At the petrol station in the West Bank, on the side of a road regularly used by Israelis to drive between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, a Palestinian stabbed two Israelis, killing one of them, before he was shot dead by soldiers.
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The drama that unfolded on Jaffa Road, a main thoroughfare between East and West Jerusalem, had a complicated plot in a city where Arabs and Jews live and work in close proximity and identities are sometimes blurred.
A Palestinian assailant was also killed in an attempted stabbing in the northern West Bank, the military said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday outlined plans for tough new security measures against Palestinians in the West Bank after two Israelis were killed in stabbing attacks in less than 24 hours.
Many of them have been young people, including teenagers, reflecting anger and lost hope over Israel’s occupation, the Palestinians’ fractured leadership and the complete lack of progress in peace efforts, some analysts say.
“During the current wave of violence, we have witnessed heinous attacks stabbings, shootings and attacks causing enormous suffering among Israelis and Palestinians alike”.
Amid a wave of jihadist terrorism in France, Sinai, Lebanon and Mali, members of the United Nations met on Monday to focus on “Palestine”, with several speakers accusing Israel of fueling the violence across the region.
He also warned Israeli regime that its security concerns do not justify the excessive use of force, “because this only feeds the discomfort and frustration”.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that he is in Israel to talk about how to “restore calm”.
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement which runs Gaza, said it condemned Mr Kerry’s remarks and considered his statement “a full support of the Israeli crimes and terrorism”. The assailant, 16-year-old Ahmad Taha from nearby Qatanna, was shot dead on the spot by army soldiers.
Buchris became Israel’s 22nd victim targeted by Palestinian terrorists over the past two months.
In other incidents, the Israeli military said another knife-wielding Palestinian was shot dead in the West Bank before he could harm anyone. Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton took unsuccessful stabs at a two-state solution during their final months in office. But the rising death toll seems, for now, to have created an environment that makes a similar commitment by President Barack Obama unlikely.
He said he wished to talk with Netanyahu about a joint bid “to push back against terrorism, to push back against senseless violence and to find a way forward, to restore calm and to begin to provide the opportunities that most reasonable people in every part of the world are seeking for themselves and for their families”.
U.S. officials said they were not expecting to strike any new agreement on a return to peace talks during Kerry’s visit, and would simply try to walk the parties back from the immediate violence. “People aren’t in the mood for concessions”.
Speaking before the Committee, regarding the celebration of the global Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Eliasson said on behalf of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, that he was sorry about the situation of the occupied people.
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Abbas, who believes a deal with Netanyahu is impossible, has provided no indication that he wants to restart direct peace talks anytime soon. As Daniel Polisar wrote in Mosaic magazine about his study of Palestinian public opinion, their glorification of violence and opposition to peace on any terms but Israel’s destruction is what continues to fuel the conflict.
