Israeli Dies as Palestinian Attackers Stage Assaults in Jerusalem
By ISABEL KERSHNERJUNE 16, 2017
JERUSALEM — Three Palestinian men armed with knives
and a improvised submachine gun carried out nearly simultaneous attacks in two locations outside the walls of the Old City in East Jerusalem on Friday, killing an Israeli border police officer as dusk was falling and the daily Ramadan fast was drawing to a close.
In an unusual gesture, the Israeli authorities said they had allowed Palestinian women
and children to travel directly from their homes in the West Bank to the Old City of Jerusalem on Palestinian buses, passing through the Israeli checkpoints without having to transfer onto Israeli buses.
After the attacks on Friday evening, the Jerusalem District police chief, Yoram Halevy, said the authorities
would consider whether to tighten access for Palestinians from the West Bank during Ramadan.
The police said that 180,000 Muslim worshipers had attended noon prayer at Al Aqsa Mosque
in the Old City on Friday, the third Friday of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Malka was stabbed by one assailant just outside the Damascus Gate, a bustling entrance to the Old City.
The three perpetrators were about 18 or 19 and were residents of the Ramallah area
of the West Bank, according to Shin Bet, the Israeli general security service.
Roads leading to the Old City were closed to ordinary traffic for much of Friday to ease the passage of busloads of worshipers.