BICOM

A Jewish Israeli man was stabbed yesterday in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank by a Palestinian woman from a nearby town.

The victim, 31-year-old Yehoshua Lorch was lightly injured in the attack. He had bent over to speak to a driver when he was stabbed in the back by 20-year-old Amal Takatka from Beit Fajar. She was shot by security forces at the scene and evacuated to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem where she was said to be in serious condition. The Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported that Takatka is affiliated to the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Speaking during a press conference with his visiting Serbian counterpart, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the attack was an example of “how incitement leads to wanton acts of murderous violence,” pointing the finger at Abbas and other Palestinian leaders. Netanyahu added, “Peace demands that the Palestinian leadership … cease all incitement against Israel and the Jewish people.”

Yesterday’s stabbing took place at the same junction where last month an Israeli woman, Dalia Lemkus, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian man who also drove his vehicle into three soldiers. It is also the same spot from where three Israeli teens were kidnapped in June and later killed.

Following yesterday’s incident, clashes broke out in Beit Fajar as Israeli security forces converged on Amal Takatka’s home to question family members. Ma’an reports that her father was arrested. During the disturbances, police used tear gas to disperse rioters. Also yesterday, Border Police arrested an 18-year-old Palestinian carrying a knife at the Tapuah junction in the West Bank and in the evening stones were thrown at an Israeli bus on Route 60 between Ofra and Shiloh, also in the West Bank.

During the past several months, tensions have simmered in the West Bank while violence has taken root in Jerusalem where a number of deadly incidents have taken place in recent weeks.