Roundup: Palestinians condemn Israeli court's decision not to convict "murderer"

The Palestinians on Monday had largely condemned an Israeli court that refrained from convicting the abductor and murderer of a Palestinian boy in east Jerusalem 16 months ago.

Saeb Erekat, Secretary General of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told reporters in Ramallah that the decision of the court "is a green light for keeping crimes against the Palestinians."

He held the Israeli government "fully responsible for the ongoing crimes committed against the Palestinians," and called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to delegate a committee to investigate the reality of the situation in the Palestinian territories.

Erekat also called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to begin immediately measures for establishing a special system for an international protection for the Palestinian people.

Earlier on Monday, an Israeli court refrained from convicting an Israeli called Yousef Haeen Ben David, the major accused person for kidnapping and killing the Palestinian boy Abu Khudeir, according to Israel Radio.

The radio decided that Ben David wasn't guilty due to a psychiatric report, although he admitted that he committed the crime, while the court convicted two other teenagers for joining Ben David in killing the boy.

On June 2 last year, the police found the body of Abu Khudeir dead after he had been kidnapped when he stood outside his house in Shufat neighborhood in east Jerusalem.

At that time, the Palestinians accused three Israeli settlers for being behind committing the crime, while the Israeli police announced at that time that it started an investigation to the incident.

Adnan Damiri, the Palestinian commissioner of the Palestinian security apparatuses and its spokesman, said the Israeli court's decision in the case of Abu Khudeir "enables the murderers, by the help of the Israeli government, to escape from punishment."

Damiri accused the Israeli government of seeking excuses to getting Israeli murderers not guilty although they confessed for committing these awful crimes, adding that "this means that the government encourages settlers to commit crimes against the Palestinians."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party also condemned the Israeli court's decision. It said in a statement that "the decision shows that the Israeli government is a partner with the murderers in the crimes committed against the Palestinian people."

"We don't trust the courts of the state of occupation because it is based on injustice and all its decisions are illegal. The whole world should know the criminal relationship between the Israeli murderers and the officials in the Israeli institutions and establishments," said the statement.

Meanwhile, Islamic Hamas movement's spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in an emailed press statement that the decision of the court not to convict the murderer of Abu Khudeir shows "how this occupation is raciest and sponsors the crimes of the settlers crimes against the Palestinian people."

"It is our people's right to defend themselves by all possible means," said Abu Zuhri, adding that "everyone should bear the responsibility towards the organized terror of state that is practiced by the Israeli occupation." Endit