Palestinian suspected of car theft shot, lightly wounded in attack.
By YAAKOV KATZ
Two Border Policemen were wounded, one seriously, Sunday night after they were stabbed by a Palestinian car thief on the Gush Etzion Tunnel Road south of Jerusalem. The other policeman sustained moderate wounds.
Police said the policemen were involved in an anti-car theft operation and that when they pulled over the Palestinian, he pulled out a knife, stabbed them and tried to flee. Fellow policemen opened fire at the suspect and he was injured in the leg.
The policemen were evacuated to Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Karem in Jerusalem where they were treated for their wounds.
Police initially suspected the stabbing was a terror attack after the Tunnel Road has become a recent target by Palestinian terrorists who opened fire last week on a hitchhiking post there killing three young Israelis. Following a short investigation, police announced that the circumstances indicated the stabbing was criminally and not nationalistically motivated.
Police noted that the Gush Etzion settlement bloc and the southern Hebron Hills area have turned into a favored spot for Palestinian terrorists and criminals due to the delay in the construction of the security barrier in southern Israel.
Police have been on high alert since the beginning of the Succot holiday in the area and last week following the shooting attack imposed restrictions on Palestinian drivers in the West Bank.