A Palestinian Stabbings Thwarted, Attacker Killed

On Saturday night, the Israeli army said a soldier was stabbed and wounded in Hebron. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA mentioned no knives and said Israelis simply shot two Palestinians dead.

The Israelis were killed in random attacks in the street or on buses, and with parents demanding swift action to safeguard schools, cities have added more armed guards at their gates and police have increased patrols.

In other incidents, Israeli border police approached a Palestinian man in the Armon Hanatsiv neighborhood of Jerusalem, when a man pulled a knife and tried to stab the officers. Sixteen-year-old Bayan Ahmad Asseeleh, was shot after she allegedly tried to stab a female soldier, who was protecting an illegal Jewish settlement, Aljazeera reports.

A third Palestinian was shot dead, additionally in Hebron, however there have been conflicting stories the way it occurred. The Israeli military said a Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli civilian, who was carrying a gun and then shot and killed the attacker.

In Hebron on the West Bank, a Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli pedestrian, according to the Israel Defense Forces. But Dina Matar, of the Centre for Media Studies at SOAS in London and author of “What It Means to be Palestinian”, said that within Palestinian communities viral videos are more representative of frustration than a cause of it. The Foreign Press Association for Israel and the Palestinian territories said it “marks a worrying development” that demands all media operate with greater caution.

According to CBS News, 30 Palestinians have died since the violence began – 13 of whom were identified by Israel as attackers – and 8 Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians.

More than 40 Palestinians, including several attackers, have been killed.

Hamas, the militant Palestinian group which controls the Gaza Strip, had called for “rallies of anger and confrontations” on Friday in all West Bank cities.

“We are very concerned about the outbreak of violence”, Mr Obama said in Washington on Friday, calling on Mr Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas “to try to tamp down rhetoric that may feed violence or anger or misunderstanding”.

Kerry said he would meet Netanyahu in Germany, where the Israeli leader is scheduled to travel on Wednesday, before talks with Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah at an unspecified location in the Middle East.

The flames damaged parts of the place before Palestinian security forces put off the fire and dispersed the Palestinian men.

Violence between Israelis and Palestinians continued unabated on Saturday.

Uri Nuriel, 31, said he was riding his bike in Jerusalem on Saturday when he noticed a Palestinian smiling oddly.

“Our decision is to pursue the intifada (uprising) and continue the resistance against the Israeli occupation”, said Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s leader in Gaza. It was fuelled by rumours among Palestinians that Israel was attempting to alter a long-standing religious arrangement governing the site.

When Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon walked into Al Haram Al Sharif compound on September 28, 2000, accompanied by hundreds of soldiers, he also declared that “the Temple Mount is in our hands”.