Israel bars Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City

Jane Onyanga-Omara and Greg Toppo | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Israel bars Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City Israeli police barred some Palestinians from Jerusalem's Old City in response to fatal stabbing attacks. The latest spike in violence comes at a time when many Palestinians no longer believe statehood through negotiations with Israel is possible.

Israeli police took the unprecedented step Sunday of barring Palestinian residents of Jerusalem from entering the Old City after two stabbing attacks on Israelis by Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, returning to Israel Sunday afternoon from the USA, vowed a "harsh offensive on Palestinian Islamic terror" and convened an emergency meeting of top security officials.

The two-day closure was intended to protect visitors arriving to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, Israeli police said. Palestinians who live, work and study within the Old City, plus Israelis and tourists will be allowed in.

"This is a drastic measure that’s being taken in order to make sure there are no further attacks during the Jewish festival, where you can see thousands of people visiting the Old City,” Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, according to the Associated Press.

A Palestinian teenager who stabbed and wounded a 15-year-old Israeli early Sunday was shot dead, Israeli police said. It came after a Palestinian teenager fatally stabbed two Israelis and wounded two more, including a toddler, on Saturday. He was shot dead by police.

In the second attack, the teenager attacked an off-duty Israeli soldier, his wife and their young daughter on Saturday night, Israeli police said. Hearing the woman’s screams, Rabbi Nehemia Lavi, 41, who lives in the Muslim quarter of the Old City, ran to confront the assailant, The Washington Post reported.

Lavi and the soldier, Aharon Benita, 22, were fatally stabbed. Benita’s wife was seriously wounded. The couple’s 2-year-old daughter was injured.

Thousands attended Lavi’s funeral in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Tensions have been rising in the region in recent weeks, mainly a round the religious site known to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The outer wall of the temple compound is the Jewish holy site known as the Western Wall.

The unrest has spread to the West Bank, where Israeli troops on Sunday shot and wounded at least 26 Palestinians during an arrest raid in the Jenin refugee camp, a Palestinian hospital director said, according to the AP. Two Palestinians were arrested suspected of "terror activity," the news agency said.

Police units, border police at entrance to market area in old city.Security measures continuing in Arab neighborhoods pic.twitter.com/wHA87C9PSe — Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) October 4, 2015

Access to the Temple Mount or Noble Sanctuary for Muslim worshipers was restricted to men over 50 years old, because of recent attacks, and there was no age limit for women, the Jerusalem Post reported.

There are about 300,000 Palestinians living in Jerusalem — about a third of the city's population.

Speaking Sunday to Army Radio, Minister of Intelligence Israel Katz said: "We will toughen our measures against the Palestinians. There could be a need for another Operation Defensive Shield," the Jerusalem Post reported.

The 2002 Operation Defensive Shield saw Israeli security forces seize most of the buildings in the compound of Yasser Arafat, then chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and enforce curfews.