Arab gunmen kill 2 Israeli policemen at Jerusalem shrine
JERUSALEM — Arab assailants struck at ground zero of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Friday, opening fire from inside a major Jerusalem shrine and killing two Israeli policemen before being shot dead.
The rare attack from within the sacred site, revered by both Muslims and Jews, raised new concerns about an escalation of violence. The three attackers were Arab citizens of Israel, also a rarity in a rash of Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and soldiers that erupted about two years ago, in part over tensions at the holy site.
Jerusalem police commissioner Yoram Halevy said the attack was well planned: The assailants had obtained automatic weapons and stayed at the holy compound the night before.
He said they marked their targets in advance and after shooting them ran back inside the compound. “The entire incident began and ended” at the holy compound, he told Channel 10 TV.
After the violence, Israel closed the site — known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount — for further sweeps to make sure there were no more weapons there.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it would reopen gradually after security evaluations on Sunday.
Jordan, a custodian of the sacred compound, called for its immediate reopening to allow access to Muslim worshippers.
Netanyahu acted quickly to allay Muslim fears, saying that the status quo at the Muslimadministered site “will be preserved.”
After Friday’s attack, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said: “We cannot allow for agents of murder who desecrate the name of God, to drag us into a bloody war.”
A relative said the attackers were members of the Jabareen clan — two 19-year-olds and a 29-year-old.
The two slain policemen— Advanced Staff Sgt. Maj. Hael Sathawi, 30, and Advanced Staff Sgt. Maj. Kamil Shanan, 22, were members of Israel’s Druze community, followers of a secretive offshoot of Islam.
Shanan was a son of Shachiv Shanan, a former member of parliament for the Labor Party. Sathawi left a wife and a 3-weekold baby, police said.