Israel is clamping down on Jewish extremists, allowing suspects to be put under administrative detention, meaning they can be held without trial for lengthy periods.
The rare move followed Friday’s petrol-bomb attack in a West Bank village, almost certainly carried out by two Jewish radicals, which killed a Palestinian baby and left three other family members with severe burns. The police have yet to make any arrests in the case.
The policy of administrative detention, widely used against Palestinian militants, has been routinely condemned by human rights groups. The new measure, approved by defence minister Moshe Ya’alon, allows suspected Jewish terrorists to be held for prolonged periods without charges being brought, even in cases where there is no hard evidence linking them to a specific crime.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has recorded 120 cases of violence by settlers against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year. Only a handful of suspects have been arrested.
On Sunday a 16-year-old Israeli girl, who was stabbed by an ultra-Orthodox Jew while taking part in the Jerusalem Gay Pride march on Thursday, died of her wounds.
The stabbing and the petrol bombing, one day apart, sent shock waves through Israel. Thousands participated in weekend demonstrations denouncing hate crimes.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu vowed to punish the perpetrators of such crimes.
“We recently witnessed two abhorrent crimes. Our policy towards these crimes is zero tolerance. We are determined to vigorously fight manifestations of hate, fanaticism and terrorism from whatever side.”
Protests
At the same time he criticised the response of the Palestinian leadership to terrorist attacks against Israelis.
“We deplore and condemn these murderers. We will pursue them to the end,” he said. “They name public squares after the murderers of children. This distinction cannot be blurred or covered up.”
Sporadic clashes continued in the West Bank on Sunday, with many angry Palestinians accusing president Mahmoud Abbas’s security forces of failing to provide protection in the face of ongoing settler attacks.
Thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Saturday night in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other locations to protest against the hate crimes.
"A blatant disregard for the rule of law, for human dignity, for a love of mankind, for a love of Israel, and freedom of opinion has spread within us and is wreaking havoc," president Reuven Rivlin told the crowd in Zion Square in central Jerusalem.
Shortly after the petrol bombing, Mr Rivlin posted a message in both Hebrew and Arabic, denouncing the attack and calling for restraint.
Some of the responses were hateful and violent and included threats on his life, calling him a "terrorist" and a "traitor", prompting the Israel Security Agency to instruct the president's office to file a police complaint.
Israel has sent large military reinforcements into the West Bank fearing an upsurge in violence and Mr Abbas ordered Palestinian security forces to prevent revenge attacks against Israelis