Arab shot dead, Palestinian wounded as violence escalates

On Wednesday, a Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli man, who then shot and wounded her. Israeli police spokeswoman said the “female terrorist” had attacked the man from behind, wounding him seriously.

The attack came hours after a man on a bus in the city of Kiryat Gat – 30 miles from Jerusalem – snatched a soldier’s rifle and injured him with a knife in an ensuing struggle, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Mean while in the West Bank settlers shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian after a stone throwing incident.

Injured, he drew his gun, shot and severely wounded her. It was one more attack in a cycle which has seen the death, in the space of only a week, of four Israelis and five Palestinians.

A Palestinian man, armed with a knife, injured at least one Israeli citizen near a shopping mall in the central city of Petah Tikva, Israeli police said Wednesday.

Israeli police say forces opened fire on a Palestinian motorist after he attempted to drive through a checkpoint in the West Bank and tried to hit an officer. The shooting happened on a section of road linking two Jewish settlements that passes close to the Palestinian town of Beit Sahir and has been the scene of frequent clashes between settlers and Palestinians.

And last Thursday, gunmen shot and killed an Israeli couple as they drove with their four young children in the West Bank.

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”.

Mr Netanyahu is under intense domestic pressure to do more.

A member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, Hanan Ashrawi, is seeking help from the United Nations to offer Palestinians worldwide protection during the intensification of the violence that is “threatening to engulf not just Palestine and Israel, but the whole region as well”.

Israel lifted age restrictions from Wednesday on Muslims praying at the sensitive Al Aqsa mosque compound in an apparent bid, swiftly welcomed by Washington, to ease tensions.

A surge of lethal Palestinian-Israeli violence triggered by clashes at a contested holy site has raised fears of a slide into a new Palestinian uprising, even though both sides are signaling that they are not seeking a broader confrontation.

“Netanyahu’s announcement is a reminder to the global community of the urgent need for worldwide intervention to protect the occupied Palestinian people from relentless attack by the Israeli military forces and terrorist settlers”, Erekat said.

Immediately after the attack, police evacuated Jews from the Temple Mount.

On Monday, Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian youths during clashes with protesters in the West Bank.

Israeli police on Sunday instituted a 48-hour ban on Palestinian entry into the Old City in an alleged effort to prevent further escalation in the area.

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