Six Jewish extremists have been arrested on suspicion of murdering Mohammad Abu Khdair (16), a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem whose charred body was found in a forest last Wednesday.
Israeli officials said the six, some of whom are minors, perpetrated the murder to avenge the killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last month.
Palestinians had reached the same conclusion on the day of the murder without waiting for the police to conclude their investigation.
Riots in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Shuafat, where the Abu Khdair family live, quickly spread throughout Arab areas of Jerusalem, sparking the fiercest clashes in the capital for years.
Over the weekend the unrest spread to Arab population centres in the Galilee where protestors blocked off highways and stoned Jewish vehicles. There were fresh protests last night in the Galilee following news of the arrests.
Yesterday's dramatic breakthrough followed an intensive investigation by police, assisted by the Israel security agency, but a gagging order still remains in force preventing publication of certain details of the case.
Attempt to kidnap child
Israeli media reported that the suspects, whose remand in detention was extended yesterday by an Israeli court, were from the cities of Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Adam, close to Jerusalem.
Channel 10 television reported that the suspects took part in a right-wing demonstration in Jerusalem, just hours before the murder, at which protesters chanted “death to the Arabs”.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Israel will punish the murderers.
“That is how we are different from our neighbours,” he said. “Their murderers are hailed as heroes and public squares are named in their honour.”
He called on all sides to “show responsibility” and not inflame the situation.
Referring to Jewish hate crimes against Arabs, Mr Netanyahu said “we are opposed to ‘price tag attacks’. In the same way, he said in a reference to the recent days of Israeli Arab rioting, “we are opposed to petrol bombs, rock-throwing, and blocking roads”.
“Just as I condemn calls of ‘Death to Arabs,” I also condemn calls of “Death to Jews,” he said.
“Murder is murder and incitement is incitement – and we will treat both with severity. I do not distinguish between terror and terror, nor between incitement and incitement.”
Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli Arab member of the Knesset parliament, called the arrests a positive development.
“But we knew from the beginning . . . that this was done by racist Jewish murderers, who were influenced by the constant incitement from ministers and rabbis.”
A day before the murder, some of the suspects had scouted out the Shuafat neighbourhood and tried unsuccessfully to kidnap a nine-year-old Arab child.
The breakthrough in the police investigation came from security camera footage that showed two young men, presumed to be the kidnapers, talking to a third person who is not visible in the frame, presumed to be Abu Khdair.
Another camera showed the victim being bungled into a vehicle moments later.
Several Palestinian bystanders who witnessed the incident gave chase but lost the car in a nearby Jewish neighbourhood. They returned to Shuafat to inform Abu Khdair’s parents.
The boy’s father called police who managed to track the boy’s cellphone.
His charred body was discovered an hour later in the Jerusalem forest. There were also signs of violence to the body.
An Israeli and Palestinian doctor who carried out an autopsy found flammable material in the victim’s lungs and breathing passages, indicating he was still alive when he was set on fire.
Bulldoze homes
Abu Khdair’s father, Hussein, called the perpetrators “new Nazis.” He called on the Israeli government to destroy the homes of the killers, in a similar fashion to the bulldozing of the West Bank homes of Palestinian militants who are convicted of killing Israelis.
Abu Khdair’s mother, Suha, welcomed the arrests but made it clear she had little faith in the Israeli justice system.
“I don’t have any peace in my heart. Even if they captured who they say killed my son, they’re only going to ask them questions and then release them. What’s the point?”
In a related development, a Jerusalem court yesterday ordered Abu Khdair’s cousin, Tariq (15), released to house arrest.
The American teenager, who was visiting Jerusalem with his family to attend his cousin’s funeral, was detained during violent protests.
A cellphone clip showed two Israeli border police officers punching and kicking Tariq as he lay on the ground, hands bound, before dragging him away.
His parents deny police allegations that he participated in violent clashes, was carrying a slingshot and resisted arrest.
The Israeli justice ministry has opened an investigation against the two border police officers.
The US state department said that it was “profoundly troubled” by Tariq’s beating and demanded an investigation.
