Dawabsheh Family Denounces Israeli Plea Deal in 2015 Arson Attack
Saad and Reham Dawabsheh and their 18 month son
The Palestine Chronicle reports
A Palestinian family has denounced a plea deal to clear a Jewish settler from murder charges in a 2015 arson attack in which a Palestinian baby and his parents were burned alive in the occupied West Bank.
Saad Dawabsheh, 31, his wife, Reham, 27, and their 18-month-old son Ali were killed in the attack when settlers set on fire their home in the village of Duma in Nablus in July 2015.
Their firstborn son, then four-year-old Ahmad, was the sole survivor and sustained severe burns to over 60 percent of his body.
On Sunday, the Central District Court in Lod (known as al-Lydd to Palestinians) approved a plea deal between the settler’s lawyers and the state prosecutor’s office under which he was cleared of the murder conspiracy charges.
As part of the plea bargain, the suspect – whose name has been withheld – pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit a crime motivated by racism.
The indictment was modified to specify the crime as arson and not murder, as had originally been the case.