MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has ordered security forces to hold suspects in the fatal arson attack without trial or indictment, local media reported Sunday.
Early on Friday, suspected Jewish extremists threw firebombs into a household in the West Bank village of Duma. A Palestinian toddler, 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh, died in the fire while his parents and 4-year-old brother were hospitalized with life-threatening burn wounds.
A senior defense official was cited as telling Israel Radio on Sunday that Yaalon instructed to implement administrative detention measures on the suspected ultra-nationalist arsonists.
Administrative detention, or indefinite imprisonment, is usually applied by Israeli authorities on suspected Palestinian militants, according to the B’Tselem human rights group.
The United Nations has long urged Israel to end the practice, arguing it violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Tel Aviv has ratified.
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas blamed the attack on Tel Aviv’s policy of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The arsonists spray-painted the words "Revenge" and "Long live the king messiah" on the walls of the torched Duma residences.
A family relative and next door neighbor who had witnessed the torching told Israeli media he saw two masked men standing next to the house as it burned down.
The extremist attack and the toddler’s death sparked public outrage and demonstrations in the West Bank, in which several Palestinian youths have died in clashes with Israeli security forces.
