An American student studying in Jerusalem was attacked and moderately wounded early Sunday morning by three Arab teens after he got lost in east Jerusalem, police and rescue officials said.
The 19-year-old Jewish student, who is studying on "The Israel Experience" program, told police that he was assaulted by three Arab teens on his way back to Hebrew University's Mount Scopus dorms after visiting a friend in the city, Jerusalem police spokesman Asi Aharoni said.
The student, who was slashed in the neck and cheek with a utility knife, said that he was attacked by the three after he asked them in Hebrew how to get back to the university, Aharoni said.
The student, who managed to escape his attackers, made his way to a nearby gas station, and was rushed by Magen David Adom medics to Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.
A Magen David Adom paramedic said that the student was lucky that the attackers did not hit a blood vessel or his situation would have been much worse.
The 1:00 a.m attack took place in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras el-Amud outside the walled Old City of Jerusalem, the police said.
It was not immediately clear how the student ended up in an Arab area which is not near the university. The student would not talk to a reporter at the hospital on Sunday.
The assailants in the night-time attack remain at large.
The student was expected to give police a full report on the attack later Sunday.
The name of the student, who is from Washington DC, was not immediately released since his parents who are in the US have not been notified of the attack.
