The deputy mayor of Awarta and two of his brothers were detained along with dozens of others Tuesday morning by Israeli forces. Officials say the detained men are being given DNA tests and questioned by soldiers.As my interview with the mayor of Itamar showed:
The detentions come as the investigation into the murders of five Israeli settlers - including two children and an infant - enters its third week. More than 40 have been detained from the village in the course of the investigation, and foreign workers in the settlement were said to have been questioned.
Awarta, the closest Palestinian village to the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar, where the murders occurred, has been the center of the investigation, and was placed under military curfew twice, the first time for five days.
- The IDF saw muddy footprints leading from the massacre scene to 'Awarta.
- The IDF found a bulletproof vest stolen from the first, empty home the terrorists entered - in 'Awarta.
- It appears that the knife used to slaughter the family was found in the home.
- Unlike Ma'an's insinuations that are now all over the Internet, there are no foreign workers in Itamar so there is no doubt that the murderers came from the direction of 'Awarta.
(Ma'an's editor tweeted me that he would run a story that there were no foreign workers in Itamar if I could get an official statement. I immediately got one from a settler leader, over a week ago, but he never published the article as far as I can tell.)