Army readies home of Old City terrorist for demolition

Israeli security forces early Monday prepared the home of a Palestinian terrorist for demolition, following the fatal stabbing of an Israeli man in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday.

The mapping of 28-year-old Abd al-Rahman Bani Fadel’s home was carried out by the military, Shin Bet security agency, and Border Police, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The army said soldiers also questioned family members of Fadel, a father of two from the northern West Bank village of Aqraba, who was shot dead by police during Sunday’s deadly terror attack.

The victim was named as Adiel Kolman, a 32-year-old father of four from the Kochav Hashachar settlement.

Kolman was initially identified as a security guard in the Old City. However, friends later said he had worked in the archaeological digs at the City of David for the last five years.

Kolman’s funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Monday in Kochav Hashachar.

Shortly before 5 p.m. on Sunday, Fadel walked up to Kolman on Hagai Street and stabbed him repeatedly in the upper body, critically wounding him. The assailant was said to have spoken to a number of vendors in the Old City’s Muslim Quarter before carrying out the attack.

The terrorist then fled the scene, but was spotted by nearby police officers, who opened fire, fatally wounding him.

Medics rushed into the stone alleyways of the Old City in order to reach Kolman. Due to the narrowness of the passageways, the victim was taken out of the area on a buggy, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said. He was treated at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, but died of his wounds several hours later.

Hours after the attack, the Shin Bet security service revealed that Fadel had entered Israel with a five-day permit that allowed him into the city to look for work.

The Palestinian resident of Aqraba, near the West Bank city of Nablus, did not have known ties to any Palestinian terrorist organization — if he had, he would not have received the work permit — but, in light of the attack, the Shin Bet said it was re-investigating the issue.

Once common in the Old City, stabbing attacks have waned in recent months. However, tensions have been on the rise around Jerusalem since US President Donald Trump recognized the city as Israel’s capital in December. This month, he also announced that the US Embassy would be moving from its current location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14.

On Friday, two Israeli soldiers were killed and two others were injured when a Palestinian man rammed his car into them as they were standing outside a military observation post along a highway near the Mevo Dotan settlement in the northern West Bank.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Israel would demolish the home of the Palestinian car-rammer who killed IDF soldiers Ziv Daos, 21, and Netanel Kahalani, 20.

Israel made frequent use of home demolitions until 2005, when the government decided to stop employing the measure. However, in 2014, it was brought back into use. There is a dispute among security analysts and officials over the utility of home demolitions in combating terrorism, with some seeing it as an effective deterrent against terror attacks and others as an ineffective form of collective punishment.

Separately on Monday morning, Israeli troops arrested 15 Palestinians in overnight raids throughout the West Bank for suspected involvement in terror and taking part in violent riots.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report.