There were speculations he would try to revive the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, but Biden said, “I didn’t come with a plan”.
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Palestinian stabbings, shootings and auto rammings have killed 28 Israelis and two Americans since tensions flared in October.
Along with Force, a dozen Israelis, civilians and police officers, were wounded in knife and gun attacks that authorities in Tel Aviv said were carried out by Palestinians. The attacker killed an American tourist and wounded nine Israelis.
Biden is set to meet with Abbas later Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged yesterday to intensify Israel’s struggle against “Palestinian terrorism” , as a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden coincided with a surge of stabbing and shooting attacks.
Israel’s “very, very tough neighbourhood, a tough and changing neighbourhood” necessitated such assistance, Biden said, adding that Obama had “done more to help bolster Israel’s security than any other administration in history ” .
The attack took place on Wednesday morning at a train stop near the Damascus Gate outside the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Police Internal Affairs Unit is investigating if one of those officers shot Masalha while he was already on the ground – presumably dead or badly injured.
A spokesperson for Hadassah hospital later saidoth Israeli officers had been hit in the head.
The Palestinian victim, about 50, from Beit Hanina in eastern Jerusalem, was caught in the cross-fire between the attackers and police.
Soon after in the occupied West Bank, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian who tried to stab them, the military said.
The attacker, Ahmed Amer, 16, asked his parents for forgiveness in a scribbled note.
Al-Samri said that an “Arab terrorist” stabbed a Jewish Israeli in his mid-30s “in the upper part of his body” leaving him with light to moderate injuries. In addition, a Palestinian woman carrying a knife broke into the Kedumim settlement in the northern West Bank.
The wave of near-daily Palestinian assaults on Israeli civilians and security forces erupted in mid-September and is showing no sign of abating. During the same time, at least 179 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire.
The U.S. State Department identified the American killed on Tuesday as Taylor Force, a 28-year-old graduate student at Vanderbilt University’s Owen School of Management who was on a trip to Israel organized by the school.
Israeli political opponents to Netanyahu have criticized his fickle behavior towards USA officials. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to comment publicly.
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The incident in Jerusalem on Wednesday began when gunfire ran out near a commuter bus, though no one was hurt and the vehicle was not hit, a police spokesman said.
