A suspected Palestinian motorist on Friday rammed his car into several people near a Jerusalem police station before being shot by a security guard.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri described Friday’s assault as a “terrorist attack.” She said four of the five people injured in the attack were police officers. Two of the injured policewomen were in moderate condition and the others were lightly wounded. They were evacuated to local hospitals in the city.
Samri said that according to initial reports, the motorist was a Palestinian from eastern Jerusalem. The attack took place near a police station in that part of the city. The spokeswoman said the motorist got out of his car holding a knife, and a security guard shot and seriously wounded him.
Last October and November, there was a spate of similar attacks, with Palestinian drivers ramming their vehicles into people waiting at the city's light-railway stops. Three people were killed and a dozen wounded in these attacks.
Palestinians halt security cooperation with Israel
On Thursday, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) led by Mahmoud Abbas agreed to suspend security coordination with Israel in the West Bank. The Palestinians consider the eastern part of Jerusalem, which Israel conquered in 1967 and has since annexed, as part of a future Palestinian state.
The PLO Central Council, whose votes are usually binding on the Palestinian Authority, said it had made the decision because Israel had breached bilateral agreements, including by withholding tax revenues it collects on behalf of the Palestinians.
"Security coordination in all its forms with the authority of the Israeli occupation will be stopped in the light of its (Israel's) non-compliance with the agreements signed between the two sides," said a statement, adding that Israel "should shoulder all its responsibilities toward the Palestinian people in the occupied state of Palestine as an occupation authority according to international law.”
