Heavy Israeli security measures were imposed in occupied East
Jerusalem in preparation for Muslim prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque,
which, despite being the focus of recent tensions, passed peacefully.
But new killings and clashes were reported from the adjoining West Bank.
Israeli and Arab media reported that a Palestinian youth was shot dead and another injured on Friday after an attempted knife attack on border guards in an incident at the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus. Clashes were also reported from the Ramallah area further north and Hebron to the south.
Elsewhere in East Jerusalem, another Palestinian stabbed an Israeli and was quickly shot and critically injured by border police close to the light railway line that links Jewish and Arab areas of the city – unilaterally united and annexed by Israel after the 1967 war . An Israeli was also injured in the shooting.
The speedy responses highlight the vigilance of Israeli police, whose presence is felt everywhere but especially in the Old City around the Haram al-Sharif [Temple Mount] as tens of thousands of worshippers stream through the narrow alleyways for noon prayers. Age restrictions previously enforced were lifted for the second week running.
Five weeks into this latest bout of unrest, in which 60 Palestinians and 11 Israelis have been killed, commentators and political figures on both sides agree it has not yet developed into a fully-fledged intifada [uprising] against the Israeli occupation, as was the case in 1987 and 2000. In the past few days, incidents have shifted away from Jerusalem and inside Israel proper to the West Bank. The intensity of the apparently unorganised and uncoordinated attacks waxes and wanes, but there is no sign the trouble is ending.
“The present wave of violence is not yet past,” wrote Amos Harel, military commentator for the Haaretz newspaper. “It has only been taking on a different shape in the past two weeks.”
Ziad Abu Ziad, a former minister with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, said: “No one knows where we are going. It’s like rheumatic pain. You never know where it will hit you. I count on the Israelis to make the violence continue.”
Hebron, where hundreds of armed Jewish settlers live among Palestinians, has emerged as the most volatile flashpoint. Six Palestinian youths have been shot dead by Israeli forces for attempting to stab soldiers and settlers since Tuesday. Of the total of 60 Palestinians shotby Israeli forces in October, 23 were from Hebron. The families of 17 of those have rallied for the release of their bodies and five were handed over on Friday. Israel describes 41 of the 60 as attackers.
On Tuesday, Amnesty International reported that it had documented in depth at least four incidents in which Palestinians were deliberately shot dead by Israeli forces when they posed no imminent threat. It called them “extrajudicial executions”.
On Thursday, 23-year-old Islam Obeidou was shot in the head and killed at a checkpoint near Hebron’s Old City. The Israeli military said he was trying to stab a soldier. But Palestinians and other witnesses say he was unarmed. Zaid, a neighbour, said: “I saw him cross the checkpoint and go through the metal detector, so how could he have had a knife?”
On 17 October, video footage circulating on social media showed another Palestinian, Fadel Qawasmi, 18, lying dead with an armed settler standing by his body and soldiers placing an object near him. Palestinians have dismissed reports Qawasmi tried to stab the settler.
“I saw two soldiers stopping a Palestinian youth near Beit Hadassah [a 19th century Jewish building] and turning him back toward the container checkpoint,” Zaid said. “A settler was standing next to the soldiers and he followed the Palestinian back towards where I was standing near the checkpoint.
“The settler was under 10 metres from him and he shot him in the back of the head and in the back. I went toward the shooting and I saw the army had run towards Qawasmi. The settler pointed the gun at me but the soldier grabbed his arm pulling it down. There is no way Qawasmi could have crossed through the container checkpoint with a knife. You can’t pass the checkpoint with a shekel [coin] let alone a knife. I didn’t see anything in his hands. I also didn’t see a soldier planting a knife.”
An Israeli Defence Force (IDF) spokeswoman told the Guardian that Qawasmi was shot because he was armed with a knife and approached a Jewish settler with the intent to attack and kill him. “Palestinian eyewitnesses, along with a video, purport to claim that an IDF soldier placed a knife at the scene. However, the object handled by the soldiers was a communications device,” she said.
On Thursday, another video was released showing a Palestinian man who had already been shot being shot again in the head by an Israeli soldier as he lies on the ground. The IDF said 23-year-old Mahdi Mohammed was shot near the Ibrahimi mosque after he attacked a soldier, who was lightly wounded.
Israeli and Arab media reported that a Palestinian youth was shot dead and another injured on Friday after an attempted knife attack on border guards in an incident at the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus. Clashes were also reported from the Ramallah area further north and Hebron to the south.
Elsewhere in East Jerusalem, another Palestinian stabbed an Israeli and was quickly shot and critically injured by border police close to the light railway line that links Jewish and Arab areas of the city – unilaterally united and annexed by Israel after the 1967 war . An Israeli was also injured in the shooting.
The speedy responses highlight the vigilance of Israeli police, whose presence is felt everywhere but especially in the Old City around the Haram al-Sharif [Temple Mount] as tens of thousands of worshippers stream through the narrow alleyways for noon prayers. Age restrictions previously enforced were lifted for the second week running.
Five weeks into this latest bout of unrest, in which 60 Palestinians and 11 Israelis have been killed, commentators and political figures on both sides agree it has not yet developed into a fully-fledged intifada [uprising] against the Israeli occupation, as was the case in 1987 and 2000. In the past few days, incidents have shifted away from Jerusalem and inside Israel proper to the West Bank. The intensity of the apparently unorganised and uncoordinated attacks waxes and wanes, but there is no sign the trouble is ending.
“The present wave of violence is not yet past,” wrote Amos Harel, military commentator for the Haaretz newspaper. “It has only been taking on a different shape in the past two weeks.”
Ziad Abu Ziad, a former minister with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, said: “No one knows where we are going. It’s like rheumatic pain. You never know where it will hit you. I count on the Israelis to make the violence continue.”
Hebron, where hundreds of armed Jewish settlers live among Palestinians, has emerged as the most volatile flashpoint. Six Palestinian youths have been shot dead by Israeli forces for attempting to stab soldiers and settlers since Tuesday. Of the total of 60 Palestinians shotby Israeli forces in October, 23 were from Hebron. The families of 17 of those have rallied for the release of their bodies and five were handed over on Friday. Israel describes 41 of the 60 as attackers.
On Tuesday, Amnesty International reported that it had documented in depth at least four incidents in which Palestinians were deliberately shot dead by Israeli forces when they posed no imminent threat. It called them “extrajudicial executions”.
On Thursday, 23-year-old Islam Obeidou was shot in the head and killed at a checkpoint near Hebron’s Old City. The Israeli military said he was trying to stab a soldier. But Palestinians and other witnesses say he was unarmed. Zaid, a neighbour, said: “I saw him cross the checkpoint and go through the metal detector, so how could he have had a knife?”
On 17 October, video footage circulating on social media showed another Palestinian, Fadel Qawasmi, 18, lying dead with an armed settler standing by his body and soldiers placing an object near him. Palestinians have dismissed reports Qawasmi tried to stab the settler.
“I saw two soldiers stopping a Palestinian youth near Beit Hadassah [a 19th century Jewish building] and turning him back toward the container checkpoint,” Zaid said. “A settler was standing next to the soldiers and he followed the Palestinian back towards where I was standing near the checkpoint.
“The settler was under 10 metres from him and he shot him in the back of the head and in the back. I went toward the shooting and I saw the army had run towards Qawasmi. The settler pointed the gun at me but the soldier grabbed his arm pulling it down. There is no way Qawasmi could have crossed through the container checkpoint with a knife. You can’t pass the checkpoint with a shekel [coin] let alone a knife. I didn’t see anything in his hands. I also didn’t see a soldier planting a knife.”
An Israeli Defence Force (IDF) spokeswoman told the Guardian that Qawasmi was shot because he was armed with a knife and approached a Jewish settler with the intent to attack and kill him. “Palestinian eyewitnesses, along with a video, purport to claim that an IDF soldier placed a knife at the scene. However, the object handled by the soldiers was a communications device,” she said.
On Thursday, another video was released showing a Palestinian man who had already been shot being shot again in the head by an Israeli soldier as he lies on the ground. The IDF said 23-year-old Mahdi Mohammed was shot near the Ibrahimi mosque after he attacked a soldier, who was lightly wounded.
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