Two arrested for throwing stone that killed Asher Palmer
By YAAKOV KATZ, TOVAH LAZAROFF
10/06/2011 21:50

Palestinians from village near Hebron confessed to throwing the fatal stone, Shin Bet says; three others arrested for stealing Palmer's sidearm after the crash.
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The IDF and Israel Police arrested this week two Palestinians from the village of Halhul near Hebron, who allegedly threw the stone that hit Asher Palmer last month, killing him and his son as they drove near Kiryat Arba, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) released for publication on Thursday.

According to the Shin Bet, the two Palestinians confessed during their interrogation to throwing the rock at Palmer's car on September 23, which caused him to run off the road and flip over, killing him and his infant son Yonathan.

During the investigation, three additional Palestinians were arrested, who admitted to stealing Palmer's gun after the fatal crash. The Shin Bet retrieved the weapon during the course of the investigation.

Initially, the police and the IDF had downplayed the possibility that stones had been thrown at the scene of the accident near Kiryat Arba but after an Israel Police investigation, the Defense Ministry recognized Palmer and his son as terror victims.

Senior IDF officers told reporters in briefings late last month that while soldiers at the scene at the time of the accident had not seen any stone-throwing, the army and the police were looking into the possibility that a rock had been thrown from a passing car.

But settlers believe that the army deliberately mislead them and the media, so as not to further inflame the region because the attack occurred on the same day that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas delivered his speech on unilateral Palestinian statehood to the United Nations.

MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) called for spokespeople and all those in the security forces who he charged "deliberately deceived" the public to be fired.

Settlers leaders said they welcomed the IDF's determined pursuit of the killers.

National Union Party head, MK Yaakov Katz and MK Uri Ariel said that their capture proved that the stone throwing was "Arab terror" designed to kill and was not the meaningless activity of children.

Dani Dayan, who heads the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip thanked the IDF and said that he hoped it planned to take this kind of threat more seriously in order to prevent future incidents.

Kiryat Arba Council head Melachi Levinger said he hoped that their capture would calm the area and restore a sense of security to its residents.

Ben Hartman contributed to this report.

Death and only Death is the penalty which will bring justice.

They like the murdering thugs that murdered the Fogel family deserve to Die.