Security forces arrest 2 knife-carrying Palestinians
In separate incidents, police and soldiers apprehend men with blades during inspections in Tapuah and nearby Hawara in the West Bank
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
Border Police officers arrested a 26-year-old Palestinian resident of Jenin who arrived Monday at the Tapuah checkpoint in the northern West Bank with a knife on his person, police said.
He was the second man to be arrested with a knife in the area on Monday.
As the man approached the checkpoint, the officers ordered him to halt. When he refused, he was detained and frisked, whereupon the knife was discovered.
Named for a nearby settlement, Tapuah Junction, south of Nablus, has been a frequent site of terror attacks in the latest round of violence, and before. On Thursday, an Israeli soldier was injured Thursday in a suspected car-ramming attack nearby, the army said.
Police arrest a Palestinian man who was found with a knife at the Tapuah checkpoint. (credit: Israel Police) pic.twitter.com/7UhhJDJ0Bv
— Judah Ari Gross (@JudahAriGross) January 4, 2016
Earlier Monday, IDF soldiers arrested a Palestinian man in Hawara, just over four kilometers (2.5 miles) away, after a security inspection revealed that he was carrying a large kitchen knife, the IDF said.
The man arrived at the Hawara security checkpoint late in the morning. As part of the routine inspection, soldiers on site approached him and patted him down. During the check, they found the chef’s knife.
It was not immediately clear if the Palestinian was planning to carry out an attack with the blade, but he was arrested and handed over to security forces for further questioning.
The Hawara Junction and the adjacent checkpoint have been flashpoints for Palestinian terror attacks since the start of the violence that has rocked Israel since mid-September.
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Two Palestinians tried to stab an Israeli soldier in the village last month, but were shot and killed by other troops on scene.
A day earlier, an Israeli soldier was lightly hurt in a car-ramming attack at the nearby checkpoint. The attacker was shot at the scene and later died of his wounds in hospital in Nablus.
Sue Surkes contributed to this report.
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