RIYADH —The Kingdom denounced, in the strongest terms, here today the heinous terrorist crime carried out by Israeli settlers, on Friday dawn, resulting in the death of a Palestinian infant, at Duma Village, near Nablus, and severely burning of a number of the infant's family members, SPA said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir condemned this barbaric and brutal act, which has been committed without a shred of ethics, conscience or humanity, while blaming the Israeli occupation authorities and holding them responsible and accountable for this criminal act against the Palestinians.
Al-Jubeir also called on the international community to fulfill its responsibilities and take necessary measures to protect the Palestinians from the aggressive practices of Israeli settlers.
While offering the Kingdom's condolences to the family of the infant and the government and people of Palestine, the minister hoped for a speedy recovery of the injured among the family members of the infant. The parents and brother of the Palestinian toddler meanwhile were fighting for their lives Saturday, as protests over the arson attack entered a second day in the occupied territories.
The firebombing of the family's home in the occupied West Bank, which killed 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha, sparked an international outcry over Israel's failure to get to grips with violence by hard-line Jewish settlers. The child's father, Saad, was being treated for third-degree burns at the Soroka hospital in southern Israel, where a spokeswoman described his condition as "critical". Mother Riham and four-year-old brother Ahmed were being treated at Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv, where a spokeswoman described their condition as life-threatening.
On Saturday, dozens of Palestinians were clashing with Israeli forces at the Jalazon refugee camp, where the funeral of Laith Khaldi had taken place. Khaldi, 16, was shot by Israeli soldiers Friday after throwing a Molotov cocktail, the army said.
On Saturday morning, Palestinians and Jewish settlers clashed near Kusra in the northern West Bank, trading volleys of stones until the Israeli army declared the area a closed military zone.
In East Jerusalem, some 10 Palestinians were wounded in overnight clashes with Israeli police, Palestinian sources said. On Saturday, two officers were lightly wounded dispersing a riot, police said.
Meanwhile, Al-Azhar denounced, also in the strongest words, the horrendous crime committed by Israeli extremist settlers, who attacked and burned a house at Duma village. In a statement issued here on Friday, Al-Azhar confirmed that this heinous crime and other crimes committed by the Israeli settlers would not have occurred without the blessing of the Israeli occupation authorities, which should be held fully responsible and accountable for the consequences of these horrendous crimes.
Al-Azhar strongly deplored the terrible silence of the international community and human rights organizations toward the crimes being committed against the Palestinian people contrary to all divine laws and international norms and conventions.
It warned against the continued policy of double standards and called for urgent Arab and international action to protect the Palestinian people from the arrogance of the Zionist occupation.
Also, Egypt government condemned the horrendous crime committed by Israeli extremist settlers. “Israel, as the occupying power, should be held fully responsible and accountable for the consequences of this heinous crime,” spokesman of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Badr Abdel Ati said, in a statement issued here on Friday.
He called on the international community to provide security and protection to the Palestinian people, while offering condolences of Egypt's government and people to the family of the martyr infant and to the brotherly Palestinian people, and wishing speedy recovery to the injured.
Meanwhile, the German government on Friday too strongly condemned the brutal arson by Israeli extremist settlers. Describing it as an inhumane act of terrorism, the German government said that the brutality, with which the family was attacked with incendiary devices, at its home, is shocking.
In a press release published on the German Federal Foreign Office website, the German government said: “We share the family's grief over the death of the toddler”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the firebombing “an act of terrorism in every respect” and made a rare telephone call to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But the Palestine Liberation Organization said it held his government “fully responsible”.
The death of 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha was “a direct consequence of decades of impunity given by the Israeli government to settler terrorism”, the PLO said. Abbas said he had ordered his foreign minister to file a complaint at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
“We want true justice, but I doubt that Israel will provide that,” he said of the attack in Duma, near the northern city of Nablus.
The US State Department condemned the “vicious terrorist attack” in “the strongest possible terms,” urging Israel to “apprehend the murderers” and calling on both sides to “avoid escalating tensions”.
The European Union called on Israel to show “zero tolerance” for settler violence, while Jordan, the only Arab state apart from Egypt to have signed a peace accord with Israel, strongly condemned the attack.
“This ugly crime could have been avoided if the Israeli government had not ignored the rights of the Palestinian people and turned its back on peace,” government spokesman Mohammed Momani said.
And UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the murder while calling on both sides to “take bold steps to return to the path of peace”. — With input from agencies
