Palestinian woman stabs security guard near Jerusalem
21-year-old Ramallah resident stabs security guard after knife found in her handbag; Israeli evacuated to Hadassah Hospital with light to moderate wounds
A security guard stationed at the Qalandiya checkpoint in northern Jerusalem sustained light to moderate injuries Sunday afternoon after being stabbed by a Palestinian woman in the abdomen.
The assailant was apprehended. The guard was treated at the scene by Magen David Adom emergency services personnel and later evacuated to Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.
"The guard was lying on the ground with a stab wound to his lower abdomen, and the young female terrorist was apprehended," one of the paramedics said, "The guard was in great pain; he was in a state of shock."
According to Magen David Adom, the stab wound was five centimeters deep (about two inches).
Guards manning the checkpoint spotted the knife in the woman's handbag as she passed through the metal detector. She stabbed one of the guards who approached her with a knife she pulled out from under her skirt.
The assailant, a 21-year-old resident of the West Bank town of Ramallah, was taken in for interrogation by Jerusalem Police.
The stabbing attack followed renewed Muslim riots in and around the Temple Mount compound in east Jerusalem. During the violence, which erupted in the morning hours, nine police officers were lightly injured and at least 18 people were arrested.
Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen told reporters while visiting the Mount, "I identify many large groups of east Jerusalem Arabs and Israeli Arabs who have arrived here following calls made by the Islamic Movement, whose leaders are here. I call on them to practice restraint and calm and not to incite.
"The Jerusalem Police will act firmly against any rioters on the Temple Mount. The inciters are the same people you know. It's impossible that the Israel Police will have to deal with the Islamic Movement every Sunday, and so we will handle this on the investigative level."
