Progress Made in Search for Arsonists

YERUSHALAYIM

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon indicated on Thursday that investigators have made progress in the search for the terror cell that carried out the deadly arson attack on a Palestinian family in August.

“We believe we know who carried out the attacks,” Yaalon said, though a gag order remains on the case and details could not be divulged.

Yaalon told reporters at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv that the perpetrators are involved in something far more serious than the so-called “price tag” campaign by hilltop youth engaged mostly in vandalism.

“Their aim is to cause a flare-up in the security situation on the ground,” Yaalon said. “We decided that administrative attention and banning orders [restricting access to Yehudah and Shomron] are the steps we need to take, so that there will be no more terrorist attacks,” he said.

Earlier, on Tuesday, a security official sought to dispel rumors that the arson attack was actually the result of an internal Palestinian feud in the village of Duma.

He asserted that  he knew “without a doubt” that Jews had torched the homes, but he would not say how he knew.

Meanwhile, three firebombs were thrown at Liora Goldman’s home in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood of southeastern Yerushalayim before dawn on Thursday, Arutz Sheva reported.

Homes along Meir Nakar Street where Goldman lives have been hit by dozens of firebombs in recent weeks — at least 24 in the past month alone, Goldman says — thrown by residents of the adjoining Arab neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber.

“Leave this home? No way, no chance,” she said. “This is my home and my homeland and I am not moving from here,” she said. “It’s true that the firebombs and rocks are being thrown at us to make us flee. But they need to learn to live with us in coexistence.”

“What happened last night was attempted murder,” she said. “I mean, they are not trying to help us paint our walls black… they are trying to kill us. It is an unacceptable situation, for there to be terror in the center of Yerushalayim, and for soldiers to be guarding us. Where is the government? Where is the minister for Internal Security? Where are the police? No one cares about us.”

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