IDF arrests 3 Palestinians with knives

One intended to stab an IDF soldier in order to avenge his brother's death.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
idf 88 (photo credit: )
idf 88
(photo credit: )
Three Palestinian youths carrying knives were arrested Saturday evening after they tried to enter Israel at checkpoint 300, south of Jerusalem. An initial investigation revealed that one of the three intended to stab a soldier, in order to avenge his brother, who was killed by IDF troops, Army Radio reported. On Friday, in separate incidents, security forces arrested three Palestinian youths caught with a pipe bomb and knives. In the first incident, two Palestinians were arrested at a checkpoint near El Khader west of Bethlehem after soldiers found a pipe bomb in their possession, as well as a knife and a bag containing an unidentified powder. At the Hawara checkpoint south of Nablus, a 17-year-old Palestinian was caught attempting to smuggle a knife through the checkpoint. On Friday afternoon, an Israeli motorist was lightly wounded from stones thrown at his car near Hebron. He was taken to hospital in Jerusalem. In the evening, a Palestinian youth was arrested near El Khader after he was caught red- handed throwing a firebomb at Israeli cars on Road 60. Near the site, shortly after, five Palestinians were arrested for throwing stones. In the South, Palestinians fired three Kassam rockets from northern Gaza. Soldiers searching the area were unable to determine the site where the rockets fell. However, the army said two are believed to have fallen near the north Gaza security fence. No one was wounded in any of the attacks, but IDF artillery units deployed near the Gaza security fence shelled launching sites in northern Gaza in response. Elsewhere, for the second time in less than a week, unknown vandals daubed the wall of the Nebe Elias mosque east of Kalkilya with the words "Mohammed the Pig." The offensive graffiti was discovered by a Palestinian resident who arrived at the mosque to participate in early morning prayers. Members of the Civil Administration together with soldiers reached the site and erased the graffiti, which had been spray-painted on the wall in blue. The incident sparked a series of violent protests in the West Bank with severe clashes erupting in Azoun east of Kalkilya as well as in Hebron. Palestinian youth threw stones and bottles at soldiers who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. Unlike the previous incident, there was no mention of the occurrence in the Palestinian media. Last Sunday, security forces erased graffiti calling the Prophet Mohammed a pig that had been written next to a Star of David, daubed in red paint on the mosque's exterior wall. Village locals told reporters that an Israeli car was spotted near the mosque in the early morning hours, and a settler got out and painted the mosque walls and left the area. At the time, Judea and Samaria police launched an investigation but have so far failed to nab any suspects.