Knife attacks by Palestinians on Israelis have police scratching their heads.
Not because bloodshed is something new in the Middle East, but because the method is a shockingly old-school way of spreading terror.
And the people carrying out the attacks are young, often teenagers.
Some experts on the Middle East have theorized that young people are being radicalized online and are acting as so-called lone wolves.
These random, unpredictable attacks have stumped Israeli police.
Authorities cannot seem to come up with any link between these attackers and organized groups such as Hamas or Fatah, or Islamic Jihad.
Without a militant group to link them to, police are having a difficult time devising a streamlined strategy to fight them.
Setting up checkpoints
One strategy being tried is checkpoints.
Israeli forces have shut down access to some Palestinian neighborhoods in east Jerusalem by setting up checkpoints and putting more police on the streets.
“These police actions and operations are intended to fairly respond to the wave of terror and knifing, within the framework of trying to return law and order to all citizens of the state,” police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
In addition to cordoning off some Palestinian neighborhoods, Israeli authorities under recently approved security measures can demolish the homes of attackers, according to a statement from the Israeli government. There is a legal process that comes first, however, allowing homeowners to go before the Supreme Court of Israel. Forces cannot simply tear down homes without formal permission.
Safety in numbers
Israeli police will be getting plenty of help in trying to curb the violence in east Jerusalem and across the Palestinian territories. The military will be backing them up.
So will about 1,300 reserve border police officers who were called up by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Also an additional 300 more security guards will be recruited for duty on public transportation. Several recent attacks have taken place on buses or at bus stops.
“The Israeli police have heightened security over the last, in fact, 10 days. We’ve taken careful steps,” spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday. “Heightened security will continue.”
He also said all the steps “are being taken in order to make sure the situation stays under control and doesn’t get out of hand.”
Human Rights Watch condemned the new security measures.
“Locking down east Jerusalem neighborhoods will infringe upon the freedom of movement of all Palestinian residents rather than being a narrowly tailored response to a specific concern,” said Sari Bashi of Human Rights Watch.
“The recent spate of attacks on Israeli civilians would present a challenge for any police force. But exacerbating the punitive policy of home demolitions is an unlawful and ill-considered response.”
Abbas blames Israel
On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas struck a defiant tone in a televised speech.
“Peace and security will never be achieved unless there is an end to the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Abbas said.
“I hereby call on you, Palestinian people wherever you are, to stand together, to close ranks and be alert, to be aware of the Israeli plots to undermine our national mission,” he said.
Attack at the gates
Israeli police shot and killed a Palestinian man dressed in combat fatigues and armed with a knife on Wednesday, near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate Plaza.
Samri said the incident began when border police saw a man who seemed nervous and suspicious.
As officers approached him, Samri said, the man lunged at them with a knife. He was killed by other officers.
The Israel Security Agency identified the perpetrator as Basel Sider, 19, of the West Bank city of Hebron. He had no record, the agency said.
The incident was another violent episode near the gates of the Old City, sacred to three world religions.
Israeli police last Saturday killed two Palestinians who stabbed officers and others, authorities said. A 16-year-old Palestinian boy stabbed two Israelis about 150 yards from the entrance, police said.
The victims, 62 and 65, were slightly injured; police killed the attacker after he allegedly ran toward officers with the knife, authorities said. The assailant was identified as Ishak Badran of Jerusalem.
In other violence Wednesday, a 72-year-old woman was stabbed near Jerusalem’s central bus station, Samri told CNN. A police officer shot the attacker.
The nationality of the victim and the attacker are unclear as police continue to investigate, Samri said. The woman is being treated at a hospital, police told CNN. Authorities have not released the condition of the attacker.
