Ref: 48/2015
Date: 01 August 2015
Time: 11:00 GMT

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the burning of two Palestinian houses in Douma village, southeast of Nablus, by a group of Israeli settlers, when their occupants were asleep inside. As a result, a toddler, Ali Sa’id Dawabsha, was killed and his parents and brother were seriously injured. This crime was committed few days after the first anniversary of the kidnapping of Mohammed Abu Khdair, from Shu’fat neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, by settlers as well. Abu Khdair was tortured, killed and brutally burnt. PCHR stresses that the Israeli forces’ cover-up of crimes committed by settlers, and support and protection for the settlers, as well as the failure to bring them to justice are all encouraging settlers to commit systematic crimes against Palestinian civilians.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 02:00 on Friday, 31 July 2015, a group of settlers sneaked into Douma village, southeast of Nablus, which is two kilometers to the east of two settlement outposts, “Yesh Qadish” and “Yehyah”, and set fire to two houses. Occupants of one of the two houses, which belongs to Sa’ad Mohammed Hassan Dawabsha (32), were asleep inside. The aforementioned person, his wife, Reham Hussein Hassan Dawabsha (27), and their 2 children, Ali (18 months) and Ahmed (5), were surrounded by fire before they were caught on fire. As a result, Ali was killed as the house was set on fire for 40 minutes before a Palestinian Civil Defense vehicle arrived. The toddler was taken out of his bedroom as a charred body and was then transported to Rafidya Hospital in Nablus. Moreover, the parents, who were found in front of the house, and their child Ahmed, who was rescued by the neighbors from the living room, sustained serious burns throughout their bodies. The burns that were concentrated in the face and upper parts of the bodies ranged between second and third degrees burns. The parents’ health condition is very serious. The three wounded persons were transported by a private car to Za’tara checkpoint, south of Nablus, from which they were transported by a Palestinian ambulance to Rafidya Hospital as well. In the early morning, the three wounded persons were taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba to receive the necessary medical treatment for their serious injuries.

The other house belonging to Ma’moun Rasheed Rashed Dawabsha was completely burnt. Occupants of that house survived because they were not at home but in an apartment belonging to them in Nablus when the attack took place. The settlers wrote racist slogans on the walls of the two houses calling for revenge against the Arabs.

Having warned against the escalation of settlers’ attacks against Palestinian civilians and their property, which are crimes against humanity, PCHR reiterates its strong condemnation of the Israeli forces’ and settlers’ escalation in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), and:

1. Calls upon the international community to pressurize the Israeli authorities to stop offering open protection for the settlers and cover for their crimes against Palestinian civilians and their property, which encourage the settlers to commit more crimes. PCHR also demands the Israeli government to prosecute the perpetrators and bring them to justice;
2. Calls upon the international community to intervene and pressurize the Israeli government in order to fulfill its obligations according to international law and end settlement activities in the oPt;
3. Reminds the international community that settlement activities are considered a war crime according to international law. Therefore, the High Contracting Partied to the Fourth Geneva Conventions, individually or collectively, should bear their legal and moral responsibilities, fulfil their obligations and act to ensure Israel’s respect for and application of the Convention in the oPt according to article 1 of the Convention.