Illustration photo
Photo: Galit Kosovosky
Police thwart Jerusalem stabbing attack
Knife falls to ground during struggle between officers patrolling Pisgat Zeev neighborhood and Palestinian youths, who later admit they planned to commit stabbing attack in protest of Gaza offensive
A stabbing attack in Jerusalem's Pisgat Zeev neighborhood was prevented by local police on Monday.
Officers conducting a routine patrol on Moshe Sneh Street noticed two suspicious Palestinian youths and detained them to conduct a search. The youths fought with the officers and a knife fell to the ground during the struggle. There were no injuries in the incident.
Questioning revealed that the two had planned to commit a stabbing attack in protest against Israel's recent military offensive in Gaza.
The youths, both residents of the Qalandiya refugee camp, located near the West Bank town of Ramallah, are not known to police.
Israel imposed a full closure on the West Bank ahead of Purim, and the security establishment will remain on high alert throughout the holiday.
On Thursday a tractor driven by an east Jerusalem resident plowed into a police squad car on Menachem Begin Boulevard in the capital. The driver was apparently also trying to hit a nearby bus, but missed.
Two police officers were in the car when it was hit and both sustained mild injuries. Other police officers patrolling nearby shot the terrorist, who later died of his wounds.
In late December, just as Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, an Arab handyman armed with a sharp tool began running wild and stabbing people on the fourth floor of an apartment building in the community of Kiryat Sefer, near the central city of Modiin.
One man was seriously injured and three other people were lightly hurt. The stabber was shot and injured as well.
