Arab League, Abbas call on UN to protect Palestinians from Israeli settlers

Wednesday's meeting had been originally tabled to discuss clashes that had erupted at the Temple Mount over Ramadan late last month.

By DANIEL J. ROTH
Updated: AUGUST 8, 2015 19:54
Terror attack in Duma
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, along with 15 foreign ministers from the Arab League, called on the UN Security Council to draft a resolution protecting Palestinians from "terrorist crimes" by Israeli settlers during a meeting in Cairo, Wednesday.
The gathering was held in the wake of an arson attack that claimed the life an 18-month-old toddler, Ali Dawabsha, who was burned alive Friday morning after suspected Jewish extremists set fire to his family home in the village of Duma, located in the northern West Bank, according to AFP.
Scrawled in graffiti near the site of the incident was the word "revenge" written in Hebrew.
Abbas argued during the meeting that the attack was directly linked to the government's inaction to quell rising Jewish extremist groups in the West Bank and halt settlement expansion efforts, "where (the Israeli government) gives grants to build thousands of settlement units and it continues its crimes by the herds of settlers, which ended with the burning of the Dawabsha family member." 
Before the meeting, Arab League Chief Nabil al-Arabi said, "The Arab Group (at the UN) must act to submit a draft resolution to the Security Council concerning terrorist crimes by Israeli settler groups against the Palestinian people.
Ali Abu Awwad discusses Israeli-Palestinian relations on heels of Duma attack
"What is required is real international protection, through a Security Council decision," he added.
At the time of the incident, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “I am shocked over this reprehensible and horrific act. This is an act of terrorism in every respect."
A little before 4 a.m., two masked men reached two homes in the Palestinian village of Duma, broke windows, and hurled Molotov cocktails inside.
Both homes caught fire. One building was empty at the time, but the second had a family inside, and the flames spread, killing the one-and-a-half year-old baby.
His four-year old brother and both his parents were injured. The baby’s mother sustained 70 percent burns.
Israel air lifted all family members to the Tel Hashomer Medical Center for emergency treatment.
Wednesday's meeting had been originally tabled to discuss clashes that had erupted at the Temple Mount over Ramadan late last month, a flashpoint of frequent violence, AFP added.
Tovah Lazaroff and Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.