Palestinian, 17, arrested carrying knife in East Jerusalem

A 17-year-old Palestinian boy was arrested at the Shuafat checkpoint in East Jerusalem Sunday afternoon after guards found a knife among his belongings.

Security forces manning the checkpoint found the knife, which had been wrapped up, inside the teenager’s bag.

The teen was taken in for questioning.

On Saturday security forces arrested two young Palestinians at checkpoints in separate locations in the West Bank, both carrying knives.

At the Qalandiya checkpoint just north of Jerusalem, a young Palestinian woman was arrested Saturday afternoon after she was found to be carrying a knife in her bag. The blade was discovered during a security inspection as the woman, said to be in her 20s, tried to pass through the checkpoint on foot.

At around the same time, Border Police officers stopped an 18-year-old youth at a checkpoint close to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, south of Jerusalem.

According to Israeli reports, the officers stopped the youth at the checkpoint to carry out a thorough search, which led to the discovery of the knife hidden on his person. The youth is thought to have been planning a stabbing attack in revenge for the death of his cousin, who was fatally shot as he himself carried out a knife attack six months ago.

Both suspects were taken in for questioning.

Thirty-five Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed in a surge of violence since last October. Over 200 Palestinians have been killed in that time period, most of them while carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.