked Jordan, a member of the United Nations Security Council, to take the necessary steps to have the UN council probe the crime.
He added that proceedings were also underway to have the crime brought before the International Criminal Court.
Abbas said on Friday that he would appeal to the ICC to open an investigation into the attack, telling reporters: “We are immediately preparing the file that will be submitted to the ICC.”
The president said that the arson attack was one in a series of crimes committed by Israeli settlers and the government, and called on the international community — above all the United States — to condemn the Israeli leadership.
Israeli settlers have carried out at least 120 attacks on Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank since the start of 2015, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
However, the perpetrators of violence against Palestinian civilians and their property are rarely punished, with Israeli police closing most investigations without an indictment.
According to the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, only 1.9 percent of complaints submitted by Palestinians against Israeli civilian attacks result in a conviction.
Taking Israel to the ICC is one of several moves currently being taken by the Palestinian leadership in an effort to confront policies of the Israeli occupation in the international arena. (T/P010/R04)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
