New Unrest Rocks the Powder Keg That is Israel and the West Bank

As of October 13, 2013, eight Israelis and 27 Palestinians have died in a month of Israeli-Palestinian unrest. 

New unrest hits Israel, West Bank despite calls for calm

October 8, 2015

AFP - New violence rocked Israel and the West Bank on Wednesday, with three stabbings and an Arab shot dead by police, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israelis to be on maximum alert against "terrorism."

In the West Bank, meanwhile, men thought to be undercover Israeli police opened fire on a group of Palestinian stone-throwers they had infiltrated, wounding three of them.

Israeli and Palestinian officials reportedly met for security talks in the West Bank Tuesday evening, and there were calls Wednesday from the European Union for calm and a return to political dialogue.

In the meantime, however, Netanyahu had a stark message for his citizens.

"Israeli civilians are at the forefront of a war against terrorism and must also be on maximum alert," he said Wednesday after visiting a Jerusalem police headquarters.

"The goal of terrorism is to spread fear, and the way to defeat it is to maintain composure and resilience on both a national and personal level," his office quoted him as saying.

Netanyahu, who postponed a visit to Germany to tackle violence that has raged for three weeks, added:

"We have known worse times than this, and we will overcome this new wave of terror by maintaining our determination, responsibility and unity."

President Reuven Rivlin has warned that Israel and the Palestinians are "sitting on a volcano".

In a potential sign of efforts to ease tensions, however, a report in the Haaretz daily said Netanyahu had ordered police to bar ministers and lawmakers from visiting the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.

Blocking Israeli politicians from the compound would be aimed at lowering tensions and reducing the level of Palestinian violence. It is the third-holiest site in Islam and the most sacred in Judaism.

Muslims fear Israel will seek to change rules governing the site, which allow Jews to visit but not pray to avoid provoking tensions.


Israel had already lifted age restrictions from Wednesday on Muslims praying at the compounds.

'Sitting on a Volcano'

Both sides were the targets of violence, amid fears of a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising, despite efforts to calm tensions.

In central Israel's Kiryat Gat, police shot dead an Arab man after he allegedly wounded a soldier with a knife and took his weapon, authorities said.

In Jerusalem's Old City, not far from Al-Aqsa, police said an 18-year-old Palestinian woman stabbed a 35-year-old Jewish man in the back and lightly wounded him.

The man, who was armed, managed to draw his gun, shooting and seriously wounding his attacker, police said.

Rivlin warned against using the incident to incite further violence, saying "those who wish to turn the tragedy between us, Palestinians and Israel... into a religious war have blood on their hands."

In another incident, four masked men who had been among Palestinians throwing stones in the West Bank suddenly turned on them, drew pistols and began firing.

One of three shot was seriously wounded in the back of the head.

Palestinians regularly accuse Israel of placing Arabic-speaking infiltrators among demonstrators.

Jewish settlers shot and seriously wounded an 18-year-old Palestinian near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the Red Crescent and witnesses said.

In the same area, a group of Palestinians tried to seize a Jewish woman from her car and possibly kidnap her, Israeli military spokesman Arye Shalicar said.

Settlers fired in the air and the woman managed to escape, Shalicar said.

And a Jewish man was attacked with a knife outside a shopping centre in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, police said, adding that the attacker had been overpowered.

Moves to Avoid Escalation

The spike in violence has brought international calls for calm, with concerns the unrest could spin out of control and escalate into a new intifada like those of 1987-93 and the early 2000s.

In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said it was vital for Netanyahu and Abbas to "show leadership to promote calm, encourage restraint and avoid actions which further fuel tensions."

"The Israeli as well as the Palestinian people have the right to live in security," she said.

"The way to tackle the violence and unrest is for both sides to move quickly to restart a credible political process.... Ultimately, a negotiated two state solution is the only way to bring the lasting peace and security that both Israelis and Palestinians deserve."

Israeli ministers barred from Jerusalem site; man stabbed

October 8, 2015

AP - A Palestinian stabbed a Jewish seminary student in Jerusalem on Thursday as the Israeli prime minister barred all Cabinet ministers and lawmakers from visiting a sensitive holy site in the Old City in an effort to calm tensions that have gripped the country for weeks.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said a Palestinian teenager stabbed the 25-year-old Israeli in the neck, wounding him seriously, before police apprehended the attacker. It was the latest act of Palestinian violence in a week in which bloody attacks killed four Israelis and injured several others.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's move to try and calm the situation appeared to put the Israeli leader on a collision course with hard-liners within his own governing coalition. They have been putting intense pressure on Netanyahu to respond to the surge in violence with a tough crackdown and increased settlement activity.

But Netanyahu is also wary of angering the American administration and risking another full-fledged uprising with too tough a response that could lead to a higher number of casualties on both sides.

The Jerusalem hilltop compound lies at the heart of recent tensions. It's revered by Muslims as the spot where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and by Jews as the site of the two Jewish biblical Temples.

Many Palestinians believe Israel is trying to expand Jewish presence at the site, a claim Israel adamantly denies and considers slanderous. Under a longstanding arrangement administered by Islamic authorities, Jews are allowed to visit the site during certain hours but not pray there.

The latest Israeli-Palestinian unrest began about three weeks ago as Palestinians repeatedly barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa mosque, located at the sacred site, and hurled stones, firebombs and fireworks at the police.

The violence later spread to Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem and to the West Bank, and on Tuesday there were disturbances in Jaffa, a largely Arab area of Tel Aviv.

Even with Thursday's stabbing attack, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not allow his people to be "dragged" into more violence with Israel. Speaking to business leaders in the West Bank city of Ramallah, he said he was committed to "peaceful popular resistance" though he backs the protesters who have barricaded themselves inside Al-Aqsa and clashed with Israeli police.

He insisted the Palestinians are not interested in a further escalation but that his "hands are with those who are protecting Al-Aqsa mosque."

Along with the four Israelis killed in stabbings by Palestinian attackers and a roadside shooting in the last week, five Palestinians, including three of the attackers, have also been killed. On Wednesday, new stabbings occurred outside a crowded mall in central Israel, in a southern Israeli town and in the Old City of Jerusalem.

According to an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations, Netanyahu ordered the ban on the holy site because he was concerned that any high-profile visits there could spark further violence.

In 2000, then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount — known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary — shortly before the second Palestinian intifada erupted.

Netanyahu's ban, which initially only applied to Jewish lawmakers, sparked an angry response from Uri Ariel, a Cabinet minister from the pro-settler Jewish Home party, who recently visited the site and drew Palestinian claims of a provocation. He said the decision was "unfathomable" and that he would take the issue up directly with Netanyahu.

Responding to the pressure, Netanyahu later updated the ban to include all lawmakers. That, in turn, sparked angry threats from several Arab lawmakers who said Netanyahu had no moral authority over them. Two of the lawmakers have already announced that they plan to visit the site on Friday.

With the attacks spilling into the Israeli heartland, Netanyahu has warned Israelis to be on guard.

In another sign of the tensions, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat — a former military officer and licensed gun owner — defended his decision to carry a weapon during a visit this week to an Arab neighborhood and on Thursday, he encouraged other licensed gun owners to also carry their weapons at this tense time.

"One of the advantages Israel has is that there are many veterans of military units with operational combat experience," he said. "Having a weapon increases the resident's confidence."

In related developments, Jerusalem's junior high and high schools went on strike Thursday to protest the lack of security on campuses. Barkat said the city's students have been "abandoned" and that it was irresponsible to send them to school with the threat of violence looming.