Last update - 04:38 03/04/2008
Police sources: AG's delay in Natan-Zada lynch case due to politics
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel, Eden Natan-Zada
Police officers in the Northern Region are asking whether the state prosecutor and attorney general's delayed decision on the suspected lynching of Jewish terrorist Eden Natan-Zada is due to a lack of evidence or is political.
On August 4, 2005, Natan-Zada, an IDF deserter, opened fire with his army-issue weapon inside a bus heading toward the Arab town Shfaram from Haifa; he killed four Shfaram residents and wounded 14 others. He may have hoped his actions would set off events that would prevent the Gaza disengagement scheduled for later that summer.
An enraged mob attacked Natan-Zada and killed him. The police opened an investigation into the lynching on suspicions that Natan-Zada might have been killed by the mob after he had already been brought under control, disarmed and handcuffed.
After eight months of investigation - under a court-ordered media blackout - the police announced at a large press conference, alongside representatives of the State Prosecutor's Office, that they had arrested seven suspects from Shfaram who allegedly took part in the lynching and assaulted police officers.
The police thought then that indictments were only a matter of time. The arrests of the seven caused outraged in Shfaram and in the entire Arab community. Demonstrators protested in front of the Haifa Magistrate's Court, and after a week the seven were released to house arrest with a long list of restrictions, as well as significant bail.
The limits on the suspects have been extended a number of times at the prosecution's request, claiming that the investigation is waiting for a decision by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz. At the same time, defense attorneys say the police have no evidence against their clients.
Judge Moshe Alter of the Acre Magistrate's Court lent credence to the defense's claims when he canceled most of the restrictions on the suspects last June, expressing doubt on whether indictments would ever be filed.
In his decision, Alter wrote that the prosecution had been holding hearings on indicting the suspects for three months, and he believed there had been no progress.
A police source in the Northern Region said that the delay was for political reasons: "It is clear that such a decision is likely to incite the Arab sector, in particular after Mazuz's decision to close the investigations against the policemen involved in the October 2000 shootings."
A few days ago, all the restrictions were lifted, and NIS 70,000 in bail was returned. Ahmed Hamdi, a member of the Shfaram council, confirmed the matter.
"The bail money was returned and I hope that this proves our position was correct from the very beginning, and that Shfaram residents were the victims and it is impossible to turn them into murderers and criminals," he said. "Natan-Zada was killed when he massacred innocent citizens." [/b]
Justice Ministry sources said that returning the bail money was a technical matter, and that the file is still being studied in the attorney general's office. They said a decision will be publicized when it is made.
Tomer Zarchin contributed to this report.
