Arab seriously wounds Israeli in new Jerusalem stabbing

Netanyahu has issued the order against lawmakers and ministers in a bid to ease tensions after weeks of unrest.

“The Israeli government is practising cleansing, field execution and imposing collective punishments against our people in the Palestinian territories”, said the PLO statement. The attack left four people lightly wounded, including the soldier. Five Palestinians, including three of the attackers, have been killed.

And the violence has spread beyond Jerusalem and the West Bank, the historical hot spots.

Four new stabbings wounded Israelis Thursday and one of the assailants was killed as the continuing attacks defied attempts by authorities to contain Palestinian unrest.

The suspect stabbed his victims with a screwdriver before another soldier shot him dead, according to police, who identified him as Thaer Abu Ghazaleh, in his late teens.

Since Saturday, seven Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces, either during protests or clashes or after alleged knife attacks, prompting a number of rights groups to call on Israel to stop using live fire against protesters.

The Palestinian was shot in the chest and fatally wounded at the Shuafat refugee camp in annexed east Jerusalem, according to the Red Crescent and hospital sources.

Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from his own governing coalition to address the violence with a tough crackdown and increased settlement activity.

He blamed recent bloodshed on the Palestinian Authority, which has authority in parts of the West Bank, and Hamas, which has authority in Gaza, for what he called their “incitement and libels and lies”. Several Arab politicians said Netanyahu had no moral authority over them, and two announced they planned to visit the site for Friday prayers.

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.

But on Wednesday, new stabbings occurred outside a crowded mall in central Israel and in a southern Israeli town.

Netanyahu praised citizens’ actions in confronting the attacks, saying that “Israelis are acting to neutralise and eliminate the terrorists while in the act and this requires extraordinary bravery and initiative”.

The metal detectors were ordered by Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan.

Kiryat Arba is near the biblical city of Hevron, south of Jerusalem. In a reflection of the tense atmosphere, police were seen searching the shoes of a few Palestinian passengers at a Jerusalem light rail station.

“And this is all coming from the excitement side from the Palestinian Authority and from other, unfortunately other leading Arab leaders”. An army spokeswoman said forces were searching for the assailant.

The PRCS added that 189 Palestinians also suffered excessive tear gas inhalation.

Backdropped by Jerusalem’s Old City Ottoman walls, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat speaks to the press February 23, a day after Barkat and his bodyguard apprehended a young Palestinian who stabbed an ultra-Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem. On Thursday, he encouraged other licensed gun owners to also carry their weapons.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a meeting Thursday that Palestinians will not be “dragged” into more violence with Israel.