3 years later, Palestinian arrested for attacking cop

Nearly three years after a police officer was wounded in a stabbing attack in the central West Bank, security forces arrested a Palestinian man believed to have committed the crime, Israeli officials announced Monday.

On December 23, 2013, the 30-year-old officer was directing traffic outside the Adam settlement, north of Jerusalem, when he was attacked and moderately wounded. The assailant fled the scene, leaving the knife buried in the officer’s back.

The police and IDF searched the area for the attacker, but were unable to locate him — until now, according to the Shin Bet security service.

On July 19, Israeli forces arrested Mehmed Younis Ali Abu-Hanak, 21, in his hometown of al-Abidiya, outside of Bethlehem.

During his interrogation, Abu-Hanak admitted to carrying out the attack, saying he’d done so “out of a desire to end his difficult life,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.

On the day of the attack, Abu-Hanak bought a kitchen knife and hid it inside his jacket. With his newly purchased weapon, he traveled south from Ramallah toward Bethlehem in a taxicab, looking for a place to carry out the stabbing, according to the Shin Bet.

“When he saw an officer standing in the road, in a traffic circle near Jaba” — a Palestinian village southwest of Jerusalem — “he decided to carry out his plot. He exited the cab, approached the police officer and stabbed him once in the back. Afterwards, he fled the scene,” the security service said.

Police at the time said Abu-Hanak ran to Jaba, where officers lost his trail.

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“The Shin Bet security service will work — with all the resources in its possession — to thwart terror attacks and bring perpetrators to justice, even after time has passed since the attack was committed,” the agency said.

The case has been handed over to the Military Advocate General and an indictment is expected to be filed “in the coming days,” it said.