Ramallah: Four Israelis and three Palestinians were pronounced dead on scenes of three separate stabbing, shooting and running over attacks in occupied East Jerusalem and the 1948 areas in an unending string of violent days seen in the holy city, the West Bank and the 1948 areas.
In the first operation, two Palestinians from Jabal Al Mukaber neighbourhood of occupied Jersualem armed with a knife and a gun hijacked a town bus in the Israeli colony of Armon Hanatziv built on land of their neighbourhood. The Palestinian attackers Baha’a Alayan, 22 and Bilal Ghanem, 23, a former Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jail, got on the bus and forced the bus driver to leave his place following which he was replaced by Baha’a.
Activists from occupied East Jerusalem, who demanded not to be identified, said that the main purpose of the operation seemingly was hijacking the bus. “The other attacker sealed off the bus’s doors and windows and never harmed the passengers at the beginning,” said the sources. “An Israeli trucker passing by suspected something was amiss and brought his truck in the path of the bus.”
Ghanem got of the bus and tried to force the truck away, when the truck driver fled the scene and a huge number of Israeli forces arrived at the scene. Ghanem returned to the bus and, along with Alayan, attacked the passengers onboard. Two of the passengers died at the scene and several others sustained serious-to-moderate injuries before Israeli occupation forces killed both Palestinianattackers.
In another incident, a Palestinian from Jabal Al Mukaber of occupied East Jerusalem ran over a group of colonists in bus station in an Ashkenazi neighbourhood of occupied West Jerusalem. The sources said the attacker, Ala’a Abu Jamal, an employee of the Israeli Telecommunication Company, Basic, stepped out of his car and stabbed several Israelis. The sources stressed that it was difficult for the Israelis to get Abu Jamal under control. An Israeli colonist sprayed a huge quantity of gas on his face and later colonists and police executed him.
Sources said that two Israelis were pronounced dead at the scene and others were hospitalised.
In Raanana, central Israel, a Palestinian from occupied East Jerusalem stabbed at least four Israelis in a bus station before he was arrested; he was also badly beaten by passersby. The Israelis refused to reveal his identity, but announced he was a 22-year-old Palestinian from the holy city. Residents of occupied East Jerusalem said the identity of the attacker will be announced shortly.
Sources said that Jerusalemites have reacted in revenge and frustration after the Israeli killing of Mustafa Al Khatib, 18 and the shooting of a 15-year-old school girlby Israeli police officers. “The Israeli occupation forces have a licence to kill Palestinians and violence will only create more violence,” said the sources. “Political initiatives are urgently needed to calm the public and put an end to the escalating tension in the Occupied Territories.
“The politicians have initiated this violence and only they can stop it completely, but the Israeli politicians have not yet come to this conclusion. They want more Palestinian bloodshed,” the sources said.
