2 Israeli Teens Held in Roadside Killing of Hebron Farmer
A 16-year-old Jewish settler who killed a Palestinian farmer with a wood plank held from a passing van was not motivated by politics, his lawyer said.
A Jerusalem magistrate ordered the suspect and another 16-year-old held for six days but released the van’s driver, an adult, even though he failed to pull over after the attack on 45-year-old Abdel Majid Turki on Tuesday.
The two teenagers, who cannot be identified publicly because they are minors, live in a halfway house for troubled youths in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. They covered their heads with prayer shawls as they walked into court.
Their lawyer, Naftali Werzberger, said the suspect admitted holding the plank out the window as the van drove by at high speed, fracturing Turki’s skull.
The attack was random and was not politically inspired, Werzberger said.
“He [the suspect] said he never dreamed something serious would happen because of this,” Werzberger said after the hearing.
Turki was from Hebron and the father of 12 children.
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