Israel - A Jewish terrorist cell that carried out the deadly arson attack on a Palestinian home in the village of Duma in August is a significantly bigger threat than ‘Price Tag’ far right activists, and is not connected to hilltop youths that routinely spray paint hate messages, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Thursday, in the most revealing remarks made by an official representative on the matter.
“Their aim is to cause a flare up in the security situation on the ground,” Ya’alon told reporters during a meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. “We decided that administrative attention and banning orders [restricting access to the West Bank] are the steps we need to take, so that there will be no more terrorist attacks,” he added.
A media ban is in place prohibiting the publication of specific details from the investigation into the firebombing.
Conceding that administrative arrests are “draconian,” Ya’alon said the security establishment had little choice in the matter as its top priority is preventing further loss of life and a deterioration in the security situation.
“We believe we know who carried out the attacks,” Ya’alon said.
The defense minister recounted how, as commander of the IDF’s Judea and Samaria Division between 1992 and 1993, security forces placed 59 members of the PFLP Palestinian terrorist organization in administrative detention for a few years, based on intelligence that connected them to Kalashnikov rifles used in a spate of deadly shootings. The arrests were made despite lacking sufficient legal evidence for a trial.
After their release, many of the terrorists “went back” to carrying out attacks, Ya’alon said, hinting at the life-saving effect of administrative detention.
On Tuesday, a security official told reporters that he knew “without a doubt” that Jewish extremists had torched the homes. He would not explain how he knew.
Since the July attack, speculative stories have circulated among the settlers and right wing activists that the arson attack was actually the result of an internal Palestinian feud in Duma.
The senior security official dismissed all such theories.
Within hours of the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ya’alon stated clearly that it was a terror attack carried out by Jewish extremists and immediately gave security forces permission to use administrative detention as a tool to root out the perpetrators.
Since then, dozens of right wing activists have been arrested and released, but only three have been held under administrative detention orders.
Last Sunday night, Reham Dewabsha, 27, died in Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer of burn wounds she sustained in that attack and was buried in Duma on Monday. Her husband Sa’ad, 31, died of burn wounds a week after the attack and their 18-month-old son was killed immediately after the blaze broke out.
Their other son, Ahmed 4, is recovering from his injuries in Sheba Medical Center.
