Israeli regime, settlers face Palestinian anger over killing of toddler

Various Palestinian factions have voiced outrage at the recent death of a Palestinian infant in an arson attack by Israeli settlers, calling for action to stop the recurring settler acts of violence.

Eighteen-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha burned to death when Israeli settlers threw incendiary objects at Palestinian houses in the village of Duma, south of Nablus, early on Friday. The baby’s parents and his four-year-old brother were also injured in the attack.

The assailants came from the nearby settlement of Ma’akeg Efraim, according to reports.

‘Israeli settlers, now legitimate targets’

The incident sparked angry reactions from Palestinians, including political and resistance groups.

Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, which is based in the Gaza Strip, reacted to the act of infanticide by declaring that the Israeli soldiers and settlers would now be “legitimate targets for resistance.”

Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran said popular action was needed in response to the killing.

Israeli crimes, he said, can only be stopped by “comprehensive resistance in all its forms.”

Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian resistance movement, said the Israeli regime was responsible for the act of terrorism by the settlers.

“Settlers and the Israeli army’s terrorism will be faced by a Palestinian will that does not accept surrender,” the group said.

The Fatah faction, based in the occupied West Bank, also called the attack “cowardly,” and said the Tel Aviv regime was responsible for the “disastrous crime” as it continuously engaged in “incitement” against the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) also held the Israeli regime responsible for the incident, blaming the acts of violence by Israeli settlers on “decades of impunity” given by the Tel Aviv regime to them in spite of numerous acts of violence against Palestinians.

A people getting attacked on their own land

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli settlers have carried out at least 120 attacks on Palestinians in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the West Bank since the start of 2015.

The acts of violence often go unpunished despite the fact that Israeli soldiers are sometimes present at the scene of the attacks, strengthening the belief that the violence is condoned by the Israeli regime.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.

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