April 24, 2013

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Palestinian man convicted of the murder of an Israeli man and his infant son in a rock-throwing incident was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences and another 58-year sentence.

Waal al-Araja, a Palestinian security officer, was sentenced Tuesday by the Ofer Military Court for the killing of dual Israeli-American citizen Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan in September 2011.

Palmer’s car overturned after a rock crashed through the windshield. Police originally called the crash on Route 60 near Kiryat Arba an accident, but later found a large bloodstained rock in the car and deemed it a terror attack.

Al-Araja admitted during the trial that he threw the rocks, but said he did not intend to kill anyone. The judges said in their verdict earlier this month that Al-Araja understood the harm that throwing rocks could cause and that he intended to harm his victims.

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