A personal message from Stanley and Joyce Boim, the parents of David Boim, whose son was gunned down by Amjad HaNawi, an Arab who has found safe haven in the Palestine Authority.

We want to take this opportunity to thank the many people who have helped us win the first stage of our legal battle, which has resulted in a court order to force our government of Israel to file for the arrest and “hand-over” of Amjad HaNawi, the man who murdered our son.

Our battle is not over. We will need further funds and political support, to make sure that the Israeli government indeed fulfills the court order to file the formal request for Hanawi to stand trial. Please continue to give generously to the legal fund that has been formed to continue with this case and others like it (Tzedek Tzedek, P.O. Box 2265, Jerusalem, Israel)

We have had many strange feelings during our year of litigation.

It was a strange feeling that we had to go to court to get our own government to file for the arrest of our son’s murderer.

It was a strange feeling to be told last July by the IDF commander of the central region that the IDF had indeed identified and located the whereabouts of David’s killer and that all is being done to bring him to trial and then to be told by the Israel Minister of Justice in March 97 that he knows nothing about it.

It was a strange feeling that the Israeli police issued an arrest warrant only six days before the court hearing, with the precise evidence that they had a year ago.

It was a strange feeling that we had to have the Israel High Court of Justice issue a mandatory court order to force the government had to draw up papers to demand that the PA hand over our son’s killer to stand trial.

It was a strange feeling that the Israeli Prime Minister personally assured us in October 1996 that demanding the arrest if killers inside the Palestine Authority would be next on the agenda after the Hebron agreement.

It was a strange feeling when the new head of Israel’s Labor opposition looked us in the face and said that “you cannot expect the Palestinians to be 100% perfect”, when we asked him about the fact that the Palestine Authority had given refuge to the killers of our son and other Israeli citizens

It was a strange feeling, as American citizens, to be officially informed by the American embassy in Tel Aviv and the American consulate in Jerusalem that the Palestine Authority has arrested and imprisoned David’s killer, and then to be informed by all levels of the Palestine Authority that no record of Amjad’s arrest exists.

It was a strange feeling to hear a senior US diplomat tell us, that, “well, you know, we have had many drive-by killings in California”

It was a strange feeling that news of the murder of our son and other Israelis and their escape to the Palestine Authority safe havens has taken a back burner to an Oslo process which seems to have very little to do with peace

We continues to have a strange feeling that we will have to continue the effort and expense of a legal fight to make sure that the Israeli government indeed fulfills the terms of a court order to bring our son’s killer to justice.

What could be more elementary than to expect that the governments of Israel and the United States of America will pursue the demand that admitted killers of their citizens will indeed be brought to a court of law to stand trial?

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