Israel readies indictments in death of Palestinian-American

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army has moved toward the indictment of two commanders over the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian-American man who was dragged from a car, bound and blindfolded after being stopped at a checkpoint. The Israeli military statement on Thursday nonetheless played down the role of the two commanders in the death of Omar Assad, saying it was “not possible to establish a correlation” between their conduct and his abrupt death. Israel has come under criticism from human rights groups that say it rarely holds soldiers accountable for the deaths of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The case of Assad, who lived for four decades in the United States, has drawn intense international scrutiny.