JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) – by Jonah Mandel
Palestinians carried out two knife attacks against Israeli police Monday, leaving one assailant shot dead and three officers wounded as a new surge in violence raised concerns ahead of upcoming Jewish holidays.
There have been seven such incidents since Friday, coming after Palestinians wrapped up Eid al-Adha celebrations and as Israel tightened security ahead of Jewish high holidays in October.
The upsurge has shattered several weeks of relative calm.
In Monday’s first incident, a Palestinian stabbed two Israeli police officers outside Jerusalem’s Old City before being shot, Israeli authorities said.
A 38-year-old policewoman was in serious condition from a stab wound to her neck, while a policeman in his mid-40s was being treated for moderate stab wounds.
The Palestinian attacker was in serious condition after being shot in the head and limbs.
Police identified the perpetrator as a Palestinian in his 20s from east Jerusalem and said he had followed the officers before attacking them.
He was shot by the policeman he stabbed, a statement said.
The attack happened by the Herod’s Gate entrance to the Old City in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Later in the day near a flashpoint holy site in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, two Palestinians attempted to stab Israeli border police before being shot, police said.
One of the attackers was killed and the other was in critical condition, a police spokeswoman said. One of the officers was “very lightly wounded in his hand”.
Tension at holy site
While the recent assailants are believed to have acted on their own, Hamas spokesman Abdel Latif Qanoua on Monday said the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip welcomed the attacks.
He called them “a natural response to the crimes of the Israeli occupation against our people”.
The Israeli army called the recent escalation “further testament to the ongoing influence of incitement on the Palestinian street and social media networks”.
An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also noted the possibility of a “copycat effect” of one attack influencing another.
The official said tensions may be increasing because of the “online incitement” of Palestinians regarding Jewish visits to Jerusalem’s Old City and Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
The compound is the third holiest site for Muslims and the most sacred for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
The Jewish holidays see an increase in Jewish visitors to the site in east Jerusalem.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his nearly year-long order barring members of parliament and ministers from visiting the volatile site.
He “instructed that a response team be established to refute disinformation about Israeli policy on the Temple Mount”, his office said.
Clashes erupted at the Al-Aqsa compound last year during the Jewish high holidays amid Muslim fears that Israel was planning to change rules governing the site, claims Netanyahu vehemently denied.
Jews are allowed to visit but not pray there to avoid stoking tensions.
The site is central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians fearing that Israel may one day seek to assert further control over it.
Far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition have called for Jewish prayer rights at the compound, while hardline groups favour construction of a third Jewish temple there.
Since October, 228 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Jordanian, one Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed in ongoing violence, according to an AFP count.
Israeli forces say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes.
Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have helped feed the unrest.
Jordan demands explanation
An incident on Friday has led to a dispute between Israel and Jordan, one of two Arab nations that have a peace treaty with the Jewish state.
The incident, also outside Jerusalem’s Old City, saw a Jordanian shot dead after trying to stab a police officer.
Amman disputed the Israeli account, calling the shooting of 28-year-old Saeed Amro “premeditated” and a “barbaric act”.
However, Israeli police released video footage of the incident in which Amro is seen approaching two officers holding a knife in each hand with his arms raised before being shot.
A police spokeswoman said he was yelling “Allahu Akbar” — God is greatest.
Jordanian Information Minister Mohamad Momani met Israeli ambassador Einat Schlein on Monday to demand information on the shooting, a Jordanian government statement said.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon confirmed the ambassador “was summoned for a talk at the Jordanian foreign ministry as part of the ongoing dialogue on the matter, including updating the details of the event”.