Asher Palmer and son Yonatan
In a groundbreaking decision, a military court found a Palestinian man guilty of murder for throwing a rock at an Israeli car, causing it to crash and killing the driver and his infant son.
The court at Ofer military prison on Tuesday found Wa’al al-Araji, 25, from Halhul, to be directly responsible for the deaths in 2011 of Asher Palmer and his 1-year-old son Yehonatan.
Palmer was driving from his home in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba towards Jerusalem when Araji and accomplices drove towards them in the opposite direction in another vehicle. As the two cars passed each other, Araji hurled a rock that smashed through the windshield, knocking Palmer unconscious. The car swerved off the road, killing its occupants.
The decision was unusual in that the Military Advocate generally does not seek a murder charge against stone-throwing Palestinians, even when their actions cause fatalities. However, the panel of three judges said that, in this particular case, there can be no doubt that the accused intended to kill and had practiced perpetrating similar — although less deadly — attacks in the past.
As I pointed out at the time of the murder,
Every single day, hundreds of rocks, blocks, stones, etc. are thrown at Jewish vehicles in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and Arab towns or neighborhoods inside the Green Line. Sometimes photographers are informed in advance that there will be exciting opportunities to view the heroic resistance to occupation. Throwing ‘stones’ (sometimes as big as a person’s head) is what Palestinian Arab adolescents do for entertainment. Even the great Columbia University ‘scholar’ Edward Said symbolically threw a stone across the Lebanese border at Israeli soldiers.
Stone-throwers are rarely caught. In this case, it was several days before the police even admitted that a crime had been committed. And just a few weeks ago, there was a similar incident in which a three-year old girl was critically injured.
Sentence hasn’t been pronounced yet, but al-Araji faces the possibility of a life sentence. Unfortunately Israel does not apply the death penalty to terrorists, who are sent to prison where they are permitted to take correspondence courses and enjoy other benefits until they are released in exchange for hostages taken by other terrorists.
While in prison, he will be paid a salary by the Palestinian Authority, which, when he gets out, will treat him like a hero, a ‘political prisoner’ like Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi or Mahatma Gandhi. Don’t be surprised — consider the treatment received by mass murderer Ahlam Tamimi, responsible for the Sbarro’s Pizza bombing in which 15 lives were snuffed out (including 8 children).
The release of prisoners has been an important demand made by the PLO, and at times has even been given by Mahmoud Abbas as a precondition for negotiations with Israel. It is an integral part of the Arab narrative that what they do — what we call ‘terrorism’ — is justified, akin to self-defense, a legitimate ‘resistance to occupation’.
At least, that’s the Western translation of their narrative, often dressed up in neo-colonial theory in which the ‘colonized’ are justified in resisting the ‘colonizers’ by any means (academics particularly eat this nonsense up).
Probably in Arab minds it is more like “they took our land and our honor, and we will get it back by killing them, especially the children they value so much.” That might be a little raw for Western sensibilities.
Update [3 April 0847 PDT]: Al-Araji turns out to have been a member of the PA ‘security’ forces, which have been armed and trained by the US in order to “fight terrorism.”
Update [3 April 0911 PDT]: To get an idea of what Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria (“Yesha”) face on a daily basis, read this.
Technorati Tags: Israel, terrorism, al-Araji, Asher Palmer
Let us remember that the Palestinian narrative, no matter how senseless and morally upside down it appears to any normal individual, has been crafted, developed and promoted by the UN General Asembly since the late 1960s.
To put an end to this despicable charade, a sustained campaign must be launched to rescind UNGA Resolution 3236 and all its previous building blocks, in the same way that the infamous resolution 3379 (“Zionism = racism”) was rescinded in 1991. Please see:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/06/3236_a_number_pregnant_with_danger_for_israel.html
Salomon,
Thank you for pointing out that the UN is not just an annoyance which now and then passes silly anti-Israel resolutions. As your excellent article linked above shows, it is engaged in a systematic and sustained effort to violate its own charter and abet the destruction of a member state.
Maybe its time that Israel and other nations which aspire to guide their behavior by moral principles, if there are any, to say goodbye to this corrupt and evil institution.
Vic, I agree: the political bodies of the UN, as they are presently constituted, are not worth a dime and should be left to rot. But I can’t understand why 3236 hasn’t earned the same opprobrium as 3379, since its implications are far wider.