Stabbing in Tel Aviv Leaves 12 Injured, Three in Critical Condition
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TEL AVIV, January 21, 2015 (WAFA - Official PLO news agency) – About 12
Israelis were injured Wednesday in a stabbing incident that took place on a
public bus in the center of Tel Aviv, with three of those injured reportedly
in a critical condition, said Israeli media sources.

The stabbing comes only two days after a Palestinian Bedouin man was killed
on Sunday during the funeral for another man shot dead last week by Israeli
forces in southern Israel. Police then fired heavy tear gas canisters toward
the mourners, killing Sami al-Zidaneh, 42, as a result of excessive tear gas
inhalation. A large number of mourners also suffered from tear gas
suffocation and were treated at a nearby local clinic.

Local media reported that Sami Khalid al-Jaar, a young man in his 20s from
Rahat, was shot dead by Israeli police while standing on the patio of his
home as clashes between police and local youths in the neighborhood.

Haaretz newspaper said a 23-year-old male from the West Bank city of
Tulkarem who entered Israel illegally, was shot in the leg by a Prison
Service officer on Hamasger Street, near the scene of the incident.

The Anadolu News Agency reported on an anonymous Palestinian security source
identifying the young Palestinian as Hamzeh Mohammad Hasan Matrouk, who was
born in Tulkram and lived in Ramallah.

Matrouk reportedly attacked Israelis on Bus number 40 on Menachem Begin Road
in Tel Aviv. Haaretz said the preliminary investigation shows that he
“boarded the bus at the Old Central Bus Station, a short distance from the
scene of the attack. After the bus passed two stops and more passengers got
on, the attacker took out a knife and started stabbing people.”

Conflicting reports emerged on the actual number of those injured during the
operation. According to Haaretz, three Israelis were moderately wounded, and
five of the casualties were in light condition, according to Magen David
Adom emergency services. Meanwhile, Israel Radio said 15 were injured with
five Israelis suffering serious injuries.

Matrouk is now in hospital waiting to be transferred to the West Bank to be
brought to trial at the illegal settlement of Ariel near the city of Salfit.
He will be tried in a military court in the occupied West Bank, because the
knife was bought in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Palestinian Authority
of “venomous incitement against the Jews and their state.”

On his part, the Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman
accused President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, and Chairman
of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel Raed Saleh, Members
of Knesset Haneen Zoabi, Ahmed Tibi of being behind the attack.

Lieberman linked the stabbing to the protests in Rahat, saying that “those
behind the attack stand behind the Rahat riots.”

The killing of the two youths in Rahat did lead to a general strike which
was described to have “paralyzed the city of Rahat and all major Bedouin
villages in the Negev Desert of southern Israel.”

The ongoing violations, killings and arrests in the West Bank, the Gaza
Strip and East Jerusalem are all increasing the sense of frustration and
suffocating any hope for peace and a fair solution to the ongoing
Palestinian plight.

It is only very recently that Palestinians were denied an independent state
of their own at the United Nations Security Council. Israel also froze the
tax revenues of the Palestinian Authority, paralyzing its already fragile
economy and leaving thousands of civil servant employees in dire need as
they wait their salary which barely provides them their basic needs.

As well as the deteriorating financial obstacles, the Israeli disrespect f
Palestinians right to a decent life is also increasing the sense of
injustice and driving many Palestinian to take extreme measures to seek
justice.

Media reports stated that the Israeli forces “has killed 19 Palestinians in
the first 81 days of 2014 — an average of one Palestinian every 4.26 days.”

During the aggression on Gaza alone, over 2,200 Palestinians, mostly women,
children, elderly and unarmed youth were killed; while 100,000 others were
left homeless as their homes got destroyed during the lethal strikes.

According to the Defence for Children International Palestine, “The average
number of children held in Israeli military detention stood at 197 per
month, largely unchanged from the 2013 figure of 199 per month.”

The Committee of Detainees and ex-Detainees reported that there are
currently over 6,000 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons, 500 of which
are under administrative detention and 18 of those are members of the
legislative council.

The attacks include those committed daily by Israeli settlers in the West
Bank against unarmed and vulnerable Palestinians.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) confirmed that the Israeli
forces' cover-up of settlers' attacks and even support and protection for
them encourage settlers to continue their systematic attacks against the
Palestinian civilians.

The tension in the territory skyrocketed specially since the gruesome death
of teenager Mohammad Abu Khdeir who was burned alive by Israeli settlers in
East Jerusalem, after which a series of attacks by Israeli settlers and
reprisals from Palestinians has been exchanged on regular basis.

M.H