Palestinian rock throwers to be charged with causing crash

The suspects who allegedly caused the car crash that seriously wounded a toddler were arrested by security forces on March 24.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Stone throwers (photo credit: Reuters)
Stone throwers
(photo credit: Reuters)
Palestinian rock-throwers who caused a car crash on Route 5 that seriously wounded toddler Edel Biton were to be charged Monday in the Judea and Samaria Military Court, a security source told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
The suspects who allegedly caused the car crash that seriously wounded Biton were arrested by security forces on March 24.
The incident occurred on March 14, when rocks hurled at a car near Ariel in the West Bank caused it to swerve and smash into a truck, injuring the child and seven other Israelis.
Biton was hospitalized in serious condition at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center for Israel in Petah Tikva. Her two sisters and her mother were moderately wounded. The sisters, who sat in the back seat, were not in the part of the vehicle that was trapped under the truck, said a medic.
“Those involved in the attack, five youths aged 16 and 17 from the village of Haras, admitted during questioning by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to their involvement in the attack,” the Shin Bet said upon arresting the suspects.
Among those lightly wounded in the incident by glass shattered by rocks was the wife of former Likud MK Yehiel Hazon.
The Magen David Adom medics who raced to the scene focused on the mother, 32, and her three young daughters. It took 25 minutes to pull the family out of the car, medic Muawia Kabha said.
The youngest girl was not breathing. Medics were able to revive her with mouth-to- mouth resuscitation, but she was initially unconscious and in critical condition.
“It was an awful scene. It looked like a terrorist attack,” Kabha added.
The Shin Bet added that in recent months, local terrorism has increased in the West Bank, particularly rock throwing by Palestinians at Israeli civilian vehicles.
“The severe results of this attack illustrate once more the danger inherent in these types of local terrorism incidents.”
Yaakov Lappin, Tovah Lazaroff and Ben Hartman contributed to this report.