US confirms death of American citizen in West Bank

Around 47 per cent of the attackers since October 1 were Palestinians aged 20 or younger, according to date compiled by the Shin Bet, Israel’s equivalent of MI5.

An Israeli man was killed and another moderately wounded when two Palestinians stabbed them in a supermarket in the occupied West Bank today before being shot, officials said.

A spokeswoman for the Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem said they received two men in their 20s suffering stab wounds, both of them in stable condition.

One of the officers suffered knife wounds to the head, and the other was cut in the hand and struggled with the attacker before shooting him.

Other Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops amid spiralling violence.

An armed civilian shot the two teens, who were taken for treatment at Israeli hospitals in Jerusalem, the Israeli military said. A Palestinian health ministry statement said Khaled Taqatqa, 21, was shot dead by Israeli forces in Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the French initiative to hold an worldwide peace conference is “baffling” and bound for failure, casting doubt on the first push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians in almost two years.

Later, a third Palestinian died after being shot during clashes with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.

“We found him between the aisles in the supermarket with stab wounds to his upper body”, said Shalom Galil, the paramedic who treated Weissman.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner also said Friday that Weisman was a USA citizen.

Manufacturer of home soda machines SodaStream may shut down its factory in Israel’s south if the government doesn’t renew permits for 74 of its Palestinian workers, the Jerusalem Post says.

The outburst of Palestinian violence, which began in September over tensions at the most holy site in Jerusalem, sacred to both Jews and Muslims, shows no signs of abating.

Palestinian Journalist Muhammad al-Qiq’s Hunger Strike Enters 87th Day inside of Israeli HospitalMartyrdom is staring down 33 year old Palestinian journalist Muhammad al-Qiq as he somehow clings to life after, what is nearing, three months of starvation in protest of his illegal imprisonment by Israel. Palestinians say it stems from frustration at almost five decades of Israeli rule and dwindling hopes for gaining independence.