Four female Israeli border police officers and a bystander have been injured by a Palestinian driver on the dividing line between Jewish west and Arab east Jerusalem.
The 21-year-old assailant, a resident of the Palestinian east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Ras al-Amud, rammed his vehicle into a group of border police yesterday morning before being shot and critically wounded by a security guard after he emerged from his car carrying a butcher’s knife close to a light rail stop.
Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups praised the attack but it appears the assailant acted independently. Police said it was difficult to prevent attacks carried out by "lone wolf" assailants.
According to police the man had no previous record for security-related offences. Neighbours said he was a known criminal and members of his extended family had been arrested in the past on suspicion of inciting riots.
"The swift and determined response stopped the attack as it was beginning and prevented more innocents from being injured," said Moshe Edri, Jerusalem's police commander.
This was the third vehicular assault in Jerusalem in six months. In October, a Palestinian resident of east Jerusalem drove his car into a crowded light rail stop, killing a three-month-old baby and wounding eight people. The driver was shot and killed at the scene.
In November, a Palestinian linked to Hamas rammed a minivan into a light rail stop and then attacked people with an iron bar, killing one person before being shot dead by police.
Jerusalem has been relatively quiet over the last few months but last week city mayor Nir Barkat and his bodyguard helped to apprehend an 18-year-old Palestinian after he stabbed an Israeli opposite the Old City walls.
After yesterday’s attack Mr Barkat ordered celebrations to continue as planned as tens of thousands of Jewish residents of the capital marked the festival of Purim.
“We will not allow terrorism to disrupt our daily lives and we will continue to fight it without compromise,” he said.
Tax revenue strife
The attack came a day after the Palestinian leadership said it would end security co-operation with
Israel
in the West Bank.
Israeli officials said thus far there had been no change in the government's security co-ordination with the Palestinians. They understood the recommendation of the central council of the Palestine Liberation Organisation to be non-binding. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas must issue a presidential order if he decides to act on it.
The PLO central council decided to protest against Israel's decision to withhold tax revenues, collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, after the Palestinians decided to join the international criminal court in The Hague last month.
