Arab stabbed to death; police arrest 2 Jews

24-year-old was killed in a fight between Jews and Arabs in a popular hangout area in downtown Jerusalem.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
crime scene (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [illustrative])
crime scene
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [illustrative])
A 24-year-old Arab man was stabbed to death on Friday night in Jerusalem when a fight broke out between Jews and Arabs in downtown Jerusalem, in a popular hangout area known as Kikar Hatulot [Cat Square] at the end of Hillel Street. Two other Arab men were lightly wounded in the fight, which broke out around 2:00 a.m.
Police arrived on the scene and quickly arrested two Jewish men in connection with the murder, said Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby.
RELATED:Haifa man arrested on suspicion of killing neighbor
They suspect alcohol was involved, but have placed a media blackout on all details of the investigation.
Ben-Ruby said that police regularly conduct patrols in the area, which has been the site of criminal activity in the past, but that the fight broke out “in a matter of seconds.” Police did arrive at the square in time to arrest the two suspects at the scene of the crime.
This is the second murder at Kikar Hatulot in six months. In late August, an American-Israeli man named Lance Wolf was murdered after he refused to give a cigarette to two teenagers in the square. The two, who had allegedly been drinking vodka purchased at a kiosk in the area, hit him over the head with a wooden plank and fled the scene, and Wolf bled to death. The two teenagers were later charged with manslaughter.
The murder victim on Friday was a resident of Kfar Akeb, an Arab village located northeast of Jerusalem. The two suspects will be held in detention until at least Thursday.