JERUSALEM — Amid soaring tensions fueled by religious fervor and Palestinian anger over control of East Jerusalem, two drivers on Wednesday plowed their cars into Israelis in separate episodes, killing one police officer and injuring three soldiers.
The two episodes, in Jerusalem and the West Bank, have added to fears that a third intifada, or uprising, is taking shape as the latest crisis continues to reverberate beyond Israel’s borders. On Wednesday, Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel, saying the move was for consultations and to protest “violations” at the most sensitive holy site in Jerusalem.
The Israeli police labeled at least one of the crashes a terrorist attack, in which a Palestinian affiliated with Hamas rammed a van into pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing the police officer and injuring at least a dozen other people. In the second episode, in the West Bank, a car with Palestinian plates ran over the three soldiers in what the military suspects was another deliberate attack; the driver escaped
If the suspicions are correct, the episode would be the third time in two weeks that Palestinians used vehicles as weapons to harm Israelis.
The spike in tensions is tied to two of the most emotionally charged disagreements between Israelis and Palestinians: control of East Jerusalem and access to the religious compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Some nationalist Israelis have been pushing to be allowed to pray at the site.
Recent events have set off clashes at the sacred plateau, which is revered by Jews as the place where ancient Jewish temples once stood, and by Muslims as the site of Al Aksa Mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. Jordan’s decision to recall its ambassador came after the Islamic authorities at the site said that Israeli security forces had entered the mosque with their boots on, considered a grave insult, and then damaged the mosque doors, burned carpets and broken glass as they confronted protesters on Wednesday morning.
Jordan also urged the United Nations Security Council to hold Israel accountable for what it called violations against the mosque. The official custodian of Al Aksa compound, Jordan has been a crucial ally and cornerstone of Israel’s security since the two signed a peace treaty two decades ago.
Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Jordan’s recall of its ambassador would not help calm the atmosphere and that Israel expected Jordan to condemn the Palestinian violence.
Video filmed by the Israeli police showed masked Palestinians hurling rocks and firecrackers at the police from inside Al Aksa Mosque, in an apparent effort to prevent Jewish visitors from entering the compound after some Israelis had called for prayers there on Wednesday.
The police could be seen just inside the mosque, removing furniture that the protesters had used as barricades in order to close the door. A police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said that the police had used stun grenades but denied that they had gone deeply into the mosque.
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Jordan was already incensed that Israel had closed the site to all worshipers one day last week for the first time in years. Israel said it had taken the step to prevent more violence after an Israeli counterterrorism unit killed a Palestinian suspected in an assassination attempt against a prominent American-born Israeli activist, Yehuda Glick, a leader of the movement challenging the ban on Jewish prayer inside the compound. (Israel, which is in charge of security there, has banned non-Muslim prayer for years to avoid provocations.)
Supporters of Mr. Glick, who was severely wounded in the assassination attempt, had called for Jews to pray for his recovery at the holy site on Wednesday.
Mohammad al-Momani, the Jordanian government spokesman, said Israel must maintain the status quo and not allow “extremists” into the compound to “practice religious practices that are provocative to Muslims.” Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, said Israel was “inciting a holy war in Palestine and throughout the region, with global ramifications.”
The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations said the Palestinian Authority had written to the Security Council to request that it take action on the tensions at the mosque.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who says it is the Palestinian leadership that is inciting the violence, has repeatedly said he will not allow any change to the status quo at the site — neither allowing Jews to pray there nor preventing them from visiting.
Israel seized the compound from Jordan in the 1967 war along with the rest of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel then annexed East Jerusalem in a move that was never internationally recognized. Tensions over East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future independent state, rose again last week when Mr. Netanyahu announced that Israel would fast-track planning for 1,060 new apartments in populous Jewish neighborhoods there.
In the vehicle attack Wednesday in Jerusalem, the driver, identified as a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, was shot dead by border police officers after he got out of his van and tried to attack officers and bystanders with an iron bar. The border policeman killed was identified as Jidaan Asad, 38, from a Druse village in northern Israel.
Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the assault, calling it an “atrocity.” He added, “The confrontation at the Al Aksa Mosque is also of particular concern where reports of damage are deeply disturbing.”
The latest attack was strikingly similar to one on Oct. 22, when another Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem swerved off the same main road into a light-rail station, killing a 3-month-old American-Israeli baby and a young woman from Ecuador.
Israeli security officials identified the driver in Wednesday’s attack as Ibrahim Akari, a married father of five and a low-level Hamas activist. Ynet, an Israeli news site, quoted Mr. Akari’s wife as saying he had been upset by reports of what was happening at the mosque before he left the house Wednesday morning.
Mr. Akari’s brother, Musa Akari, was convicted of involvement in the capture and killing of an Israeli border policeman in the 1990s, the security officials said.
Leaders of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that dominates Gaza, praised the latest attack without directly taking responsibility for it. “We believe it is a natural reaction to Israel’s crimes,” said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, in a phone interview.
Israel has accused the more moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank of inciting violence. Israeli leaders condemned President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority for sending a letter of condolence to the family of Mu’atez Hijazi, the man suspected of attacking Mr. Glick. The letter described Mr. Hijazi as a “martyr who defended the rights of our Palestinian people.”
The police said Mr. Hijazi was shot after he opened fire on the forces who came to arrest him.
Citing the condolence letter, Mr. Netanyahu said that Wednesday’s attack was “a direct result of the incitement of Abu Mazen and his partners in Hamas,” referring to Mr. Abbas by his nickname and to the unity government he recently formed with the backing of Hamas.
Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian political columnist, said in an interview that Jordan’s decision to recall its ambassador was meant “to send a clear message not only to the Israeli government but to the Israeli public and right-wing extremist groups that for the Jordanian government and the king himself, Al Aksa is the red line.”
Efraim Halevy, a former chief of the Mossad, who, as the deputy chief, was a secret envoy of Israeli leaders to the father of the current Jordanian king, said “the pressure in Jordan concerning Al Aksa must be rising.”
“Everything is symbolic in this part of the world,” he said, “and this is a very sensitive moment in the history of the Middle East.”
The two episodes, in Jerusalem and the West Bank, have added to fears that a third intifada, or uprising, is taking shape as the latest crisis continues to reverberate beyond Israel’s borders. On Wednesday, Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel, saying the move was for consultations and to protest “violations” at the most sensitive holy site in Jerusalem.
The Israeli police labeled at least one of the crashes a terrorist attack, in which a Palestinian affiliated with Hamas rammed a van into pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing the police officer and injuring at least a dozen other people. In the second episode, in the West Bank, a car with Palestinian plates ran over the three soldiers in what the military suspects was another deliberate attack; the driver escaped
If the suspicions are correct, the episode would be the third time in two weeks that Palestinians used vehicles as weapons to harm Israelis.
The spike in tensions is tied to two of the most emotionally charged disagreements between Israelis and Palestinians: control of East Jerusalem and access to the religious compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Some nationalist Israelis have been pushing to be allowed to pray at the site.
Recent events have set off clashes at the sacred plateau, which is revered by Jews as the place where ancient Jewish temples once stood, and by Muslims as the site of Al Aksa Mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock. Jordan’s decision to recall its ambassador came after the Islamic authorities at the site said that Israeli security forces had entered the mosque with their boots on, considered a grave insult, and then damaged the mosque doors, burned carpets and broken glass as they confronted protesters on Wednesday morning.
Jordan also urged the United Nations Security Council to hold Israel accountable for what it called violations against the mosque. The official custodian of Al Aksa compound, Jordan has been a crucial ally and cornerstone of Israel’s security since the two signed a peace treaty two decades ago.
Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement that Jordan’s recall of its ambassador would not help calm the atmosphere and that Israel expected Jordan to condemn the Palestinian violence.
Video filmed by the Israeli police showed masked Palestinians hurling rocks and firecrackers at the police from inside Al Aksa Mosque, in an apparent effort to prevent Jewish visitors from entering the compound after some Israelis had called for prayers there on Wednesday.
The police could be seen just inside the mosque, removing furniture that the protesters had used as barricades in order to close the door. A police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said that the police had used stun grenades but denied that they had gone deeply into the mosque.
Continue reading the main story
Jordan was already incensed that Israel had closed the site to all worshipers one day last week for the first time in years. Israel said it had taken the step to prevent more violence after an Israeli counterterrorism unit killed a Palestinian suspected in an assassination attempt against a prominent American-born Israeli activist, Yehuda Glick, a leader of the movement challenging the ban on Jewish prayer inside the compound. (Israel, which is in charge of security there, has banned non-Muslim prayer for years to avoid provocations.)
Supporters of Mr. Glick, who was severely wounded in the assassination attempt, had called for Jews to pray for his recovery at the holy site on Wednesday.
Mohammad al-Momani, the Jordanian government spokesman, said Israel must maintain the status quo and not allow “extremists” into the compound to “practice religious practices that are provocative to Muslims.” Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, said Israel was “inciting a holy war in Palestine and throughout the region, with global ramifications.”
The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations said the Palestinian Authority had written to the Security Council to request that it take action on the tensions at the mosque.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who says it is the Palestinian leadership that is inciting the violence, has repeatedly said he will not allow any change to the status quo at the site — neither allowing Jews to pray there nor preventing them from visiting.
Israel seized the compound from Jordan in the 1967 war along with the rest of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel then annexed East Jerusalem in a move that was never internationally recognized. Tensions over East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital of a future independent state, rose again last week when Mr. Netanyahu announced that Israel would fast-track planning for 1,060 new apartments in populous Jewish neighborhoods there.
In the vehicle attack Wednesday in Jerusalem, the driver, identified as a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem, was shot dead by border police officers after he got out of his van and tried to attack officers and bystanders with an iron bar. The border policeman killed was identified as Jidaan Asad, 38, from a Druse village in northern Israel.
Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the assault, calling it an “atrocity.” He added, “The confrontation at the Al Aksa Mosque is also of particular concern where reports of damage are deeply disturbing.”
The latest attack was strikingly similar to one on Oct. 22, when another Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem swerved off the same main road into a light-rail station, killing a 3-month-old American-Israeli baby and a young woman from Ecuador.
Israeli security officials identified the driver in Wednesday’s attack as Ibrahim Akari, a married father of five and a low-level Hamas activist. Ynet, an Israeli news site, quoted Mr. Akari’s wife as saying he had been upset by reports of what was happening at the mosque before he left the house Wednesday morning.
Mr. Akari’s brother, Musa Akari, was convicted of involvement in the capture and killing of an Israeli border policeman in the 1990s, the security officials said.
Leaders of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that dominates Gaza, praised the latest attack without directly taking responsibility for it. “We believe it is a natural reaction to Israel’s crimes,” said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, in a phone interview.
Israel has accused the more moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank of inciting violence. Israeli leaders condemned President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority for sending a letter of condolence to the family of Mu’atez Hijazi, the man suspected of attacking Mr. Glick. The letter described Mr. Hijazi as a “martyr who defended the rights of our Palestinian people.”
The police said Mr. Hijazi was shot after he opened fire on the forces who came to arrest him.
Citing the condolence letter, Mr. Netanyahu said that Wednesday’s attack was “a direct result of the incitement of Abu Mazen and his partners in Hamas,” referring to Mr. Abbas by his nickname and to the unity government he recently formed with the backing of Hamas.
Daoud Kuttab, a Palestinian political columnist, said in an interview that Jordan’s decision to recall its ambassador was meant “to send a clear message not only to the Israeli government but to the Israeli public and right-wing extremist groups that for the Jordanian government and the king himself, Al Aksa is the red line.”
Efraim Halevy, a former chief of the Mossad, who, as the deputy chief, was a secret envoy of Israeli leaders to the father of the current Jordanian king, said “the pressure in Jordan concerning Al Aksa must be rising.”
“Everything is symbolic in this part of the world,” he said, “and this is a very sensitive moment in the history of the Middle East.”
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