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2 Israelis Stabbed to Death in Tel Aviv by Palestinian 5 Killed in Tel Aviv and West Bank by Palestinian Attackers
(about 3 hours later)
JERUSALEM — A Palestinian man fatally stabbed two Israeli men on Thursday and injured a third at a commercial complex in Tel Aviv, according to the police, before he was overpowered by passers-by. JERUSALEM — Five people were killed on Thursday in two separate stabbing and shooting attacks carried out by Palestinians in Tel Aviv and the West Bank, according to the Israeli authorities, in a renewal of deadly violence after a few days of relative calm.
The police said that the attack took place in a store selling synagogue decorations and that two of the victims may have been assaulted while they were praying there. The third victim was stabbed nearby. The fatalities included three Israelis, a foreign yeshiva student and a Palestinian passer-by, according to Israeli news reports.
The attack came hours after Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed a long-awaited agreement granting Palestinian mobile carriers the right to offer 3G cellular services in the West Bank. The move, intended to help economic development, was seen as part of a broader effort to restore calm after weeks of violence. In the first attack, a Palestinian resident of the West Bank stabbed Israelis at the entrance of a store that served as an informal synagogue in a Tel Aviv commercial center, killing two Israeli men and injuring a third. Witnesses said that the attacker then tried to force his way into the prayer room but was stopped by worshipers blocking the door.
Fifteen Israelis have been killed in attacks involving knives, vehicles and guns since the beginning of October, and an Eritrean man was killed after he was mistaken for being an assailant. More than 80 Palestinians have been killed over the same period, some of them while attacking or attempting to attack Israelis, and others in clashes with the Israeli security forces. Soon after in Etzion, a West Bank settlement bloc south of Jerusalem, a Palestinian gunman in a car opened fire as he passed vehicles stopped in traffic. The assailant then crashed his car into another vehicle and into a group of pedestrians, according to initial reports. Three people were killed and several others were wounded in the assault.
In the absence of peace talks, Israel has suggested that economic inducements could help restore calm and ease tensions with the Palestinians. One of the victims of the Tel Aviv attack was identified as Aharon Yesayev, 32. The other victims were not immediately identified.
“We always agreed to confidence-building measures with the Palestinians, and to help with their economy,” an Israeli minister, Yuval Steinitz, said in a briefing with international reporters this month. But, he added, “Even confidence-building measures should be built on some kind of reciprocity.” Mr. Steinitz said Israel expected action from Palestinian leaders to end incitement to violence in the news media. The police said the assailant in the Tel Aviv stabbing was a father of five from the village of Dura, in the southern West Bank. The Israeli news media said that he had a permit to work in Israel and was employed at a restaurant near the scene of the attack.
West Bank cities have plenty of smartphone users and a burgeoning high-tech industry, but Palestinian carriers have been forced to make do with 2G data bandwidth, which was introduced to the area in 1998. Shimon Vaknin, who was praying in the synagogue at the time, told Israeli television that a victim fell inside the room, covered in blood. He said that 15 worshipers blocked the door as the attacker tried to get inside, shouting in Arabic.
Under the interim peace accords of the mid-1990s, Israel controls the allocation of radio frequencies in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule. The attacks came hours after Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed a long-awaited agreement granting Palestinian cellphone carriers 3G high-speed services in the West Bank. The move, intended to boost economic development, had indicated a possible effort, or desire, to return to calm after weeks of violence.
For the Palestinians, the lack of 3G service has been a sore point and, they say, a symbol of how the Israeli occupation has held them back. At least 16 Israelis have been killed in stabbing, vehicular and shooting attacks by Palestinians since the beginning of October and an Eritrean man was killed by a mob after he was mistaken for an assailant. About 90 Palestinians have been killed over the same period, some of them while attacking, or attempting to attack Israelis, and others in clashes with Israeli security forces.
In March 2013, on the eve of a visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah by President Obama, dozens of posters warned the president not to bother bringing his smartphone. In the absence of peace talks, Israel has been speaking of economic inducements as a way of persuading the Palestinians to restore calm. In a briefing with international reporters this month one Israeli minister, Yuval Steinitz, said, “We always agreed to confidence building measures with the Palestinians and to help with their economy.” But he added, “Even confidence building measures should be built on some kind of reciprocity” and said that Israel expected the Palestinians to act to end any incitement to violence in their news media.
The agreement on Thursday was signed by Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the coordinator of government activities in the territories, the Israeli agency that works with the Palestinians on civil affairs, and the Palestinian minister of civil affairs, Hussein al-Sheikh. Despite the plethora of smartphones in West Bank cities and a burgeoning high-tech industry, Palestinian carriers have so far had to make do with 2G data bandwidth, which was introduced to the area in 1998.
Israeli officials said that 3G services would most likely be available to Palestinian carriers in the next few weeks. It was less clear when, or even if, the same service would be made available in Gaza, the Palestinian coastal territory dominated by Hamas, the Islamic militant group. Under the interim peace accords of the mid-1990s, Israel controls the allocation of radio frequencies in the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule. For the Palestinians, the lack of 3G has been a sore point and a symbolic expression of how they say the Israeli occupation has held them back.
The authorities are also looking into the possibility of adding 4G service. In March 2013, on the eve of a visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah by President Obama, dozens of posters told the president not to bother bringing his smartphone.
Thursday’s agreement was signed by Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the coordinator of government activities in the territories, the Israeli agency that liaises with the Palestinians on civil affairs, and the Palestinian minister of civil affairs, Hussein al-Sheikh.
Israeli officials said that 3G services would probably be available to Palestinian carriers within the next few weeks, and that they might become available in Gaza, the Palestinian coastal territory controlled by Hamas, the Islamic militant group, at some unspecified time in the future.
The officials added that Israel was also examining the possibility of introducing 4G bandwidth in the West Bank. Israeli mobile carriers already have access to 4G, including for customers in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Two Palestinian cellular companies, Jawwal and Wataniya, operate in the West Bank.
Durgham Maraee, the chief executive of Wataniya Mobile, welcomed the news and said that the company had had held a license to operate 3G services since its inception in 2006. “However we were not able to offer these services,” he said, “due to the fact that the frequencies were not assigned by the Israeli side until now.”
Ammar Akel, the chief executive of Palestine Telecommunications Group, of which Jawwal is a subsidiary, said, “We have been asking for this for more than five years.” He added that the Palestinians were “deprived of using modern technology” while “for the past year the whole world is using 4G.”
Israel estimates that the introduction of 3G will increase investment in the West Bank by $120 million.