Defying IDF orders, four-year-old terror victim to be buried in West Bank settlement
Family of girl requested permission from Civil Administration to bury their daughter on a plot of state land in Yakir, but didn't receive response.
By TOVAH LAZAROFF
The parents of Adele Biton plan to defy the IDF to bury their four-year old daughter on Wednesday afternoon in the West Bank Yakir settlement where they live because the community of 1,700 people lacks a cemetery.Adele had survived a Palestinian stoning attack on her family’s car on Route 5 in March 2013, even though she was critically wounded.But on Tuesday, she died of pneumonia at Schneider Children’s Hospital in Petah Tikva.Before Adele's death, her mother Adva said she had no doubt that the severity of the pneumonia was a direct result of the wounds she suffered in the 2013 terrorist attack.After Adele’s death, Adva and her husband Rafi asked the Civil Administration for permission to bury their daughter on a plot of state land in Yakir.But their request was denied because the plot of land is outside Yakir’s master plan and until now, no bureaucratic steps have even been initiated to create one.On their behalf, Samaria Regional Council deputy Yossi Dagan asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to authorize the burial.But when Netanyahu did not immediately respond, Adva and Rafi decided to move ahead with the funeral anyway.Mesika said, “It’s unimaginable that for bureaucratic reasons a child who was the victim of terrorism can’t be buried in the community where she grew up,” Dagan said.“We’ve asked the prime minster to personally intervene so this holy child can be buried as quickly as possible,” he said.
In April 2013, five Palestinians were charged with throwing rocks at cars on Route 5 near the city of Ariel, which caused an accident that involved multiple vehicles.As a result of the stone, a truck driver lost control of his vehicle which then hit Adva Biton’s car. A bus driver was also injured by stones in the same attack.On his Facebook page Tuesday, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) posted a picture of himself during an earlier visit with Adele and the Biton family."There are no words. Adele Biton, who was injured by rock throwing at the tender age of two, passed away today at the age of four. Any people whose heroes are the murderers of children will never have a state," Bennett's post read.