Death of Adele Biton

The Death of Adele Biton
Part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Adele Biton Funeral. February 18, 2015
Location	Near Kif el-Hares, West Bank
Date	14 March 2013
Attack type	Attack on vehicle with 4 passengers
Weapons	Projectiles (stones)
Deaths	1
Perpetrators	Five Palestinians

The death of Adele Biton occurred on 17 February 2015 as a consequence of a March 14, 2013 Palestinian stone-throwing attack caused the civilian vehicle in which the infant Adele was riding to crash.

On the 14 March 2013, Adele, with her mother Adva and two sisters, Avigail and Naama, were in a car driving on Route 5 between the Israeli settlement of Yakir and Tel Aviv, where the family had visited a grandmother. The Biton family were driving on Route 5 towards Tel Aviv. Palestinians were throwing stones at vehicles on the road at the time. They were targeted by rock-throwers, and the car spun out of control and smashed into a truck which was parked on the side of the road, having stopped for similar reasons. The first health aide to arrive on the scene was a Palestinian volunteer paramedic, Muawiya Qabha, an Arab-Muslim volunteer paramedic, who gave immediate assistance. Soon afterwards he was joined by an Israeli doctor who happened to be driving by, who examined Adele and pronounced her clinically dead. Qabha, convinced he could save her life, continued to work on her, and after a considerable time, the girl began to respond. The child had suffered severe head injuries as a result of the crash and was hospitalized at the Rabin Medical Center's Schneider Children's Medical Center for emergency surgery. She remained semi-comatose for two months, and was released to return to the family home.

Adele never recovered from her injuries. According to the New York Times, Adele, "Biton, became a potent national symbol of the dangers that stones can cause". According to New York Times reporter Jodi Rudoren, Adele was "among the victims who become somewhat iconic... Many, many articles were written about her."

Biton is remembered as one of a long series of people injured and killed as a result of Palestinian rock-throwing at passing vehicles. Others who have suffered the same fate include Esther Ohana, a 20-year-old girl who was driving to her wedding rehearsal when she was murdered, eleven-year-old Chava Wechsberg, and Asher Palmer, a young father murdered along with his eleven-month-old son.According to historian Rafael Medoff, 14 people have been killed by Palestinian stone throwing, including 3 Arabs mistaken for Jews by the rock throwers.