Israelis and Palestinians have been quick to condemn a West Bank house fire that claimed the life of a toddler. The incident is likely to increase tensions between the two groups in Israel.
A house fire in the West Bank that killed an 18-month-old child and critically wounded his brother and parents on Friday is being treated as a deliberate act of arson committed by Jewish extremists. The house was destroyed, and the surviving victims were taken to the hospital with severe burns.
The fire was set at a house near the entrance to a Palestinian village called Doma near Nablus. Hebrew graffiti was found at the scene, leading authorities to the conclusion that the blaze had been started by Jewish extremists.
A Palestinian official from the Nablus area said four attackers broke a window in the house before throwing a fire bomb inside, which quickly caused a large fire. Israeli military spoke of two suspects.
Reports from doctors and hospital officials where the surviving victims are being treated indicate they suffered burns on over half of their bodies.
Condemnation has come from both Israeli and Palestinian officials, with Israelis denouncing what they are labelling an act of terrorism, and Palestinians slamming Israel for allowing the conditions in which such an act could occur in the first place.
In a Tweet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referenced the young victim by name.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the attack constituted a “war crime” and that it would be part of the Palestinian case against Israel at the International Criminal Court.
Another Palestinian official, Saeb Erekat, said Israel was to blame for the incident.
“This is a direct consequence of decades of impunity given by the Israeli government to settler terrorism,” he said. “This is the consequence of a culture of hate funded and incentivised by the Israeli government and the impunity granted by the international community.”
Hamas, a militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, called for “a day of fury” in response to the incident. Clashes between Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Palestinians living in the occupied territory are not uncommon, although deaths are rare.
Attacks by Jewish extremists against Arabs are known as “price tag” violence, which refers to nationally-motivated hate crimes.
The issue of expanding Israeli settlement in the West Bank has been a major factor of unrest between Israelis and Palestinians for years.
The European Union has called for “zero tolerance for settler violence” following Friday’s attack.
mz/jil (AP, AFP, Reuters)
