Israel-Palestinian violence escalates in 2nd Jerusalem attack
A 13-year-old Palestinian shot and injured two people in east Jerusalem less than a day after another gunman killed seven Israelis outside a synagogue, fueling concern about further attacks in one of the bloodiest months in years in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The latest shooting carried out Saturday, just outside Jerusalem’s walled Old City, wounded a 47year-old man and his 23-year-old son, police said. The young shooter, who hid behind a car to fire on passersby en route to visit the Kotel, a Jewish shrine in the Old City, was shot and seriously wounded by armed civilians. He was evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital for treatment.
“Unfortunately, terrorist organizations are encouraging and inciting children to be involved in terror attacks against Israeli civilians,” a police statement said.
The round of violence began Thursday when Israeli soldiers in the Jenin area of the West Bank clashed with Palestinian gunmen, killing nine. A 10th person later died in a separate incident. The tensions escalated just days before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to arrive with plans to meet both with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his new Israeli government and Palestinian leaders.
Police reinforced their presence in Jerusalem and a national counterterrorism unit took up permanent position in the city.
The Friday attack, which culminated in the killing of the 21-year-old Palestinian from an east Jerusalem neighborhood, sparked exceptional outrage since the dead were worshipers leaving Sabbath prayers. While no group claimed responsibility, in the Gaza Strip, the Islamic Hamas movement celebrated by firing into the air, and in the West Bank cars honked and fireworks were set off.
Before the second shooting Saturday, security forces had arrested 42 people associated with the 21-year-old Palestinian shooter – his family members, neighbors and friends, police said.
President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu late on Friday and offered his support to the government and people of Israel. “The President made clear that this was an attack against the civilized world,” the White House said in a readout of the call.
German Chancellor
Olaf Scholtz tweeted on Saturday that he was appalled by “the terrible assassinations in Jerusalem and the European Union published a statement saying it was “horrified” by the two attacks in the city that Israel has named its capital. “These terrible events demonstrate once again how urgent it is to reverse this spiral of violence,” the statement said.
Fatah, the main branch of the Palestine Liberation Movement, said that the Palestinian people “are not helpless” and called the Friday attack the “inevitable result” of the Israeli occupation’s latest actions.
Hamas, which runs Gaza, had warned Thursday that Israel would “pay the price for the massacre” in Jenin. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the
Palestinian government body, cut security ties with Israel, something he’s done in the past for brief periods.
“The situation is headed for a wider confrontation,” said Jehad Harb, a researcher at the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. End of security ties “will push the youth into more confrontation with the Israeli side.”
The policies Netanyahu’s coalition is planning to adopt are bound to make it harder to calm tensions. These changes include easing open-fire rules for some security forces and expanding construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a territory which is part of the area the Palestinians seek for their independent state.
And for Israel’s, the violence only adds to problems of social unrest. Tens of thousands of Israelis are expected to rally on Saturday to protest an overhaul of the justice system his coalition is planning that opponents view as undemocratic and a potential blow to the economy.