'Duma killers could have been arrested on night of firebombing'

On Sunday, the state indicted Amiram Ben-Uliel, 21, from Jerusalem and an unnamed minor with murder in connection with the Duma case.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
A man looks out of a house badly damaged by a firebomb attack by suspected Jewish extremists in the Palestinian village of Duma in the West Bank, July 31, 2015 (photo credit: REUTERS)
A man looks out of a house badly damaged by a firebomb attack by suspected Jewish extremists in the Palestinian village of Duma in the West Bank, July 31, 2015
(photo credit: REUTERS)
It’s possible that the army missed a chance to catch the Duma killers on the night they murdered three members of the Dawabsha family, the non-governmental group Yesh Din has charged. A document has come to light from the Binyamin Regional Council’s emergency dispatcher that shows it received information that five settlers had left Duma and were seen walking in the direction of the Adei Ad outpost, just moments after ambulances were dispatched to the village.
The command and control center receives reports from different sources, including the IDF and the Civil Administration. Some reports are based on Palestinian sources.
The call sheet from that night showed that the IDF and ambulances from the Red Crescent Society entered Duma at 3:53 a.m. following reports that two homes had been torched.
Ten minutes later, at 4:03, an entry in the call sheet showed a report about five settlers who had left the village from its northern side and were walking in the direction of the Adei Ad outpost.
The call sheet is part of a collection of documents the outpost recently gave to the High Court of Justice in response to a Yesh Din petition to evacuate the unauthorized community.
According to the 2005 Sasson report, the outpost was created in 1998 with NIS 1.7 from the Housing and Construction Ministry on land that is own partially by the state and partially by Palestinians.
Three months ago the state said that it plans to authorize the portions of the outpost on state land.
Yesh Din has charged that the outpost, located near the Shiloh settlement, has a history of violence against area Palestinians. The outpost had intended to counter that claim by submitting call sheets from the emergency dispatcher.
On Sunday, the state indicted Amiram Ben-Uliel, 21, from Jerusalem and an unnamed minor with murder in connection with the Duma case. According to the state, Ben-Uliel had in the past lived in one of the outposts near Shilo.