Family of Palestinian toddler burned alive sue Israel

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Relatives of a Palestinian family burned alive filed a lawsuit against Israel on Monday demanding it be held responsible and pay damages over the 2015 attack blamed on Jewish extremists in the occupied West Bank.

Eighteen-month-old Ali Dawabsheh died along with his parents when their house was firebombed in July 2015.

His brother Ahmed, now six, was the sole survivor from the immediate family but was left with severe burns.

“Today we filed a complaint with the Nazareth district court demanding the state of Israel be held responsible for the burning of the Dawabsheh family in the village of Duma in the West Bank,” lawyer Hassan Al Khatib, who represents the family, told AFP by phone.

Ahmed’s uncle Nasser Dawabsheh said they were seeking an admission of responsibility from the state and 16 million shekels (4 million euros, $4.4 million) in damages.

Israel has occupied the West Bank for 50 years and Khatib said the state must accept responsibility for the killings.

“The child Ahmed suffers from disability,” he added, as well as “medical and psychological incapacity from the loss of his father, mother and brother”.

Amiram Ben-Uliel, 21, from the northern West Bank settlement unit of Shilo, was charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to commit a hate crime.

A 17-year-old, whose name remains under a gag order, was charged with being an accessory to committing a racially motivated murder.

An Israeli official said the family would not be eligible for compensation that applies to terror victims since it is only open for Israeli citizens.

The official said the family would be able to apply instead to an alternative committee that compensates people for so-called nationalist attacks.

Nasser Dawabsheh confirmed to AFP they had rejected a previous compensation offer because they were demanding the state accept responsibility, which he said had been refused.