On Thursday evening Israeli police lifted a gag order on the arrest of three Palestinian men on October 4th, stating that during interrogation the three confessed to causing the death of a 30-year-old Israeli settler and his 18-month-old son, by hurling stones at his vehicle and thereby causing a crashThe police said that the three are from Halhoul town, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
According to the police, the men said that on September 23, they hurled stones at a settler’s car, which was driving on a bypass road used by the settlers in the area. The settler was hit in the head by a stone and lost control of his car. This caused the car to flip over, which led to the death of the settler and his child.
The police stated that the settler, Asher Palmer, who also holds U.S. citizenship, lived with his family in Keryat Arba’ settlement in Hebron. His son was identified as Yonatan.
Israeli Police spokeswoman, Luba Samri, told the Ma’an News Agency that a joint investigation by the police, army, and security services led to the arrest; and that during interrogation the three admitted to the act.
Samri added that three other Palestinians were also arrested and admitted that they had stolen the settler’s gun from the vehicle after it crashed. They were reportedly driving on the same road shortly after the attack.
It is worth mentioning that Israel initially declared the cause of the crash an accident.
Earlier on the same day, a Palestinian was killed and three others were injured by settlers’ gunfire, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
