A 22-year-old Arab from the Dahaishe refugee camp was formally charged in a Ramallah military court today with the murders of an Israeli man and woman near Bethlehem on October 22.
Details of the crime were read to the accused, Issa Nimr Jibrin, by the military prosecutor for the West Bank, Maj. Yair Rabinowitz. According to the charge sheet, he fatally shot Revital Sari and Ron Levy with an Israel army rifle he had stolen earlier from the Torah Technological Institute in Jerusalem.
According to the charge sheet, the accused spotted the couple hiking at the foot of the Cremisan monestary near Bethlehem. He emerged from a wadi (dry river bed) in which he had been hiding and, at gun-point, ordered the woman, Sari to tie up her companion, Levy. The accused then tied up the woman, removed jewelry she was wearing and, according to the charge sheet, used pieces of a blanket to gag and blindfold the pair. He shot the man first at point blank range and then the woman.
Jibrin reportedly admitted the crime after his arrest a week ago. The charge sheet stated that he claimed his motive was revenge for the death of a cousin allegedly killed by Israeli border police during a demonstration on the West Bank. No trial date has been set.
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