Israeli police investigate stoning that killed Palestinian woman
ISRAELI POLICE have launched an investigation into the death of a Palestinian woman in the West Bank on the assumption that the stones that killed her were thrown by Jewish settlers.
Aisha Mohammed Rabi, 47, was killed last week near the Tapuach Junction, south of Nablus, when a stone thrown from the roadside hit her head after smashing through the car window.
Her husband, who was driving, told local media that he saw six or seven youngsters throwing the stones and that they were in an area controlled by nearby settlements. The couple’s two children were in the car at the time of the attack.
Nearly a week on from the attack, the assailants’ identities were still not clear. The investigation is currently Aisha M. Rabi being carried out by the police’s “Nationalist Crime” section — which deals with Jewish terror attacks — and by the Shin Bet security service.
Israeli officials said that “all directions are still being investigated”, including the possibility that the stones were thrown by Palestinians who mistook the car for an Israeli one.
But the timing and location of the attack — in an area where there is a large Israeli military presence — makes this scenario less likely. While Israeli authorities are still uncertain over whether settlers were behind Friday’s attack, there were no such doubts on the Palestinian side. President Mahmoud Abbas described Ms Rabi as “another martyr in the list of Palestinian martyrs.”
US President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt also condemned it, calling it a “reprehensible act”.