Israeli police kill Palestinian man
JERUSALEM: A man allegedly tried to stab an Israeli police officer yesterday near Jerusalem’s Old City and was killed, a police spokeswoman said. “Police officers spotted a man who aroused their suspicions and approached him to check,” she said. “The terrorist pulled out a knife and tried to stab the policeman and was quickly killed by police gunfire.” The Palestinian health ministry in the occupied West Bank indicated that the dead man was a Palestinian whose identity was not yet known.
A wave of violence since the start of October has claimed the lives of 132 people on the Palestinian side, 19 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean. Many of the Palestinians killed have been attackers while others have been shot dead by Israeli security forces during clashes. On Friday, Israeli border guards shot dead a Palestinian woman who tried to ram a car into them in the West Bank, shortly after a Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli forces near the border with the Gaza Strip.
A number of Palestinians have attempted attacks with kitchen knives in what some analysts have described as virtual suicide missions. Palestinians have grown frustrated with Israel’s occupation, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership. Pope Francis, the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, used his traditional Christmas Day address to urge Israelis and Palestinians to resume “direct dialogue”, saying the conflict had “serious repercussions” on the Middle East. USbacked peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel collapsed in April 2014 after nine months of fruitless meetings amid bitter recriminations and mutual blame. — AFP