Court: Settler to stay under house arrest over killing driver

Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday afternoon rejected an appeal by the state prosecutor from the central region against the decision to place under house arrest a settler who shot dead a Palestinian driver, claiming it was self-defense.

The decision to put Yehoshua Elitzur under house arrest was made by Kfar Sava Magistrate's Court, which had rejected a police request to extend his remand until the end of the legal proceedings against him. Police are expected to recommend that Elitzur be charged with manslaughter.

Elitzur, 33, told police that 46-year-old Sa'al Jabara had intentionally tried to run him off the road close to the Itamar junction in the West Bank on Monday. Elitzur, who is from the settlement of Itamar, said he opened fire on Jabara in self-defense.

"According to [the settler's] version, a Palestinian car tried to force him off the road and he fired his weapon in response to that attempt," said police spokesman Gil Kleiman, adding that a criminal investigation was under way.

However, a Palestinian witness told police that Elitzur opened fire on Jabara from close range, without any provocation.

Yahad MK Yossi Sarid said after the court decision Tuesday that if the ruling placing Elitzur under house arrest was not appealed, he would consider petitioning the High Court of Justice against the decision.

Jabara, a father of six from the West Bank village of Salem, near Nablus, left his village Monday afternoon driving a Ford Transit that belongs to his uncle, and which he uses to transport laborers from the area. He left the village on a dirt road that heads east toward the access road to the nearby settlement of Elon Moreh.

According to Ahmed Shatiya, a Salem resident, the car was on its way to the Jordan Valley when "just before reaching the main road, Sa'al slowed down and began driving up an incline adjacent to the road. He started to turn right to get onto the road when we all noticed a tall, dark-skinned settler with a beard standing in the middle of the road in front of a red Ford Fiesta.

"Sa'al thought the settler needed help and he slowed down; he then opened the window and spoke to him in Hebrew. Suddenly the settler aimed an M-16 at him. The settler fired off a few rounds at Sa'al, hitting him in his left arm and the left side of his chest.

"He lost consciousness and we tried to help him, and we shouted to the settler to come and help and call an ambulance, but he said, `Please God, he dies,' and left.

"Another settler who arrived on the scene also refused to help. Eventually, we spotted a Palestinian taxi, and we took Sa'al to hospital in Nablus, but he died on the way."

Shatiya added that the incident had not been preceded by any altercation between the settler and Jabara, whose body was transferred for an autopsy to the Abu Kabir Forensic Medicine Institute.

	The Kfar Sava Magistrate's Court on Tuesday sent Yehoshua Elitzur to house arrest for shooting a Palestinian man. (Nir Keidar)