Special to WorldTribune.com
Israel has blocked off Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem for the first time since 1967 after a wave of attacks linked to Hamas.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and police were ordered to impose a siege on neighborhoods in east Jerusalem that are dominated by Hamas.
In the past month, eight Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks, most of them stabbings.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Oct. 15 said he was “perfectly open” to meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in order to end weeks of Israeli-Palestinian unrest that has been exacerbated by a false claim by Abbas that Israel had executed a 13-year-old Palestinian boy.
Meeting with Abbas is “potentially useful because it might stop the wave of incitement and false allegations against Israel,” Netanyahu said. “I’d be open to meeting with Arab leaders and the Palestinian leadership in order to stop this incitement and set the record straight.”
The Palestinian boy who Abbas was referring to was allegedly run over by an Israeli vehicle after he and his cousin had stabbed an Israeli boy. Abbas claimed during a speech that was broadcast live on Oct. 14 that Israel is engaged in the “summary execution of our children in cold blood” and falsely claimed that 13-year-old Ahmed Manasra was among those killed.
On Oct. 12, Ahmed and his 15-year-old cousin Hassan stabbed and seriously wounded two Israelis, including a 13-year-old boy, in Jerusalem. Hassan was shot dead by police while Ahmed was struck by a car after the attack.
Israel’s Hadassah Hospital, which is treating Ahmed, said on Oct. 13 that “in stark contrast to circulating rumors,” he was stable and “fully conscious.”
“He tried to kill and murder,” Netanyahu said of the boy. “But the complete opposite is presented in a twisted way.”
Israel seals off East Jerusalem for first time since 1967 added by World Tribune on
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