The Israeli Persecution initiated, since the beginning of July, a new policy in occupied East Jerusalem, resulting in keeping hundreds of Palestinians, including dozens of children, behind bars for extended periods, until concluding all “legal measures” against them.

Israeli daily Haaretz said the new policy, used by the Israeli Prosecution, is resulting in keeping every detained Palestinian, believed to have thrown stones at the soldiers or settlers, or believed to have committed a violation, behind bars until all legal measures are concluded.

Such measures led to keeping dozens of children imprisoned for a month, and in many cases two months, before there were even sent to trial. Haaretz said the army, and police has arrested 260 Palestinian children in the last two months.

It added that 58 Palestinian children from Jerusalem are currently detained by Israel for “participating in clashes with the army and police in Jerusalem."

Several defense attorneys, and social workers, said most of the detained children actually “confess” to whatever the interrogators accuse them of, hoping to be able to see their families, and have their detention time reduced.

Haaretz said it closely examined the issue, and found out that, in many cases, Israeli courts respond to requests of alternative measures to prison when it comes to detained Jewish suspects, and largely denies similar requests when it comes to Arab prisoners.

Following the July 2nd kidnapping of Mohammad Abu Khdeir, 16, from Jerusalem, who was tortured and burnt to death by fanatic Israelis, and the resulting clashes in occupied Jerusalem, the police kidnapped 760 Palestinians, including 260 children.

Most of them face charges of “committing violent acts,” “throwing stones at the Police,” and “assaulting an officer,” therefore, any Arab person, even a child over 14 years of age, who is facing any sort of charges, is kept detained under interrogation for an extended period of time.

They are largely kept detained for 14 days, which are automatically renewed each time until the end of all legal measures against them.

Haaretz also stated that, because the detained children do not have relatives living outside of Jerusalem, and because there are no institutions to deal with such issues for Arab children in Jerusalem, the courts largely reject all appeals for placing them under house arrest, instead of prison, especially since ankle monitors do not function in occupied East Jerusalem.

Haaretz said these issues lead to releasing many Jewish prisoners, even those who committed more serious violations, while keeping Arab prisoners, including children, behind bars.

An example to that is the Sunday decision of the Israeli Supreme Court to release four Jewish-Israelis facing charges of torching a Palestinian coffee shop in Doura town, near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

The four conducted what is known as a “Price Tag” attack against the Palestinians. Such attacks refer to assaults carried out by Israeli fanatics against the Palestinians, their property and lands, allegedly “to avenge a certain attack," or “avenge the Israeli removal of an illegitimate settlement outpost," although very few outposts have actually been dismantled.

Under the Price Tag attacks, Israeli fanatics burnt and attempted to burn several mosques and churches, defaced many Islamic and Christians graveyards and holy sites, defaced cars and punctured their tires, among various other violations, including torching farmlands and orchards, cutting and bulldozing Palestinian trees.

PCHR Statement On Abduction And Murder Of Palestinian Child.

One of the suspected killers of 16-year old Mohammed Abu Khdair

A controversial Israeli organization that is representing the six men recently arrested in the recent revenge killing of a Palestinian teenager is receiving thousands of dollars in tax-deductible support from Americans. The group, called Honenu (which roughly translates to "pardon"), supports Israelis charged with or convicted of violence against Palestinians.

Honenu's work goes well goes beyond legal aid.

The group says it also provides "spiritual" and "financial" assistance to prisoners and their families. Among those Honenu has helped: Yigal Amir, assassin of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin; an Israeli convicted of murdering seven Palestinians at a bus stop; and an Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter and obstruction of justice after shooting a British photographer in Gaza.

The tax-exempt donations do not appear to run afoul of U.S. law. But they do put U.S. taxpayers in the position of subsidizing aid to Israelis convicted of politically motivated violence.

Asked about the group's work, Honenu spokesman Eran Schwartz said the organization "provides much help to Israeli police, soldiers and citizens who are entitled, as are all people, to legal defense." Schwartz declined to answer our other questions, including about the group's financial support that goes beyond legal defense. (See their full statement below.)
A suspect (L) connected to the death of Mohammed Abu Khdeir is seen covering his face at the court house in Petah Tikva, central Israel. (Xinhua/JINI)

Honenu's latest filing to the Israeli government shows it overall budget for 2012 was nearly $600,000, about $120,000 of which went to legal aid, $34,000 to "financial assistance," and the rest to salaries and overhead. (Here is Honenu's filing, in Hebrew.)

The group, which was founded in 2001, uses an American nonprofit as conduit for donations. Honenu's website, which advertises that "your contribution is tax-deductible," says checks should be made out to "Central Fund of Israel," or CFI. As the New York Times detailed in 2010, the Central Fund of Israel serves as a "clearinghouse" for donations to hundreds of groups in Israel, some of them supporting settlements.

CFI has grown almost continuously since it was founded in 1979 by members of the Marcus family, who own a New York textile company.

Operating from Manhattan's garment district, CFI received about $16 million in 2012, according to the Fund's latest filing with the Internal Revenue Service. Jay Marcus, who now runs CFI, said donations in 2013 reached about $19 million.

In the Fund's filings with the IRS, it lists donations to Israeli groups as going to "social services, humanitarian aid, and aid to the poor."

Marcus confirmed in a phone call that his organization transfers donations to Honenu. "They are a legal aid society," he said.

Honenu's filing with the Israeli government shows the group received about $120,000 from CFI in 2012. The documents identify another $12,000 coming from "Honenu USA." A nonprofit organization with that name operated from Queens, New York and last filed a report to the Internal Revenue Service in 2010, stating it had received contributions of $33,000. It is not clear if Honenu USA is still active.

Marcus Owens, a lawyer who ran the IRS's nonprofit unit in the 1990s said such donations can fall into a tricky area: "While providing legal assistance to those accused of crimes is a long-standing charitable purpose (e.g. the American Civil Liberties Union), providing assistance to relatives of those convicted of crimes has been viewed by the US government as potentially encouraging further criminal action."

The State Department's recent annual report on terrorism included, for the first time, attacks by Israelis against Palestinians, citing a rise in "violent acts by extremist Jewish individuals and groups in retaliation for activity they deemed to be anti-settlement."

If you have experience with or information about American nonprofits supporting extremists in Israel, email Uri Blau or tweet him @uri_blau. Blau is an Israeli investigative journalist specialized in military and political affairs, corruption and transparency. He was a 2014 Nieman Fellow for Journalism at Harvard University.

Full response from Honenu

As our article details, Honenu is an Israeli group that received tax-deductible donations from the United States and supports Israelis charged with or convicted of violence against Palestinians. We asked Honenu for comment prior to our article. This is their full response:

Honenu's response to article by Uri Blau. The reporter, Uri Blau was convicted of severe crimes of espionage against Israel which attests to his motives and his anti-Israel and anti-Semitic interests. To date, we have not heard him expressing regret for his criminal actions. Honenu provides much help to Israeli police, soldiers and citizens who are entitled, as are all people, to legal defense. We will not cooperate with a convicted criminal whose goal is to damage Israelis and Jews.

The author of our article, freelancer Uri Blau, was convicted in 2012 in Israel of holding classified military documents he received as a reporter. The International Press Institute condemned the case against Blau as "undermining press freedom in general and investigative journalism in particular" in Israel. Here is more on Blau's case and press freedoms in Israel.

The Hebrew newspaper M’areev said Wednesday that Israeli police have released the three settlers accused of the grisly murder of Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khdeir The settlers were put under house arrest, the paper reported.

Israeli police had arrested six extremist Jews from occupied Jerusalem following the abduction of Abu-Khdeir from Sho’fat refugee camp, and the later discovery of his charred body, which also bore signs of torture.

The Israeli killers admitted their crime, and re-enacted it for the police. They said they were searching for any Palestinian child in revenge for the death of three Israeli settlers who went missing while hitchhiking, and whose bodies had been discovered two days earlier.

Meanwhile, over 500 Palestinians are still being held in Israeli jails - most without charge, for murder or anything else - after being rounded up during the search for the missing settlers. Israel has named the two  suspects in their disappearance, leaving no justification for the continued detention of these 500+ Palestinians.

If confessed murderers are suitable for release to house arrest, surely so too must be the 500+ Palestinians who have not committed or been charged with any crime at all.

Presumably we can now expect their prompt release by the Israeli authorities, in the interests of equality before the law.

The Arabs48 news website quoted Israeli sources stating that the six Jewish Israelis, who have been arrested in connection with the abduction, torture and brutal killing of Palestinian teen, Mohammad Abu Khdeir, have carried out a premeditated murder, pushed by nationalistic motives.

The sources said the suspects are practically tying themselves to the crime whenever they talk to the interrogators, and affirmed that the killing of Abu Khdeir, who was eventually burnt to death, did not just happen, but was a premeditated crime.

After being kidnapped by fanatic Israelis, Abu Khdeir, 16, was taken to a forest in Jerusalem, where he was tortured and burnt to death.

One of the six Israelis confessed to being involved in the crime, and directly linked the five other Israelis.

The Police believes that six Israeli fanatics are the perpetrators due to the overwhelming evidence against them, but claims the murderers “are not connected to any extremist right wing group.”

It said the six are friends, most of them underage, and that there is enough evidence to convict them.

An Israeli security official said the killers are Jewish extremists, and that it is believed they are also connected with the botched abduction of a Palestinian child, 9 years of age in occupied Jerusalem, before they managed to kidnap Abu Khdeir later on.

The Arabs48 said the Israeli Internal Security Agency tried to pressure the family of Abu Khdeir into stating that the motive of the killing was criminal.

The family refused the Israeli pressures, and even handed the police a surveillance tape showing fanatic settlers kidnapping Mohammad.

The Police gradually retreated from its initial stances and demands, and said the attack “was likely pushed by nationalistic motives”. An Israeli security officer said he believes “the chances are %70-80 that attack carried a nationalistic motive”.

The Arabs48 said the time it took between the abduction of Khdeir, and locating his burnt body was approximately two hours, while one of the investigators said the police managed to know what happened in those two hours.

The autopsy also revealed that the child was still breathing when he was burnt, especially since charred materials were where found in his esophagus and lungs.

In addition, first to fourth degree burns covered around %90 of Abu Khdeir’s body, while his skull was fractured, indicating he was struck on the head.

Two days ago, Palestinian General Prosecutor, Mohammad Abdul-Ghani al-‘Oweiwy, stated autopsy confirms the child was burnt alive.

Israeli Police Arrest Suspected Murderers of Mohammad Abu Khdeir
Chris Carlson - Sun, 06 Jul 2014 21:34:58

The Israeli police have arrested, this morning in Jerusalem, individuals suspected of kidnapping and killing Mohammad Abu Khudeir, according to media reports and Israeli officials.

"Apparently, the people arrested in relation to the case belong to an extremist Jewish group," an official said to reporters with Haaretz newspaper. The paper reported six arrests in connection with the case.

The kidnapping and brtual murder of the young Palestinian, on Wednesday, has led to four straight days of protests riots beginning in annexed East Jerusalem, according to several local media sources.

By Saturday, the violence had spread to more than half a dozen Palestinian towns within the region.

The Israeli police have refused, until now, to officially confirm that the killing was in revenge for the murder of three Israeli youths in the West Bank last month, the PNN reports.

Mohammad Abu Khdeir was kidnapped last Wednesday, at dawn, near his home in Shu'fat, by a group of right-wing Israelis. His body was found hours later in the Jerusalem Forest. Initial autopsy reports show that he was tortured and burnt while still alive.

The identities of the suspects, as well as details about the investigation or the circumstances of the arrest, so far have not been revealed.

The mother and family of 16-year-old Muhammad Hussein Abu Khdeir, kidnapped and killed in possible revenge attack early Wednesday

Three of six Israelis held over the abduction and killing of a Palestinian teenager last week have confessed to the murder, a source close to the investigation said on Monday.

3 Israelis in custody 'admit Palestinian teen murder'

"Three out of six suspects in custody have confessed to the murder and burning of Muhammed Abu Khdeir, and performed a re-enactment of the crime" in front of officers, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Israel arrested six Jewish extremists on Sunday in connection with the killing of 16-year-old Abu Khdeir on July 2, in a gruesome attack that triggered days of clashes in East Jerusalem and Palestinian towns in Israel.

The attack is believed to have been in revenge for the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank last month, and the twin attacks have ratcheted up tensions throughout Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Authorities have placed a gag order on most aspects of the investigation into Abu Khdeir's murder.

But Honenu, a legal organization which defends right-wing Jewish extremists, said it was representing six people -- three of them minors -- whose remand was extended by the Petah Tikva magistrates court, just outside Tel Aviv, on Sunday.

Attorney General Muhammad Abd al-Ghani Uweili told Ma'an Saturday that Abu Khdeir's autopsy showed soot in the victim's lungs and respiratory tract, indicating he was burnt alive.

Israeli commentators on social media falsely circulated rumors that Muhammad had been killed as part of a family feud, or because he was gay, following news of his murder.

A large-scale operation is reportedly off the table for now, but official says cabinet 'prepared to broaden' operation if rocket fire does not stop

Israel's security cabinet late Monday has reportedly given approval to military forces to escalate their attacks against Gaza.

A large-scale military operation against the Palestinian enclave is off the table for now, but the cabinet has ordered the Israeli army to significantly expand its operations, senior officials told Israeli daily Haaretz.

“The blows will be harder,” one of the senior officials told Haaretz. “We will escalate the attacks to make it clear to [Hamas] that it is in their interest to stop the rocket fire. We are prepared to broaden the operation in case the rocket fire does not stop.”

An Israeli officer told the newspaper that the army is preparing to call up 1,500 reservists for the escalation.

Tensions with Gaza have increased since mid-June, after Israel launched a major series of searches and arrests in the occupied West Bank after the disappearance of three Israeli teenagers, whose bodies were found last week. 

The announcement of Israeli's escalation on Gaza follows a week of increased rocket fire from both sides as tensions have flared first in East Jerusalem and then in the West Bank following the suspected revenge killing of a 16-year-old Palestinian on Wednesday. 

Earlier Monday, three Israeli suspects arrested the day before for the killing of a Palestinian teenager confessed to the kidnapping and killing the teen, Mohammed Abu Khdeir.

An autopsy report released on Saturday concluded that Abu Khdeir was burned alive before his charred body was found in Jerusalem Forest on Wednesday morning.

The three who confessed performed a re-enactment of the crime, a source told AFP, requesting anonymity. 

Following the suspects' arrest on Sunday, officials indicated on their suspicion that the crime was “nationalistic", but further details have not been released, nor have the identities of the suspects.

Authorities have placed a gag order on most aspects of the investigation into Abu Khdeir's murder.

But Honenu, a legal organisation which often defends right-wing ultra-nationalists, said it was representing six people - three of them minors - whose remand was extended by the Petah Tikva magistrates court, just outside Tel Aviv, on Sunday.

Honenu attorneys told Arutz Sheva 7, an Israeli television station, that their clients have been subjected to hours of intensive interrogation and have been denied sleep, food, water "and the opportunity to relieve themselves in a dignified way."

The attorneys also said they plan to appeal their clients' remand extension.

An official told the Associated Press on Sunday that evidence points towards the perpetrators being "Jewish extremists", Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

Israel threatened to hit Hamas with a final deathblow in case any other projected rocket attacks were launched on Israeli settlements near the Gaza Strip in response to Israeli raids. According to Israeli sources, the threat was handed over to Hamas by the Egyptian mediator.

“This is the final red card ever issued to Hamas… Israel will now have all go-aheads to fire back,” Israeli 0404 website said quoting army sources.

“Israel will take aggressive revenge of Hamas,” it added.

In a related event, dozens of Israeli extremist settlers rallied in Ashdod so as to urge the Israeli occupation authorities to press ahead with their retaliation threats and drive Arab MK Hanin Zoabi out of the Knesset.

The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), for its part, warned the Israeli occupation of any potential repercussions to be generated by its military escalation against the Gaza Strip, slamming PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for his pre-planned participation in an Israeli conference to be held Tuesday.

PLC chairmanship said in a press release Sunday: “We have all the reasons to appeal to international courts to take legal action against such Israeli military escalation, which has not only been targeting Palestinian civilians with random kidnaps, torture, and murders but also burned a 16-year-old child alive just a few days ago.”

Israelis were contriving a new plan by which Palestinians would remain chained hand and feet, defenseless before such terror acts and bloodshed, the statement added.

The PLC called on Egypt, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the UN, and other international human rights institutions to immediately step in so as to halt Israeli aggressions against Palestinian civilians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The PLC further spoke against Abbas’s normalization with the Israeli occupation and his apathy regarding the agony of Palestinians.

The Israeli police kidnapped overnight 110 Palestinians; around half of them are children, during protests that swept across Arab towns in historic Palestine.

The Arabs48 News Website has reported that massive protests were held in different parts of the country, while protesters also closed various roads, including Tamra-Akka Road and clashed with Israeli police officers who assaulted them.

Ten Palestinians have been kidnapped in the Tamra-Akka (Akko) road area, while the police also used gas bombs, and concussion grenades against the protesters, causing several injuries.

In Nazareth, the police hundreds with dozens of protesters, and violently assaulted dozens, before kidnapping 40 Palestinians.

Thousands also held protests in Arraba al-Batouf, in the Galilee, carrying Palestinian flags, and chanting against the hostile policies of the Israeli government.

Many protesters closed main roads and burnt tires in an attempt to prevent the police from assaulting them,
More protests continued in Arab towns in the Negev, while clashes with the police, have also been reported, as police officers assaulted scores of protesters.

The police continued to resort to the excessive use of force in an attempt to end the protests.

An Israeli military analyst stated that the protests taking place in different Arab areas in the country, from the Galilee in the north to the Negev in the south, with dozens of thousands protesting the kidnapping and brutal murder of Mohammad Abu Kdeir in Jerusalem, are preventing Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, from escalating the aggression and bombardment against Gaza.

The analyst added the protests are preventing Netanyahu from listening to hostile calls from his extremist coalition partners, asking him to launch a large-scale war on Gaza.

Writing for Haaretz Israeli paper, military analyst Amos Harel stated the mass protest across the country are showing Netanyahu why he should, at the current stage, refrain from declaring a comprehensive war on Gaza.

The statement came amidst Israeli aggression and bombardment on Gaza, resulting, on Sunday alone, in the death of nine Palestinians.

Jerusalem court releases Tariq Abu Khdeir on bail; Tampa teen remembers little of incident.

A Jerusalem court released US-Palestinian teen Tariq Abu Khdeir on bail Sunday morning. Khdeir, whose cousin was brutally murdered last week, told reporters he vaguely remembered the vicious beating he received. "I was attacked by police. I woke up in the hospital."

Khdeir, suspected of throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks and of injuring an officer, was detained last Thursday. A video clip circulated on the Internet on Saturday showed two Israeli border police holding down and repeatedly pummeling a masked youth before carrying him away.

"I remember standing and watching the group of people. They came from the side of me and I tried to run away," he told reporters.

The family of Khdeir, from Tampa, Florida, who was visiting relatives in East Jerusalem, says he was the target of the punches, although the footage is blurred and the victim cannot be identified as he appears also to be wearing a head covering.

A later part of the video shows Khdeir's face with a heavy black eye and swollen lip. He is a cousin of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the youth whom Palestinians believe was abducted and murdered by far-right Israelis on Wednesday. The Israeli Justice Ministry said in a statement that the police investigations department was looking into the incident. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Khdeir was one of six rioters caught and detained in the incident, three of whom were found to be carrying knives.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki confirmed that Tariq Khdeir was visited by a consular officer on Saturday.

"We are profoundly troubled by reports that he was severely beaten while in police custody and strongly condemn any excessive use of force. We are calling for a speedy, transparent and credible investigation and full accountability for any excessive use of force," Psaki said.

15-year old Palestinian-America Tariq beaten by Israeli police

A Tampa, Florida boy who was visiting relatives in Jerusalem when he was grabbed by undercover Israeli officers and badly beaten in the face and head received a visit from U.S. officials Saturday, in advance of his court hearing Sunday.

Tariq Abu Khdeir, 15, is the cousin of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, who was burned to death on Wednesday morning, apparently by the same group of Israelis who were seen forcing him into a car outside a mosque in Shu’fat, East Jerusalem just before 4 am on Wednesday. Despite video footage of the abduction, and the license plate number having been captured by eyewitnesses, the Israeli police have failed to identify or detain the killers of Mohammed Abu Khdeir.

The day after his cousin’s murder, 15-year old Tariq was grabbed by undercover Israeli forces in Shu’fat, where protests had broken out calling for justice for Mohammed. A witness in a nearby apartment building captured video footage of the attack, which shows three men holding and repeatedly beating a prone Palestinian with their fists and other objects.

He was then carried into a police van and taken into custody with dozens of other Palestinians who had been swept up in the police crackdown on the protests. Police denied him medical treatment for over five hours, despite his badly-swollen head and broken nose.

Representative of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem confirmed that officials had visited Tariq, who is still in Israeli custody, on Saturday, and issued a statement that “We are profoundly troubled by reports that he was severely beaten while in police custody, and strongly condemn any excessive use of force.”

U.S. officials rarely intervene in cases involving Palestinians detained or brutalized by Israeli forces, even when those detained are U.S. citizens. In this case, however, with extensive family connections across the U.S., the Abu Khdeir family have pressured U.S. officials to take action – particularly since the family has already suffered the loss of 16-year old Mohammed, who was burned to death, presumably by Israeli settlers, on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Prisoner Rights group Addameer also took up the case of Tariq Abu Khdeir, stating, “No charges or accusations have been brought against Tarek, yet his despite his young age and unlawful treatment, his detention has been extended until the morning of Sunday 6 July in the Court of First Instances in Jerusalem.

“Tarek is one of 11 Palestinians who were beaten and arrested in Shofat last night following the brutal murder of 16-year old child Mohammad Abu Khdeir, who was found beaten and burned on the ruins of Palestinian destroyed village Deir Yassin hours after he was kidnapped in a retribution act. The Israeli government has instated a gag-order regarding the circumstances of Mohammad’s kidnapping and murder.

“The continued state-sanctioned violence against children is unlawful and unacceptable.

“Addameer urges immediate action and calls on the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United States consulate and all regional embassies and consulates, human rights organizations and journalists to attend Tarek Abu Khdeir’s hearing on Sunday 6 July to investigate the intensified aggression against Palestinian children.”

updated from: 15-year-old Cousin of Murdered Teen Beaten by Police in Shu'fat
Fri, 04 Jul 2014 11:34:02

A Palestinian teenager identified by local sources as the cousin of the 16-year-old who was murdered on Wednesday was beaten and abducted by Israeli police on Thursday, and was refused medical treatment for his broken nose and other injuries while in custody.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has reported that over 170 Palestinians have been injured since Monday, when the bodies of three Israeli teenagers who had gone missing two weeks earlier were found.

15-year old Tariq was allegedly participating in one of several protests that took place in Shu'fat and nearby areas after Muhammad Abu Khdeir, 16, was abducted by Israelis, according to eyewitnesses, and later found burned to death on Wednesday.

Hundreds of Palestinians took part in the protests, which were met with tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets and concussion grenades. At least three incidents have been reported of Israeli police and military using live ammunition against the demonstrators. Of the 170 injured since Monday, at least six are journalists.

Since his death Wednesday, the family of Muhammed Abu Khdeir has faced interrogations, DNA tests and a misinformation campaign started by the Israeli police to claim, based on no evidence, that the boy was killed in a family dispute -- in addition to the Israeli police refusing to look at surveillance video showing the assailants, which would normally be a major part of an investigation.

The attack on the 15-year-old appears to be the latest affront to a family that is mourning the brutal death of a child. Tariq is a Palestinian-American who was staying with family in Jerusalem when he was beaten and abducted by Israeli police. The full extent of his injuries is still unknown.

'There is no place for such murderers in our society,' Netanyahu says after security officials arrest a number of far-right Jews for role in kidnapping, murder of Arab teen Abu Khdeir.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent his condolences to the family of the Palestinian teen who was kidnapped and murdered at the hands of Jewish extremists in response to the murder of the three missing Israeli teens who were presumed
to be murdered. Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the UN to intervene in the investigation.

"I wish to send my condolences to the family of the teen and promise them that we will find those behind this horrific crime and bring them to justice. There is no place for such murders in our society," the prime minister said.

Authorities on Sunday announced the arrests of several Jewish suspects in the death of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, who was abducted and killed last week, marking a major breakthrough in a case that has sparked violent protests in Arab areas of Jerusalem and northern Israel.

In a joint statement, Police and the Shin Bet said the suspects were arrested early Sunday. They remained in custody and were being interrogated by the Shin Bet.

Police had investigated various motives for Abu Khdeir's death, including criminal or personal motives. But officials said Sunday they believed the killers acted on nationalistic grounds.

Visiting the families of the three Israeli teens, Netanyahu said he does not "differentiate between terror and terror." He promised to act firmly in the face incitement, and added that "I condemn calls of 'death to Arabs' just like I condemn calls of 'death to Jews… This is a sensitive time and I urge everyone to act responsibly." Netanyahu referenced a Facebook post by a Palestinian teen who seemed to express support of the murder of the three Israeli teens, writing "3:0 for Palestinian and we're not even in the World Cup."

"I was horrified from the cruelty of it," Netanyahu said. "We will not allow radicals, no matter from which side, to set our region ablaze and shed blood. We can't accept it and we reject 'price-tags' like we reject to throwing stones and firebombs," the prime minister said, attempted to draw a parallel between Arab and Jewish violence of recent days.

Speaking with the families of Gil-Ad Shaer, Naftali Frenkel, and Eyal Yifrach, Netanyahu reiterated his past claim that the boys were kidnapped by Hamas and urged the PA to work to bring those behind it to justice. "I promised the families we will continue to support them even after the days of mourning ends.

We know who is behind the kidnap and murder (of the three boys) and we will get to them," the prime minister vowed. He also urged the Palestinian Authority to help find the boys' killer, saying their murders embarked on their murderous mission from part of the West Bank under the PA's control. "Just like we found Abu Khdeir's killer in a number of days… the PA has the responsibility to do everything they can to arrest their killers."

A harsh debate took place between Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman during the weekly cabinet meeting earlier Sunday, with the two locking horns over Netanyahu’s demand that ministers keep quiet regarding the political and security situation. Netanyahu said: “Those who criticize are irresponsible, there are some who take advantage of the situation that has been created.”

To which Lieberman quickly responded: “You are the last who can talk about the subject, you spoke to the press before you spoke with the cabinet. "The things I say are part of my regular policy, I am not taking advantage of the situation. You said you would use an iron fist against Hamas and didn’t stand behind that statement."

Abbas urges UN intervention

Abbas called Sunday on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to form an international committee to investigate crimes and violations committed against the Palestinians people, including the burning and killing of Abu Khdeir, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

During a meeting with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Robert Serry, Abbas said, “15-year-old Mohammad Abu Khadeir was burnt alive, 16 Palestinians, including children and women were killed during the past two weeks, aside from the ongoing kidnapping attempts and assaults against children,” alluding to the case of Abu Khdeir’s cousin, Tariq Abu Khdeir, who was severely beaten up by Israeli police.

“We all saw through the media the face of Tariq Abu Khdeir distorted with injuries by criminal settlers’ groups that must be considered illegal and illegitimate organizations,” WAFA reported Abbas as saying.

“I have requested an international protection for the Palestinian people, giving the Israeli authorities refusal to prosecute these settler’s groups, stressing the rise in settlers’ attacks against Palestinians, which have increased by 41% since the first half of 2014."

Israeli authorities have arrested six suspects in their investigation into the murder of a Palestinian teenager who was killed in a possible revenge attack.

Israeli media reported Sunday that police believe the motive behind the murder of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir was connected to the deaths of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank days earlier.

Late Friday, a senior Palestinian official said that a preliminary autopsy report showed Abu Khdeir was burnt alive by his kidnappers.

Attorney General Muhammad Abd al-Ghani Uweili told Ma'an Abu Khdeir's autopsy showed soot in the victim's lungs and respiratory tract, indicating he was alive and breathing while he was being burnt.

Abu Khdeir also had a head injury, but died from complications as a result of being burnt, Uweili said.

A final autopsy will be released later, he added.

The autopsy was conducted at Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Israel in the presence of Palestinian coroner Dr Sabir al-Aloul, the director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at al-Quds University.

Palestinians say right-wing Israelis kidnapped and killed Abu Khdeir, whose body was found early Wednesday in a forest near West Jerusalem.

The murder is thought to be a revenge attack in response to the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens, who were buried the day before.

Israeli police say the circumstances behind Abu Khdeir's killing remain unclear.

Source: Jewish extremists held over Palestinian teen murder

Israeli police have arrested a group of Jewish extremists in connection with the kidnap and murder of a Palestinian teenager in East Jerusalem, an Israeli official said Sunday.

"Apparently the people arrested in relation to the case belong to an extremist Jewish group," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, shortly after the website of the Haaretz newspaper reported six arrests in connection with the case.

The kidnap and murder on Wednesday sparked four straight days of riots which began in annexed East Jerusalem but on Saturday spread to more than half a dozen Palestinian towns within Israel.

Details of the case have been subjected to a strict gag order.

Earlier, police acknowledged for the first time there were “indications that the background to the killing was nationalistic.”

It followed days of growing suspicion that Wednesday’s murder was carried out by extremist Jews in revenge for last month’s abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli police have also arrested dozens of people protesting against the 16-year-old boy, who was shown in an autopsy to have been burned alive in what many Palestinians believe was a revenge killing by Jewish extremists after the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the occupied West Bank last month.

“Around 35 people were arrested overnight, almost half of them minors,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

Of those, 22 were arrested in and around the northern city of Nazareth, the most populous Palestinian town in Israel.

The rest were arrested in Taibe in the north and the Triangle region around Umm el-Fahm, an Islamist stronghold northeast of Tel Aviv, where clashes continued into Sunday, Samri added.

“We are demonstrating against this incitement to hatred by Israelis online, who are saying ‘death to Arabs’,” one demonstrator in the Triangle town of Qalansuwa told army radio.

Palestinian-American teen badly beaten

Israel police confirmed they had opened an internal investigation into allegations of police brutality following the publication of a video showing border police beating a handcuffed detainee.

The video was released as news emerged that a 15-year-old Palestinian with US citizenship had been badly beaten while in police custody in East Jerusalem, triggering condemnation from the US State Department.

He was due to appear in court on Sunday morning.

The latest round of violence began on June 12 with the kidnap and subsequent murder of three Israeli teenagers in an attack Israel blamed on Hamas.

The kidnapping triggered a major army crackdown on the West Bank, with more than 400 Palestinians arrested, two-thirds of them Hamas members, and six people killed in clashes sparked by the arrests.

Two days after their bodies were found, a Palestinian of similar age from East Jerusalem was kidnapped and killed, sparking clashes which on Saturday spread to Palestinian towns in Israel.

Tensions have also been high in and around Gaza, where Hamas has its stronghold, with militants responding to the West Bank crackdown with rocket fire on southern Israel.

The military, meanwhile, carried out 10 air strikes on Gaza in response to persistent rocket fire into southern Israel as hopes faded of a renewed truce with the Hamas.

The air force has hit back with almost nightly strikes, which have killed three Palestinian militants so far.

On Saturday, militants fired 15 rockets and mortar rounds at Israel, two of which targeted the southern city of Beersheva some 25 miles from the Palestinian territory, police said.

It was the first time the city had been targeted since the army’s last major operation in Gaza, named "Pillar of Defense," in November 2012.

The air force responded with new strikes early on Sunday, none of which caused casualties.

“Following constant rocket fire at Israeli communities in the south, (Israel Air Force) aircraft targeted 10 terror sites in the central and southern Gaza Strip, including concealed rocket launchers and a weapon manufacturing facility,” a statement said.

Also on Sunday, the army said it had arrested a Palestinian in the flashpoint southern West Bank city of Hebron, whom the Israeli media suggested was somehow linked to the kidnap and murder of the three teenagers.

Israel has named two Hamas militants from Hebron as the prime suspects — Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Eishe. Both remain at large.