The Dawabsheh family and an arithmetic of apartheid

On June 12, 2014, three Israeli teenagers were abducted and killed by Palestinians in the southern area of the Occupied West Bank, though their bodies were not discovered until June 30. The Israeli military immediately launched ‘Operation Brother’s Keeper’

In just the first week of the operation, Israeli forces arrested 388 Palestinians, raided 1,150 locations/institutions across the West Bank (in addition to thousands of private homes), and deployed at least 2,000 troops to Hebron.

On July 31, 2015, Israeli settlers firebombed the Dawabsheh family home in Duma, a Palestinian village in the Nablus region of the Occupied West Bank. 18-month-old Ali died that night, while his father Sa’ad succumbed to his wounds on August 8, and his mother Riham on September 7.

Almost seven weeks later, Israeli security forces have placed three Jewish Israelis under ‘administrative detention’, but have not formally arrested or charged a single person in connection with the killing of the Dawabshehs.

No surprises there: only 7.4 percent of Israeli police investigations, after complaints by Palestinian victims of offenses committed against them or their property by settlers, result in indictments.

This is the reality of impunity, and the arithmetic of apartheid.

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