Two Israelis jailed for burning Palestinian teen alive

A court sentenced two young Israelis to life and 21 years in prison Thursday for the 2014 burning alive of a Palestinian teenager.

The sentencing came amid a wave of Palestinian stabbings, shootings and car-rammings that erupted in October, including an attack in Jerusalem on Wednesday that killed a policewoman.

The two Israelis sentenced were minors at the time of the chilling attack in which they and a third man snatched Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, from an east Jerusalem street then killed him.

The youngest of the three -- given 21 years -- was said to have psychiatric problems and found to have remained in the car when Abu Khdeir was killed.

Israeli settler Yosef Haim Ben-David, 31, is said to have led the assault but his lawyers say he suffers from mental illness and was not responsible for his actions at the time.

The court has found that he committed the crime but is yet to rule if he is mentally competent.

The two others were 16 when they killed Abu Khdeir in 2014 but are now 18.

The court, which has not identified them because they were minors at the time, noted they were from ultra-Orthodox Jewish families.

Abu Khdeir's mother, Suha, screamed when the sentences were announced in the packed courtroom.

Both she and her husband Hussein criticised the decision to jail one of the Israelis to 21 years.

He called for their homes to be demolished, as Israel regularly does for Palestinian attackers.

"This is the life of Mohammed we are talking about," Suha Abu Khdeir said. "He did not deserve this."

The Jerusalem District Attorney's office said that it had requested life imprisonent for the two but it hoped the sentences given would deter others.

"The terrible tragedy that befell the family of the boy Mohammed Abu Khdeir cannot be reversed, but the verdict given today conveys a message to society's aversion to such acts," it said in a statement.

- Revenge plot -

Abu Khdeir's killing was part of a spiral of violence that led to a 50-day war in the Gaza Strip in summer 2014.

He was kidnapped from Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on July 2, 2014 and beaten, with his burned body found hours later in a forest in the western part of the city.

A forensic report showed smoke in his lungs, indicating he was alive when set alight.

It was seen as revenge for the killing of Israelis Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrach, who were abducted from a hitchhiking stop near the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron.

Israeli authorities said the suspects had decided to kill an Arab in revenge and equipped themselves with cable ties, petrol and other materials before randomly choosing Abu Khdeir.

The court's actions came with tensions once again high.

On Thursday, Israeli forces locked down the West Bank hometown of Palestinians who killed a 19-year-old policewoman and wounded another in Jerusalem on Wednesday, an attack analysts called an escalation after months of violence.

The three Palestinians from Qabatiya near Jenin, believed to be 19 to 20 years old, were shot dead during the attack outside Jerusalem's Old City in which the border policewoman was shot in the head.

Israeli authorities said the three assailants were armed with guns, knives and explosives, indicating they intended to carry out a major attack.

- 'Widespread arrests' -

The surviving officer was stabbed and is in a "moderate and stable" condition, the hospital said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited her Thursday and spoke of intensified security measures.

"Qabatiya is cordoned off. The (security forces) are carrying out widespread arrests," he said.

"We have revoked very many permits to work in Israel and the attorney general informed me yesterday that he has slated several more terrorists' homes to be sealed and demolished."

Residents and Palestinian police said all entrances to Qabatiya were locked down.

Clashes also broke out between stone-throwing residents and soldiers.

A 15-year-old was taken to hospital after being hit by an Israeli jeep and four people were wounded by Israeli gunfire, said Palestinian medics.

The wave of violence since October has killed 26 Israelis, as well as an American and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count.

At the same time, 164 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks but others during clashes and demonstrations.

The violence continued on Thursday, when two 13-year-old Arab Israeli girls stabbed and lightly wounded a security guard at a bus station in Ramle, in central Israel. The two were arrested.

Photo:Israeli Yosef Haim Ben-David (C), who was charged along with two minors for the abduction and murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir, is escorted by Israeli policemen at the district court in Jerusalem (Yahoo)