He then mentioned the horrific attacks against Israelis but added, “We’ve seen also attacks on Palestinians, [investigations for which] remain ongoing”.
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“This reprehensible act is yet another example of the escalating violence in the region, threatening to further inflame sensitivities owing to the religious significance of Joseph’s Tomb”, Haq said. He told the news conference on 15 October: “And now we have a new big lie”. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was using legitimate force and any other country would do the same to confront attacks. Police in vans, on motorcycles and on foot patrolled the area near the city’s central bus station where a Palestinian attacker stabbed a 70-year-old woman Wednesday, checking the identification cards of Arab men on the street. He did not immediately respond to Netanyahu’s offer.
Most of the attacks on Israelis were carried out by Palestinians with no known ties to militant groups.
Over the past month, eight Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, majority stabbings. The list is long: surrounding or imposing closures on Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem; calling up 1,400 Border Police reservists by emergency order; building a double fence around the Gaza Strip “like on the Egyptian border”; sending six cadet companies from the military’s officer training school to the capital’s streets. Yet this is increasingly hard for Israel when every Palestinian holding a cell phone has the means to document the occupation in real time. Aharon Bennett, a 22-year-old Israeli soldier, was on the way to the Western Wall when he, his wife and their two sons were attacked. A reporter for Palestine TV said a cameraman working for the channel was shot in the leg during the protest.
Israelis and Palestinians can only hope that this time will be similar.
On the Palestinian side, social media play a growing role in the conflict.
Jadalah said: “When Israeli Jews carry out knife attacks, they are arrested, not killed”.
Israeli rhetoric has intensified following the attacks. A few Israelis accuse the media of anti-Israel bias or express anti-Arab sentiment, while others call for coexistence.
In the video, the terrified boy is seen lying between the tracks of Jerusalem’s light rail, his legs at a twisted angle after having been struck by a vehicle in the wake of the stabbing attack.
Israeli police say young Muslim men will be barred from entering Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Friday as a measure to ensure calm amid a wave of violence.
Dore Gold, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, said the site was targeted “just because it is a place in which Jews pray”.
Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said Abbas’ comments about Ahmed Manasra were a result of inaccurate information.
“Our enemies know how to hurt us, but will not defeat us”, he said.
Israel’s new United Nations ambassador, Danny Danon, accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of “dangerous incitement” against Israel with what he called “hate-filled speech”, including claims that Israel is trying to change the status quo at the hilltop Jerusalem compound.
The boy, who was run over by an Israeli vehicle after involvement in the stabbing of an Israeli boy, has become the centre of heated, high-level name-calling between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders reflecting the abyss between them after a monthlong spike in deadly violence. In online postings, many Palestinians have said they believe he is dead and a “martyr”.
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The stabbings come after weeks of unrest at the Temple Mount compound but Barkat says Israel is not to blame for the rising tension. But he said there had been “what many would consider excessive use of force”.
