Israel PM says he’s ‘perfectly open’ to meeting with Abbas

A few experts on the Middle East have theorized that young people are being radicalized online and are acting as so-called lone wolves.

“Manasra’s cousin was killed by Israeli police”.

Israelis are on edge following a spate of attacks, many of them involving knife-wielding assailants, though other weapons – from guns to cars – have been used as well.

One strategy being tried is checkpoints. The Palestinians have lambasted what they have called “extrajudicial killings”. Forces can not simply tear down homes without formal permission. The military will be backing them up.

The move followed a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet authorising police to seal off or impose a curfew on parts of Jerusalem.

“Everyone suspects us”, he told AFP. Rosenfeld credited “heightened security measures” for preventing even worse violence, tweeting Thursday that 380 people have been arrested for rioting.

“Locking down east Jerusalem neighborhoods will infringe upon the freedom of movement of all Palestinian residents rather than being a narrowly tailored response to a specific concern”, said Sari Bashi of Human Rights Watch. With no mastermind to pursue, that poses a major challenge to security forces. “But exacerbating the punitive policy of home demolitions is an unlawful and ill-considered response”.

On Wednesday, Kerry’s spokesman, John Kirby, said Israel hadn’t abided by long-standing rules for Jerusalem’s religious sites, “which has led to a lot of the violence”.

Israeli commentator Ben Caspit wrote in the Maariv daily said that Abbas’ “lie makes us despair”.

No timetable or itinerary has been released for the trip, but Kerry said: “I expect to be travelling to the region in the coming days and we will remain very closely engaged in order to support efforts to stabilize the situation”.

Israel has deployed 300 soldiers in Jerusalem and throughout the country to try to stop the most serious eruption of Palestinian street attacks since an uprising a decade ago.

“We thought in the beginning that he (Ahmed) was killed”, Erekat said.

The powerful Islamist group Hamas, which advocates Israel’s destruction, has been vocal in supporting the current attacks, and it called for “rallies of anger and confrontations” to be held in West Bank cities after Friday Muslim prayers.

The incident was another violent episode near the gates of the Old City, sacred to three world religions.

In recent weeks, seven Israeli Jews have been stabbed to death after Palestinians, many of them young, have taken to the streets with sharp objects in tow.

An Israeli has also been accused of committing a revenge stabbing on a Palestinian.

The victims, 62 and 65, were slightly injured; police killed the attacker after he allegedly ran toward officers with the knife, authorities said.

According to the Times, the boy’s father told a local news station that his son was not involved in the stabbing.

Supporters of the Palestinian cause feel Israeli authorities have gone overboard, both in their words and actions.

The nationality of the victim and the attacker are unclear as police continue to investigate, Samri said.