BICOM

What happened: Two shooting attacks against Israeli forces took place yesterday afternoon, one at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City and the other at a junction in the West Bank. The incidents came after a string of attacks in the last two days that left 14 Israelis injured and 4 Palestinians killed – three of whom were assailants.

• In Jerusalem, an Arab citizen of Israel from Haifa opened fire on Border Police officers at a gate to the Old City, lightly injuring one officer. Forces at the scene shot and killed the attacker.
• In the central West Bank, at a bus stop near the Dolev settlement, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on an IDF soldier. The soldier suffered minor injuries. The assailant is still at large.
• Israeli security forces apprehended the perpetrator of Thursday mornings car-ramming attack in Jerusalem that injured 12 IDF soldiers (1 seriously). The assailant, an East Jerusalem resident with no previous links to terrorist activity, was apprehended in the West Bank after a 16-hour manhunt.
• An IDF after-action report confirmed that a Palestinian Authority policeman shot and killed on Wednesday night during armed riots in Jenin did not pose a threat to Israeli forces. IDF troops had entered Jenin to demolish the family home of an individual who carried out a terrorist attack, with Palestinians using live fire and explosive devices against them. A Palestinian Authority military academy cadet who reportedly fired on Israeli forces was killed in the clashes.
• The IDF has reinforced its troop presence in the West Bank as well as its police deployment in Jerusalem in a bid to contain more violence ahead of Friday prayers.

Context: The increase in violence follows last week’s publication of the US plan for Israel and the Palestinians, promises by PM Netanyahu to apply Israeli sovereignty to settlements in the West Bank, the announcement earlier this week that the PA will cut all ties with Israel and the US including vital security cooperation and calls by Hamas for attacks on Israelis.

• Netanyahu, addressing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said yesterday: “This will not help you – not the stabbings, not the car-rammings, not the sniping and not the incitement. We will do everything necessary to protect our security, to set our borders, [and] to ensure our future. We will do this together with you or without you.”
• US Presidential advisor Jared Kushner also held Abbas responsible, saying at a press briefing: “There is a long history of the Palestinian leadership paying the families of terrorists, inciting intifadas (uprisings) when they don’t get their way,” adding: “I think that he was surprised with how good the plan was for the Palestinian people but he locked himself into a position before it came out and I don’t know why he did that.”
• The Israeli security establishment said the PA, under Abbas, was still engaged in security cooperation and coordination with Israel but Kan Radio reported this morning, citing Palestinian officials, that security coordination “had been reduced to the minimum but had not been stopped.”

Looking ahead: The assessment from Israeli security officials is that, so far, the escalating violence is not coordinated but rather a combination of localised and disparate events.

• Friday prayers in Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque and across the West Bank could provide an opportunity for more attacks and more riots against Israeli forces.
• Israel Police have set up checkpoints on some highways leading to Jerusalem, sending back buses of Arab-Israeli worshipers. Cold and rainy weather today may depress turnout and help contain the violence.