Israel says it foils 4 Palestinian stabbings

Also, in the West Bank, a Palestinian posing as a journalist stabbed and injured a soldier and was shot dead. The Israelis were killed in random attacks in the street or on buses. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said the attack violates freedom of worship and that the military will “bring the perpetrators of this despicable act to justice”.

In Jerusalem, where most of the violence has taken place, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said a 16-year-old Palestinian drew a knife on officers early Saturday when they asked for identification after a bystander said he was behaving suspiciously.

Israeli police prevented Palestinians under the age of 40from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and there was a heightened security presence in the streets with police deployed throughout the city. But the Israeli civilian was armed, and shot the assailant dead.

Alongside attacks with knives, guns and cars, protesters have rioted in Palestinian territories, many throwing rocks, and at times Israeli security forces have used live ammunition.

Seven Israelis have been killed and dozens wounded.

The site is located in an area under Palestinian self-rule and visits by Jews are coordinated between Palestinian security forces and Israeli troops.

Obama said he was “very concerned about the outbreak of violence” in Jerusalem and on the West Bank, and condemned “in the strongest possible terms violence directed against innocent people”. The officer’s hand was lightly wounded. Around 2,100 Palestinians, a lot of them civilians, and 73 Israelis, nearly all soldiers, were killed.

In response, Israel has taken unprecedented measures, including setting up checkpoints in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem this week despite Israel’s long-standing assertion that the city is united.

The site is also revered by Jews as the location of two destroyed biblical Jewish temples.

Dore Gold, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said Joseph’s Tomb was targeted “just because it is a place in which Jews pray”.

He accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of leading “the unsafe incitement” with his “hate-filled speech” and claims that Israel is trying to change the status quo at the Jerusalem site.

Palestinian assailants carried out five stabbing attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank on Saturday, authorities said, as a month-long outburst of violence showed no signs of abating.

Abbas on Friday condemned the arson in Nabulus at the site revered as Joseph’s tomb as “irresponsible”, ordered an investigation into who was behind it and said repairs would begin immediately, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. The pre-dawn attack blackened exterior walls of the stone structure located near the Balata refugee camp and a scene of Israeli-Palestinian clashes in the past.

The mosque sits on a site in the Old City called the Temple Mount by Jews and the Noble Sanctuary by Muslims. Known as Haram Al-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims, it’s also one of the holiest sites in Islam.

Clashes at the site have become common.