Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas referred to the last three months of violence Monday as a “justified popular uprising”.
Advertisement
Two-thirds of Palestinians support the current wave of knife attacks against Israelis, an opinion poll has found, as the Palestinian population grows ever more gloomy about the prospects of an eventual peace settlement.
In a separate attack, paramilitary border police shot dead a second Palestinian who tried to ram them with his vehicle, a spokeswoman for the force said.
“[But] the response from Israeli security forces has resulted in alleged attackers, protesters, and even bystanders being killed and injured”. The survey’s margin of error is 3 percent.
“Terrorist attack at the entrance of Jerusalem minutes ago”, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld tweeted.
Worldwide condemnation of Israel’s actions in occupied territory has intensified and foreign powers have expressed concern over what they say is excessive use of force.
The attack, by Israeli ultra-nationalists, put Israel under growing global pressure to resolve the case.
Israeli police identified the alleged attacker as Abed al-Mhasan, 21, from Beit Hanina in occupied East Jerusalem.
Two Palestinians were killed overnight in separate attempts to ram their cars into Israeli soldiers carrying out arrests at a refugee camp near Ramallah, Israeli and Palestinian sources said Wednesday.
Israel’s defense minister said on Tuesday there was still not enough evidence to indict the Jewish suspects who torched a Palestinian home in July, killing an infant and his parents.
“We call on both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to act decisively to de-escalate the situation”, she added.
According to the survey, 65% of Palestinians also want Abbas to resign, and if presidential elections took place he would lose to Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip.
Advertisement
He said the city would erect protective barriers near bus stations on the city’s main traffic arteries.
