The State Prosecutor's Office has made a plea bargain with Shai Dromi, the Negev farmer aquitted of murder after shooting and killing a Bedouin thief who broke into his home one night in January 2007.
In several prior incidents, several of Dromi's dogs had been killed, and his horse and tractor had been stolen by Bedouin thieves.
According to the deal struck Sunday between the state and Dromi's attorneys, the farmer will serve five months of community service for carrying firearms without a license.
Dromi shot two Bedouin intruders in the middle of the night after awakening to find that the guard dog that had barked to warn him of intruders had been poisoned and was dying before his very eyes. As he gazed around the yard, he noticed wire cutters and realized suddenly there were four men in front of him, one clutching a large sharp object over his head, closing in on him. He fired, he said, first in the air and then at lower parts of their bodies in order to chase them away.
One of the would-be thieves bled to death; the other survived. The farmer said he tried to administer first aid.
Dromi was imprisoned for a month immediately following his arrest. Upon his release, he was further prevented from returning to his farm for several additional weeks.
As a direct result of the saga that followed his arrest, the Knesset passed Dromi's Law, which states that all action taken by a person against one who breaks into his home or trespasses on his property is considered to be carried out in self-defense.
The bill, proposed by MK Yisrael Katz on the day of Dromi's arrest, was lauded by Negev farmers and ranchers who said it would help them protect themselves against the rampant theft and extortion to which they are subject from surrounding Bedouin marauders.
Dromi owns a small farm outside the northern Negev town of Meitar, on the outskirts of Be'er Sheva and just south of the southern Hevron Hills.