Ma’ariv reporter Sara Beck has spent the past two weeks interrogating Israeli security officials about that and many other aspects of the Duma village multiple arson cases. A police official told her that on the morning after the last fire, Judea and Samaria Police investigators arrived in Duma, but where stopped at the entrance to the village by IDF forces that told them that the District Coordination and Liaison (DCO) officials were already inside the village, that PA police is also investigating, and that there are no signs of “nationalistic crime,” which is police code for Jews. The IDF also told police the fire had been the result of an electric short, and that the powers that be had made a joint decision not to open an investigation.
The police told Beck there was a gag order on the investigation of the July arson, and, they added off the record, there’s still no progress. That in itself should have made them a little bit curious to find out what caused the latest fire. But those police officials insisted the village was in the Area A (wholly inside the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority), which is why they were stopped by the Army.
The problem is: Duma is in Area B, and Israeli police don’t need to ask for permission to go in there. To which those police officials responded saying since there had been no complaint from the Arab villagers, there was no need for an investigation.
Nevertheless, Beck insisted, it’s a fire next door to an unsolved arson — wouldn’t police want to at least take a look? Aren’t they curious?
The Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea and Samaria, the agency in charge of the DCO that, according to police were already in the village, told Beck they had nothing to do with the decision not to investigate, and if police had wanted to go in they could have gone in, all they had to do was ask the local IDF Central Command to give them backup. They also added that, as far as they were concerned, it’s better that this new arson story not get headlines, because if it did, the Arabs would find a way to blame the Jews, and the already tense area would explode. It was reminiscent of the last minutes of the trial of police accused of beating Rodney King in LA, when city officials were hoping for a conviction, so their city won’t be burnt down (the cops were acquitted and the city burnt down as expected).
The question is, did any Israeli security forces investigate the last arson? Was that investigation left entirely to the Palestinian Authority? Did anyone look into the other three cases of arson?
You had five arsons in roughly the center of Duma village since February—four homes and one car—all belonging to the Dawabsha clan. If there were no Hebrew graffiti on any of them, would a police detective assume immediately that they were connected? Of course they would. Let’s assume that investigators are correct, and there’s no way an Arab arsonist could have come up with the idea of incriminating Jews for the arson by writing two slogans on the walls. Would you still refuse to investigate the other arsons, including one that took place next door, on the same night?
Of course, it’s possible police and Shin Bet are sitting on a mountain of incriminating evidence, and are still building their case which they want to be ironclad—so there are no leaks at all about the progress of the investigation, and smart Alec reporters are given pat answers to keep them at bay. But it could also mean the cops have realized by now the lethal arson was committed by local Arabs, just like all the other arsons—and they are simply afraid to say so publicly, because, at this point, after the international condemnations of Jewish terrorism, no one will believe them.