Occupied WB, ALRAY - The Hebrew newspaper M’areev said Wednesday that Israeli police have released the three settlers accused of the grisly murder of Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khdeir

The settlers were put under house arrest, the paper reported.

Israeli police had arrested six extremist Jews from occupied Jerusalem following the abduction of Abu-Khdeir from Sho’fat refugee camp, and the later discovery of his charred body, which also bore signs of torture.

The Israeli killers admitted their crime, and re-enacted it for the police. They said they were searching for any Palestinian child in revenge for the death of three Israeli settlers who went missing while hitchhiking, and whose bodies had been discovered two days earlier.

Meanwhile, over 500 Palestinians are still being held in Israeli jails - most without charge, for murder or anything else - after being rounded up during the search for the missing settlers. Israel has named the two  suspects in their disappearance, leaving no justification for the continued detention of these 500+ Palestinians.

If confessed murderers are suitable for release to house arrest, surely so too must be the 500+ Palestinians who have not committed or been charged with any crime at all.

Presumably we can now expect their prompt release by the Israeli authorities, in the interests of equality before the law.