Two Life Terms Plus 58 Years for Arab Who Killed Two with a Rock

A Palestinian Authority rock-throwing terrorist was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences and another 58-year sentence for the murders of an Israeli man and his infant son ear Kiryat Arba two years ago.

Waal al-Araja, whose wages as a PA security officer are partly paid for by American and European Union aid, 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 tried to sweep the attack under a diplomatic rug and determined that the crash on Route 60 near Kiryat Arba an accident, but the publication of photographic evidence of a bloodstained rock on the car forced police to investigate a second time, when they agreed that the Palmers were victims of a terrorist 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.