The Arab taxi
The Arab taxiJudea and Samaria police

The police have arrested two new Jewish suspects in the case of a firebomb attack on an Arab taxi in the Etzion Bloc in mid-August. The suspects are brothers aged 17 and 13. They have reportedly been released to house arrest, several hours after their arrest.

The boys' father picked up his younger son from the Jerusalem yeshiva he studies in Thursday and was driving him home. The older brother was in the car, too.

A short time after the boy got in the car, the father noticed a civilian car following them. Two traffic lights down the road, the car overtook theirs and blocked the road. Several plainclothes detectives got out, presented police badges and asked to see the IDs of the driver and his sons.

The policemen then announced that they were arresting the two boys, the father later told Honenu, the organization that assists Jewish nationalist prisoners. They took them to the Maaleh Adumim police station where they were informed that they were suspects in the firebomb case.

Honenu said that the two boys provided a solid alibi that was confirmed by their father.

Police arrested three suspects aged 12-13 from Bat Ayin a week after the firebomb attack, but subsequently released them. No charges have been filed against them.

Honenu sarcastically stated Thursday that it was surprised by the latest arrests, "since police said that they had already caught the perpetrators three weeks ago."