Palestinians killed after attacking Israeli troops

Earlier, Samer Hassan Siresee, 51, was shot dead by border police after getting out of a taxi and running at forces with a knife at Tapuah junction near the northern West Bank city Nablus, police said.

According to Palestinian health ministry spokesman Mohammad Awawdeh, a 21 year old Yehya Taha was been shot by the troops in the head, and she lost his life later of his wounds in a Ramallah hospital.

The deaths come the day after an Israel Defense Forces officer acknowledged to the Israeli Ynet news site that the IDF’s policy is to minimize Palestinian deaths as much as possible.

The first Palestinian intifada lasted from 1987-1993 and the second from 2000-2005, although both were far more intense and deadly than the present wave of violence. Palestinians say the attacks stem from a lack of hope for gaining independence after years of failed peace efforts.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said Jawabrah had “a lit Molotov cocktail in hand” and was attempting to hit Israeli cars with it.

The assailant was shot and killed at the scene of the incident on Route 60 near the Palestinian town of Beit Umar, located south of Jerusalem between Bethlehem and Hebron. The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank for part of a future state.

The military proposed releasing Palestinian security prisoners who have been jailed in Israel for decades, increasing the number of Palestinians allowed to work inside Israel and giving additional weapons to Palestinian security forces. Throughout the unrest, Palestinian security forces have maintained a longstanding system of security co-operation to help contain the violence.

That is at odds with the Israeli government’s view that the main driver is incitement by the Palestinian leadership and weak security enforcement by President Mahmoud Abbas.

On Thursday, the commander of Israel’s premier paratrooper brigade, Colonel Nimrod Aloni, said tackling Palestinian violence was a matter of “a great degree of confusion”. The Palestinians say it’s rooted in frustrations over Israel’s almost half a century-long occupation.