On Friday, suspected Jewish religious extremists threw firebombs into a household in the West Bank village of Duma. An 18-month-old Palestinian child died in the fire and the parents and a 4-year-old brother were hospitalized with life-threatening burns.
According to investigators, the perpetrators of the attack are the same Israeli citizens who have torched churches, mosques and homes in Palestine over the past year, but now their aims are broader than just deterring the government from evacuating the West Bank settlements, the paper reported.
"Nowadays they have more ambitious aims, like destabilizing the country and overthrowing the government to establish a new regime to be based on halakha, Jewish law," the paper said.
Palestinians seek the recognition of their independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
The long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict was exacerbated in 1967 when Israel occupied territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War. Israel continues to build settlements to this day, despite rejection by the majority of the international community, who do not recognize the occupied territories as legally belonging to Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has classified the arson an act of domestic terrorism, pledging to hunt down the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas claimed the attack was a result of Tel Aviv’s ongoing illegal policy of Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
