|
 A Palestinian passerby disputed the police account, saying he had
seen police shout at the man, then shoot him four times. "I saw no
knife on him," Hussam Wshah, 66, told Reuters.
Four Israelis and 24 Palestinians, including eight children, have
died in 12 days of bloodshed, fueled in part by Muslim anger over
increasing Jewish visits to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in
Jerusalem.
Near-daily knife attacks have raised concerns Palestinians could be
embarking on another uprising, or Intifada, reflecting a new
generation's frustrations over a veteran leadership's failure to
achieve statehood in peace efforts that collapsed in 2014.
Israel has poured reinforcements into Jerusalem, with no diplomatic
initiatives on the horizon and Israeli leaders warning there could
be no quick fix to largely "lone wolf" assaults.
 At the Old City's Lions Gate, paramilitary border police ordered a
Palestinian to halt for an identity check, instructing him "to take
his hands out of his pockets", a police spokesman said.
"The terrorist approached the policeman with a knife in his hand and
stabbed him in his protective vest," the spokesman said. "The
policeman was unhurt and other officers reacted swiftly and shot and
killed him."
Officers released a video to the media showing a body and a knife on
the ground but not the alleged confrontation.
Wshah, a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, said he witnessed
the events from several meters away. "The young man was walking
when they shouted at him. He may not have heard them, and they fired
directly at him four times and he fell to the ground," Wshah told
Reuters.
[to top of second column] |
Violence has spread from Jerusalem and the Israeli-occupied West
Bank to Israel's interior and Hamas-ruled Gaza. On Sunday, an
Israeli Arab stabbed and wounded four people near a bus stop in the
north of the country. He was overpowered and arrested.
Israeli Arabs have demonstrated in support of Palestinian protests
in the occupied West Bank that have accompanied the surge in
attacks.
Muslim anger has been stoked by increasing visits made over the past
year by Jewish groups and right-wing lawmakers to al-Aqsa mosque
compound, which is also revered by Jews as the site of two destroyed
biblical temples.
Israel has said it has no intention of allowing any change to the
status quo under at Islam's third holiest site, which Jews are
allowed to visit but where non-Muslim prayer is banned.
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Ali Sawafta in
Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
