Israeli settler arrested for murder of Palestinian
The arrest highlights the differential treatment of Israeli and Palestinian suspects.
Jerusalem24 – Ali Hassan Harb, a 27-year-old Palestinian from Salfit, was killed on Tuesday by an Israeli settler who stabbed him in the heart.
Harb was pronounced dead when he arrived at the Yasser Arafat Hospital in Salfit in the occupied West Bank.
Harb’s uncle was present at the scene of the incident. He said the family received word that a group of settlers was on the family land, dismantling a wooden house the family built there.
According to the family, when Harb was stabbed, Israeli soldiers present at the scene prevented anyone from reaching him.
The 44-year-old settler who killed Harb was in court today as details of the case were disclosed.
According to Israel Channel 7, during the session at the Magistrate court in Ashkelon, the settler’s detention will be extended in order to allow investigations to continue. He is being held in a facility belonging to the Israeli Shin Bet.
The Israeli courts have refused to release any details about the current investigation into the settler who was arrested yesterday, 24 hours after killing Harb.
In contrast to Israeli settlers, who are rarely even arrested for committing crimes against Palestinians, Palestinian suspects or attackers are often extrajudicially executed at the scene by Israeli forces.
Mohammad Abu Salima, a Palestinian man who stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem in December last year, was first incapacitated by Israeli forces, then killed as he lay on the ground.
At the time, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territory released a statement saying, “such extrajudicial killings are the result of the systematic resort to lethal force against Palestinians by well-armed and well-protected Israeli security personnel; and the almost complete lack of accountability for the killing and wounding of Palestinians over the years at the hands of the Israeli forces.”
The Israeli Mahash that were investigating the case closed it shortly afterwards.
The scene of Mohammad Salima’s death brought back images of the extrajudicial execution of Abdel Fattah Al-Sharif in the center of Hebron on March 24th, 2016. Al-Sharif was executed by Israeli soldier Elor Azaria who shot him at point-blank range as he was laying incapacitated on the ground.
Azaria spent 9 months in prison for the murder of Al-Sharif.