Israel arrests two Palestinians in settler family murder

[News_Editor]

Israel arrests two Palestinians in settler family murder

2011-04-17 21:55:52 GMT+7 (ICT)

JERUSALEM (BNO NEWS) -- Two Palestinian teenagers were arrested for the murder of a settler family last month in the Israeli settlement of Itamar, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday.

The suspects were identified as Hakim Maazan Niad Awad, an 18-year-old high school student, and Amjad Mahmud Fauzi Awad, 19, both from the West Bank village of Awarta, located 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) south of the settlement of Itamar. Israeli security forces said both men, who are reportedly affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), confessed to the murders and reconstructed them.

On the night of March 11, the suspects set out toward Itamar on foot, armed with knives and tools to cut the perimeter fence. Once inside Itamar, they reached the first row of houses and broke into a home adjacent to the Fogel residence, but found nobody inside. They stole a M-16 rifle, clips and a flak jacket before exiting the home and walking towards the Fogel residence.

"Having spotted children while still outside, they murdered 11-year-old Yoav and 4-year-old Elad.  The assailants thereupon entered the bedroom where the parents, Ruth and Udi, were sleeping with 3-month-old Hadas and murdered all three, following a struggle," the IDF said in a statement. 

Before leaving the house, the suspects stole another M-16 rifle and then returned to Awarta on foot. According to the IDF, various members of their families were extensively involved in helping them.

Several suspected accomplices are also under arrest. During the investigation, dozens of suspects from Awarta were detained for questioning.

The head of Awarta village council, Qayies Awad, told Palestine News Network that he questions the Israeli clams and condemned the investigation.

"As Palestinians we were not part of the investigation, moreover Israel was controlling Awarta for the past 35 days since the attack happened, they entered every house in the village, they could have planted any evidence they want. We demand an international investigation of the Itamar killing," he said.

Palestinian security officials requested to be part of the investigation as the army and settlers accused Palestinians since day one, but the request was denied.

Israeli troops controlled Awarta for almost a month and kept it under siege and curfew. According to Palestine News Network, Israeli troops arrested near every man, women and child living in Awarta and took DNA samples and fingerprints. They also destroyed the only road leading in and out of the village and confiscated farmlands owned by local farmers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the arrest and commended the IDF for its efforts.

"We will reach murderers anywhere.  This expresses our commitment to the idea that justice and security are with us," the Prime Minister's office said in a statement.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-17

[Jingthing]

So much for the it was a disgruntled Thai guest worker who did it cockamamie theories ...

Edited April 17, 2011 by Jingthing

[geriatrickid]

Two teenage boys. Wanna bet they were manipulated by adults?

Ever notice that its so called mature adults that put kids up to these crimes. Whether it is a murder like this or a house robbery in Pattaya, or a hit on someone's spouse in Phuket, the road of responsibility alwas leads to an older eprson that talks a kid into doing the dirty work. Now these kids get to be martyrs in prison, while the older males are out recruiting and manipulating more kids.

[Pakboong]

Senseless murders. I do hope those found guilty receive quick and just punishment.

Out of curiosity, I looked up world intentional murder statistics to find that a person is more likely to get murdered in Thailand than in Palestine. In fact, you are 20% more likely to get murdered in the USA than in Palestine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

[Wallaby]

Two teenage boys. Wanna bet they were manipulated by adults?

Ever notice that its so called mature adults that put kids up to these crimes. Whether it is a murder like this or a house robbery in Pattaya, or a hit on someone's spouse in Phuket, the road of responsibility alwas leads to an older eprson that talks a kid into doing the dirty work. Now these kids get to be martyrs in prison, while the older males are out recruiting and manipulating more kids.

Teenage boys? Where I come from they are already adults.

[coma]

Senseless murders. I do hope those found guilty receive quick and just punishment.

Out of curiosity, I looked up world intentional murder statistics to find that a person is more likely to get murdered in Thailand than in Palestine. In fact, you are 20% more likely to get murdered in the USA than in Palestine.

http://en.wikipedia....l_homicide_rate

If you included in that count all the civilian Palestinians, as murdereded [which is the case] not accidently killed by the IDF , then those figures would be very different.

[Steely Dan]

Senseless murders. I do hope those found guilty receive quick and just punishment.

Out of curiosity, I looked up world intentional murder statistics to find that a person is more likely to get murdered in Thailand than in Palestine. In fact, you are 20% more likely to get murdered in the USA than in Palestine.

http://en.wikipedia....l_homicide_rate

If you included in that count all the civilian Palestinians, as murdereded [which is the case] not accidently killed by the IDF , then those figures would be very different.

You mean murdered by Hamas outright, or merely Hamas being criminally culpable for using civilians as human shields?

The two murderers from their actions and lack of remorse are clearly psychopaths. About 1% of the population has this personality defect, which does not always manifest itself in a well ordered society, but when children are indoctrinated with hatred and given a scapegoat to channel this onto you get the current situation where the psychopaths have to be fenced in. Indeed I'm pretty sure suicide bombers are groomed from those who show suceptability to suggestion - Mental disorder is indeed encouraged and actively channeled by Islamic fanatics.

[coma]

Yes. Not just Palestinians in that 1%. Nor Arabs in general.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Harris_and_Dylan_Klebold

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bryant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_R._McVeigh etc etc.

[Steely Dan]

Yes. Not just Palestinians in that 1%. Nor Arabs in general.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Harris_and_Dylan_Klebold

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bryant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_R._McVeigh etc etc.

I wasn't suggesting that there is a higher incidence of clinical psychopaths amongst any race or nationality, merely that the way a society is has a bearing on how personality disorders manifest themselves. I think the damage to a child's mind can happen very early and the damage done by an abusive upbringing can be difficult or even impossible to repair by the age of say seven?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series

[Pakboong]

Yes. Not just Palestinians in that 1%. Nor Arabs in general.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Harris_and_Dylan_Klebold

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bryant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_R._McVeigh etc etc.

I wasn't suggesting that there is a higher incidence of clinical psychopaths amongst any race or nationality, merely that the way a society is has a bearing on how personality disorders manifest themselves. I think the damage to a child's mind can happen very early and the damage done by an abusive upbringing can be difficult or even impossible to repair by the age of say seven?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series

I wonder how being bombed and shot at affects the total damage to the child?

[cdnvic]

If you guys are just gonna paste Wiki links (which anybody can edit to suit themselves) at each other again we may as well close this down now.

[coma]

Everybody is heavily influenced by thier surrounding including parents, communities and peers. Minor are obvioulsy going to be more so than adults. What hope does an Palestinian child have when they see death, poverty and occupation by big and scary, heavily armed men with machine guns loitering around thier nieghbourhoods 24/7 ?

Are we not allowed to post links to Wikipedia ?

Edited April 19, 2011 by coma

[chuckd]

Everybody is heavily influenced by thier surrounding including parents, communities and peers. Minor are obvioulsy going to be more so than adults. What hope does an Palestinian child have when they see death, poverty and occupation by big and scary, heavily armed men with machine guns loitering around thier nieghbourhoods 24/7 ?

Are we not allowed to post likes to Wikipedia ?

The only 'big and scary, heavily armed men' loitering around a Palestinian neighborhood 24/7 are Hamas.

Good question about Wikipedia.

[Steely Dan]

Yes. Not just Palestinians in that 1%. Nor Arabs in general.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Harris_and_Dylan_Klebold

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bryant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_R._McVeigh etc etc.

I wasn't suggesting that there is a higher incidence of clinical psychopaths amongst any race or nationality, merely that the way a society is has a bearing on how personality disorders manifest themselves. I think the damage to a child's mind can happen very early and the damage done by an abusive upbringing can be difficult or even impossible to repair by the age of say seven?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series

I wonder how being bombed and shot at affects the total damage to the child?

Perhaps you should ask the Israelis that question as it is equally valid. Of course any damage so done is evidently balanced by a decent education, family and community support and a shared set of values - as oppose to a victim culture, with a ready scapegoat based on ancient superstition in lieu of taking responsibility for one's actions or the wellbeing of dependants.

Thanks for pointing this out though.

Edited April 19, 2011 by Steely Dan

[cdnvic]

It's not a question of what's allowed, it's that Wikis can be edited by anyone anonymously and should not be considered a reliable source. The info you link to could be gone or changed tomorrow. The other side of the equation is that this is a discussion forum, and while citing sources is part of it, two guys just pasting links back and forth in some kind of infinite loop of one upmanship is not a discussion.

[chuckd]

It's not a question of what's allowed, it's that Wikis can be edited by anyone anonymously and should not be considered a reliable source. The info you link to could be gone or changed tomorrow. The other side of the equation is that this is a discussion forum, and while citing sources is part of it, two guys just pasting links back and forth in some kind of infinite loop of one upmanship is not a discussion.

If there is any other source available I will not use Wiki. However, there are times when it is the best source available.

Glad to know it is still ok to use.

[coma]

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- They came armed with knives and wire cutters looking for a Jewish target.

It was a Friday night, the Sabbath eve of March 11, and Palestinian teenagers Amjad Awad, 19, and Hakim Awad, 18, both from the Palestinian village of Awarta, hurried through the dark before climbing over the fence of the nearby Jewish settlement of Itamar, in the West Bank.

The first house they entered was empty of people, but they found an M-16, magazines and a flak jacket. They took the material with them.

Next they entered the Fogels' home.

The attack that took place there would shock Israel and reverberate around the world.

First they murdered 11-year-old Yoav and his 4-year-old brother, Elad. They continued on to the bedroom where the children's parents, Ruth and Udi, were sleeping with 3-month-old Hadas. The Fogels struggled, but to no avail. It wasn't until the killers heard Hadas cry that they realized a baby was in the room; they murdered her, too.

Before leaving the house, the two men stole another M-16.

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/04/17/3086923/arrest-of-fogel-killers-closes-circle-but-brings-no-consolation

Interesting article. Do I smell a scapegoat here ? Does this alledged sequence of events seem plausable at all ?

I know there are alot of weapons Around that part of the world but I do know that you don't just stumble upon these items so easily in a strange dark houses in the middle of the night. Twice. Without getting caught.

[Ulysses G.]

Interesting article. Do I smell a scapegoat here ?

No you don't. You are trying to complicate something that is not very complicated.

[Jingthing]

Interesting article. Do I smell a scapegoat here ?

No you don't. You are trying to complicate something that is not very complicated.

They didn't murder themselves.

Perhaps coma is lobbying to be their defense attorney. I hope the get a fair trial, that's about it. They did confess so that would be the beginning of a defense if there is one, that it was a false confession, but I reckon there is plenty of other evidence against them.

[LaoPo]

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- They came armed with knives and wire cutters looking for a Jewish target.

It was a Friday night, the Sabbath eve of March 11, and Palestinian teenagers Amjad Awad, 19, and Hakim Awad, 18, both from the Palestinian village of Awarta, hurried through the dark before climbing over the fence of the nearby Jewish settlement of Itamar, in the West Bank.

The first house they entered was empty of people, but they found an M-16, magazines and a flak jacket. They took the material with them.

Next they entered the Fogels' home.

The attack that took place there would shock Israel and reverberate around the world.

First they murdered 11-year-old Yoav and his 4-year-old brother, Elad. They continued on to the bedroom where the children's parents, Ruth and Udi, were sleeping with 3-month-old Hadas. The Fogels struggled, but to no avail. It wasn't until the killers heard Hadas cry that they realized a baby was in the room; they murdered her, too.

Before leaving the house, the two men stole another M-16.

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/04/17/3086923/arrest-of-fogel-killers-closes-circle-but-brings-no-consolation

Interesting article. Do I smell a scapegoat here ? Does this alledged sequence of events seem plausable at all ?

I know there are alot of weapons Around that part of the world but I do know that you don't just stumble upon these items so easily in a strange dark houses in the middle of the night. Twice. Without getting caught.

I hope the real killers are caught now although it's incomprehensible that two 18 and 19 year old students can commit such a horrible crime and murder a family of 5 but it's the same kind of incomprehensible thought to learn that young soldiers murdered innocent civilians in Afganistan,...for fun.

I also ask myself if it is normal that Israeli settlers, living on occupied Palaestinian soil have M-16 rifles as a standard weapon in their homes ?

The serious and respected Haaretz writes in an article that the two M-16 rifles were hidden in a Ramallah residents home.....

"In addition, the man who the suspects supposedly approached to procure a weapon was arrested along with the Ramallah resident at whose home the two M-16 rifles were found hidden."

Now, I question and ask myself how stupid someone must be to transport TWO M-16 Rifles from the West Bank Arab village of Awarta all the way to Ramallah, a good 50 Km (!) away from Awarta.*

Which idiot is so stupid to transport those rifles through a heavily, by Israeli military forces, controlled area on the West Bank, KNOWING that the Israeli military set up road blocks immediately after the murders?

Strange, since the risk to get caught is huge.

Two teens from West Bank village arrested over Itamar massacre

http://www.haaretz.c...ssacre-1.356396

* http://goo.gl/maps/vjUe distance and road Awarta to Ramallah

LaoPo

[Ulysses G.]

Which idiot is so stupid...

The same idiots that blow themselves up on a regular basis.

[Ulysses G.]

I also ask myself if it is normal that Israeli settlers, living on occupied Palaestinian soil have M-16 rifles as a standard weapon in their homes ?

Yes it is, but, if anything, it is Syrian soil as there has never been a country or people called Palestine or Palestinian and the Syrians lost the land after attacking Israel repeatedly and being pushed back after losing yet again.

Edited April 19, 2011 by Ulysses G.

[LaoPo]

I also ask myself if it is normal that Israeli settlers, living on occupied Palaestinian soil have M-16 rifles as a standard weapon in their homes ?

Yes it is, but, if anything, it is Syrian soil as there has never been a country or people called Palestine or Palestinian and the Syrians lost the land after attacking Israel repeatedly and being pushed back after losing yet again.

You don't have to repeat yourself over and over again, denying there is such a thing called Palestine or Palestinians. The world knows and think different, opposed to your claims.

Even the Bible speaks of Palestine, during the Middle Ages historians spoke of Palestine so please stop talking nonsense which, in fact, is a claim that you deny the Palestinian people the right to have their own country.

It's well known your are 100% pro Israel and everything else which is considered a bit different of YOUR views is, of course, strongly opposed by yourself and everybody else is wrong.....in your opinion;

there's no room within your thoughts for a civilized debate, other than your own views and opinion, written down in your one-sentence answers.

That doesn't mean I strongly condem murderers, whether they are 2 Palestinian youngsters , murdering Israeli settlers or soldiers, murdering Afghani civilians or Thai, murdering Thai or Farang.

I condem ALL murders and murderers.

Next to that I think it's absurd that the settlers have M-16's in their homes, the same as I would condem Palestinians to have M-16's in their homes.

LaoPo

Edited April 19, 2011 by LaoPo

[Ulysses G.]

You don't have to repeat yourself over and over again, denying there is such a thing called Palestine or Palestinians.

It is a historical fact. Yes there was an ancient Jewish Country called Palestine, but never a modern one and never an Arab one. Even Arafat was an Egyptian.

Edited April 19, 2011 by Ulysses G.

[Ulysses G.]

Next to that I think it's absurd that the settlers have M-16's in their homes

They are living in a war zone. It would be a lot more absurd not to have one.

[Jingthing]

Next to that I think it's absurd that the settlers have M-16's in their homes

They are living in a war zone. It would be a lot more absurd not to have one.

Totally agreed, UG. But it is a valid question whether the Israeli settlers should be in settlement areas like that in the first place. But as long as they are there, the guns are an obvious given.

[LaoPo]

Next to that I think it's absurd that the settlers have M-16's in their homes

They are living in a war zone. It would be a lot more absurd not to have one.

Totally agreed, UG. But it is a valid question whether the Israeli settlers should be in settlement areas like that in the first place. But as long as they are there, the guns are an obvious given.

So you would agree if the Palestinians have M-16's in every single household as well? After all, like you correctly wrote: the settlers did settle in occupied territory which is and was NOT theirs.

LaoPo

[Jingthing]

I don't think agree is the correct word. I wouldn't be surprised if they had those guns if they could get them and the IDF didn't stop them. There is no question there are large areas of conflicted land in the region. Like most reasonable civilized people, I'd like to see a peaceful, negotiated solution to these conflicts. I don't think deliberately murdering babies is going to make that more likely.

As far as the history, ancient and modern there, why the obsession? There are millions of Jews there now, mostly born in Israel, as well as millions Arab also mostly born either in Palestinian territories or Israel. Those people are what's important now, not to mention what a total meltdown there would mean globally.

Edited April 19, 2011 by Jingthing

[LaoPo]

I don't think agree is the correct word. I wouldn't be surprised if they had those guns if they could get them and the IDF didn't stop them. There is no question there are large areas of conflicted land in the region. Like most reasonable civilized people, I'd like to see a peaceful, negotiated solution to these conflicts. I don't think deliberately murdering babies is going to make that more likely.

As far as the history, ancient and modern there, why the obsession? There are millions of Jews there now, mostly born in Israel, as well as millions Arab also mostly born either in Palestinian territories or Israel. Those people are what's important now, not to mention what a total meltdown there would mean globally.

I agree with your observations Jingthing.

The problem lies within the last part of your post; the whole world wants peace in the Middle East; it's the fanatics on both sides that don't want peace and on both sides they're convinced of their own truth.

I think that the majority of Israeli Jews and Palestinians as well as Arabs want peace but the complexity of the situation makes it so darn difficult to install real, long lasting peace.

Tragic murders by two young Palestinians isn't really helping...

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

I don't think agree is the correct word. I wouldn't be surprised if they had those guns if they could get them and the IDF didn't stop them. There is no question there are large areas of conflicted land in the region. Like most reasonable civilized people, I'd like to see a peaceful, negotiated solution to these conflicts. I don't think deliberately murdering babies is going to make that more likely.

As far as the history, ancient and modern there, why the obsession? There are millions of Jews there now, mostly born in Israel, as well as millions Arab also mostly born either in Palestinian territories or Israel. Those people are what's important now, not to mention what a total meltdown there would mean globally.

I agree with your observations Jingthing.

The problem lies within the last part of your post; the whole world wants peace in the Middle East; it's the fanatics on both sides that don't want peace and on both sides they're convinced of their own truth.

I think that the majority of Israeli Jews and Palestinians as well as Arabs want peace but the complexity of the situation makes it so darn difficult to install real, long lasting peace.

Tragic murders by two young Palestinians isn't really helping...

LaoPo

This is what I meant with fanatics and even Hamas considered the tragic murder of the Italian and pro-Palestinian activist -in Gaza- as "too much".

May he RIP :jap:

LaoPo