More bloodshed in 5 stabbing attacks across Jerusalem

Israel and the West Bank endured another day of fear and violence, with an Israeli soldier and police officer wounded in knife attacks and four Palestinians shot dead Saturday. The teenager drew a knife and tried to stab the officers, who shot him dead, the spokesman said.

In the first attack this morning, a Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli settler in the centre of the West Bank city of Hebron near a Jewish enclave.

A group of prominent Israeli human rights organisations on Wednesday released a statement arguing that recent calls by Israeli politicians to shoot Palestinian attackers rather than arrest them effectively endorses the killing of Palestinians.

“The Palestinian man in Hebron allegedly attempted to attack a settler before being shot and killed by police”.

In the Palestinian uprisings of 1987-1993 and 2000-2005, thousands were killed and many more wounded in near-daily violence. It has deployed soldiers in Israeli cities and erected concrete barriers outside a few Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, where most of the attacks have originated.

Israeli officials deny that the status quo has been changed and say Muslims will continue to be allowed to pray there while Jews will be allowed to visit, but not pray.

Benjamin Netanyahu lays the blame on the Palestinian leadership, saying it is deliberately inciting its public and stoking religious passions with false claims concerning the Jerusalem holy site.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank city of Hebron, a 26-year-old Palestinian laborer posed as a journalist covering a clash to get close to Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli military called the firebombing of the Nablus shrine a “blatant violation” of freedom of worship and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice and restore Jewish prayer access.

Palestinian police dispersed the crowd and firefighters extinguished the blaze before Israeli security forces arrived.

Israel’s military said about 100 people rushed the tomb of the biblical patriarch Joseph, which is located in the Palestinian city of Nablus.

Tensions boiled over into violence earlier this month as Israeli incursions into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound – the third holiest site in Islam – gave way to protests and clashes that have consumed much of the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

A Palestinian high school girl, who allegedly witnessed the incident, said it took place when Jewish settlers attacked an unarmed Palestinian, the girl’s father told Reuters. The attacker was initially shot and wounded in the leg.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry has said he plans to travel to the Middle East soon in an attempt to calm the tensions.

Distinct from that, protesters have also rioted in Palestinian territories, many throwing rocks, and at times Israeli security forces have used live ammunition.